How to Remove Location from Photos (EXIF and GPS Data)
Photos can reveal where they were taken. Remove GPS location and other EXIF data on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac, and stop new photos saving it.
By Awais, Founder and editor-in-chiefPublished
To remove location from a photo, strip its EXIF metadata with a tool such as our free EXIF Remover, or turn off location when you share: on iPhone, tap Options at the top of the share sheet and switch Location off. To stop new photos saving your location at all, turn off location access for your camera app.
This guide explains what location data is hidden in a photo, why it matters, and how to remove it on every major device.
What is EXIF data?
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is information your camera writes inside the photo file. You don’t see it in the picture, but any photo viewer or website that reads metadata can. A typical phone photo contains:
| EXIF field | Example | What it reveals |
|---|---|---|
| GPS latitude and longitude | 51.50135, −0.14189 | Where the photo was taken, often to within a few metres |
| GPS altitude | 18 m | Height above sea level, sometimes which floor |
| Date and time taken | 2026-10-18 07:42:11 | When you were there |
| Camera make and model | Apple iPhone 16 | Which phone you own |
| Lens and settings | f/1.8, 1/120 s, ISO 64 | Mostly harmless technical detail |
| Software | Editing app or OS version | What you used to edit it |
How precise is the location?
Very. One degree of latitude is about 111 km. GPS coordinates stored with four decimal places locate a spot to within about 11 metres, and five decimal places to about 1 metre. That is enough to pick out a house, a school gate or a regular running route.
Why it matters
A photo of a new sofa, a child’s birthday cake or an item you are selling online can carry the exact coordinates of your home. Combined with the time stamps on a few photos, someone could work out your daily routine. Location data in photos has been used to find people who did not want to be found, so it is worth removing before you share pictures publicly, sell items online, or send photos to strangers.
Some large platforms strip location data when you post publicly, but you can’t rely on that. Many apps and services keep the original file: email attachments, cloud links, file-sharing sites, messaging apps when you send a photo as a document, and most online forms. Google, for example, notes that photos you download or email from Google Photos keep the original location (Google Photos Help).
How to remove location data online (any device)
- Open EXIF Remover in your browser.
- Choose one or more photos.
- Check the metadata the tool finds, including the GPS position.
- Remove the location (or all metadata) and download the clean copies.
The tool reads and rewrites the files inside your browser, so your photos are never uploaded. That matters: uploading a photo to a website to remove its location would mean sending the very data you want to protect.
If you are also making photos smaller, Compress Image removes EXIF data, including GPS, by default.
How to remove location on iPhone and iPad
When you share one photo
- In the Photos app, select the photo and tap the Share button.
- Tap Options at the top of the share sheet.
- Turn off Location, then tap Done and share as usual.
This sends a copy without the location; the photo in your library keeps it.
Remove it from the photo itself
- Open the photo and swipe up, or tap the Info button.
- Tap Adjust next to the location or map.
- Choose No Location.
Stop the camera saving location
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera and choose Never. Apple explains that you can control Location Services separately for each app from this screen (Apple Support). New photos will no longer be tagged with your position. Your existing photos keep their location until you remove it.
How to remove location on Android
Menus differ between phone makers, so the names below may vary slightly.
- Stop saving location: open your camera app’s settings and turn off the option to save or tag location. On many phones it is called Save location or Location tags. You can also remove the camera app’s location permission in Settings > Location or Settings > Apps.
- When sharing from Google Photos: in shared albums and conversations, you can turn Share photo locations off. Remember that downloaded and emailed copies keep the original location, as Google notes.
- Samsung Gallery and other gallery apps: some show an option to remove location data on the share screen. Look for it before you pick the app to share to.
- For a guaranteed clean file: run the photo through an EXIF remover in Chrome before you send it.
How to remove location on Windows
- Right-click the photo in File Explorer and choose Properties.
- Open the Details tab.
- Click Remove Properties and Personal Information at the bottom.
- Choose Create a copy with all possible properties removed, or select only the GPS fields to remove from the original.
Windows can’t remove metadata from some file types, so check the copy’s Details tab afterwards.
How to remove location on a Mac
- Preview: open the photo, choose Tools > Show Inspector, open the info tab, and look for a GPS section with a Remove Location Info button.
- Photos app: select the photo, then choose Image > Location > Hide Location. When you export, leave the location option unticked so the exported file has no GPS data.
Quick comparison
| Method | Removes GPS | Removes other EXIF | Keeps your original intact |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone share sheet Options | Yes | Optional (“All Photos Data”) | Yes |
| iPhone Adjust > No Location | Yes | No | No, changes the photo |
| Windows Remove Properties (copy) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Browser EXIF remover | Yes | Yes | Yes, you download a copy |
| Taking a screenshot of the photo | Yes | Mostly | Yes, but lower quality |
A screenshot is a crude trick: it creates a new image without the original EXIF, but it lowers the resolution and still records when the screenshot was taken.
Other ways a photo can give away a location
Removing GPS data does not hide what is in the picture. A street sign, a house number, a school uniform, a car number plate, or a view from your window can reveal just as much. Look at the background before you post. If you are cutting the subject out of a scene anyway, see how to remove a background from an image.
Also check file names. Some apps name files with a date and time, which is harmless, but a file called photo-at-14-park-road.jpg gives the game away.
If you convert iPhone photos, note that HEIC to JPG converters often copy the EXIF data, location included. Our guide on how to convert HEIC to JPG explains the conversion; remove location as a separate step if you need to.
FAQ
Does WhatsApp or Instagram remove location from photos?
Many large apps strip metadata from photos they process, but behaviour varies by app, setting and how you send the file. Sending a photo as a document often keeps the original EXIF. Remove the location yourself if it matters.
Does taking a screenshot remove EXIF data?
It removes the original camera data, including GPS, because a screenshot is a new image. It also lowers quality, so an EXIF remover is the better option.
Can I remove location from many photos at once?
Yes. A browser EXIF remover can process a batch, and on Windows you can select several files before opening Properties.
Will removing EXIF data change how my photo looks?
No. EXIF is stored separately from the image pixels. One exception: some photos use an orientation tag to display upright, so a good remover rotates the pixels first to keep the photo the right way up.