Remove Location From Photos

The Short Answer

When your camera app is allowed to use location, every photo stores the GPS coordinates of where it was taken. If you took it at home, that's your address. Anyone who gets the original file can read them.

Before you post, sell or send a photo, check it and strip the location from the copy you share. Then decide whether the camera should keep adding it.

Step 1: Check What the Photo Contains

1. Open the Photo Metadata Remover and select the photo, or several at once.
2. Look at the Location row. If it shows coordinates, the file gives away where it was taken.
3. Check the date, the phone model and the other metadata listed under it too.

The photo is read in your browser and nothing is uploaded. No map is loaded either. The coordinates are shown as numbers you can paste into a map app if you want to see the spot.

Step 2: Remove It From the Copy You Share

In the tool, click Remove Metadata and download the clean copy. Location, date, camera details and other tags are removed. For JPG, PNG and WebP the picture itself is copied byte for byte, so there's no loss in quality. HEIC is converted to JPG. Share the clean copy, not the original.

Or use your phone's own options:

• iPhone, one share at a time: in Photos, tap the Share button, tap Options at the top of the share sheet, and turn off Location.
• iPhone, in your library: open the photo, tap the More button, tap Adjust Info, then Adjust Location, then No Location. On older iOS versions, swipe up on the photo or tap the info button and look for Adjust.
• Mac: in Photos, select the photos and choose Image → Location → Hide Location.
• Google Photos: a location your camera saved can't be removed in Google Photos. Google's help says photos downloaded or shared outside Google Photos keep that original location. Use the tool above on the file instead.

Step 3: Stop the Camera Adding It

• iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → Never.
• Pixel and Motorola: in the camera's settings, turn off Save location. On Pixel it's under Settings → More settings.
• Samsung: in the camera's settings, turn off Location tags.
• OnePlus: in the camera's settings, turn off Store location data.

This only affects new photos. Photos you've already taken keep their location until you remove it. Google notes that photos without location may not show in map view, location searches or trip memories.

Things That Trip People Up

• Assuming the app strips it. Some platforms remove location from photos they publish, but we couldn't find an official statement from Facebook, Marketplace or WhatsApp saying what they remove. Treat it as unknown and remove it yourself.
• Sending the original file. An email attachment or a cloud-drive link sends the file exactly as it is, location included.
• The picture itself. A house number, a street sign or the view from your window can reveal the place without any metadata. For items you're selling, shoot them against a plain background.
• Other details. The date and phone model stay in the file even with location off. The metadata remover takes those out too.
• Turning the camera setting off later. It doesn't clean photos already in your library. Check older photos before you share them.

What Each Platform Says

Apple: when you share a photo with location, the people you share it with may be able to see where it was taken. The share sheet's Options switch is Apple's way to leave it out of a single share.

Google Photos: albums, links and conversations you share don't include location details by default, except partner sharing. That applies inside Google Photos. A downloaded file, or one sent from your phone's gallery, still has the camera's location.

Facebook, Marketplace and WhatsApp: we didn't find official documentation of what metadata they remove, so this guide makes no claim either way. Removing it yourself first works whatever the platform does.