How to remove location and EXIF metadata from photos

A photo taken with a phone can carry hidden details called metadata, and they may include the exact GPS location where you took it. To remove it, make a clean copy before you share the photo, for example with the EXIF remover, which works inside your browser. You can also stop your phone's camera from saving the location at all.

What EXIF metadata is

EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is a standard way of storing information inside an image file. You don't see it when you look at the photo, but many programs can read it. Phones and cameras fill it in automatically.

Depending on the device and its settings, the metadata may include:

• GPS coordinates: the latitude and longitude where the photo was taken, often precise enough to find the street and the building.
• Date and time the photo was taken.
• Phone or camera make and model, the lens and the camera settings.
• A serial number or the owner's name, mostly on dedicated cameras where someone has filled them in.
• The software used to edit the photo, and sometimes a small preview copy of the image.

Editing apps can add other kinds of metadata too, called XMP and IPTC. They can hold an author name, a caption or, again, a location.

Who can see it

Anyone who gets the original file. No special skills are needed: on a computer, the file's properties are often enough. That includes a buyer, a stranger on a forum, and anyone the file is forwarded to.

One photo rarely says much. Patterns say more: several photos taken at home, all with the same coordinates, show where you live.

The service you upload to can usually read the metadata too, even when it removes it from the copy other people see.

Which apps remove it and which don't

There is no single rule. It depends on the app, on how you send the photo and on the app's version, which can change. In general:

How the photo travels	What usually happens to the location
Posted on a large social network	Many remove it from the public copy. The service itself may still read and keep it.
Sent as a normal photo in a messaging app	Often removed, because the app makes a new, compressed copy.
Sent as a file or document (for example, the Document option in WhatsApp)	Usually kept: the file arrives as it left your phone.
Email attachment	Usually kept.
Marketplaces, classifieds and forums	It varies. Some keep the file exactly as you uploaded it.
Link to a cloud drive or shared folder	Usually the original file, with everything in it.

So don't rely on the app. To know for sure, send a photo to yourself or to a friend the way you normally would, save the file that arrives and check it. Or clean the photo first, and then it doesn't matter.

How to check a photo

1. On Windows: right-click the file, choose Properties, then the Details tab. If there is a GPS section with a latitude and longitude, the photo has a location.
2. On a Mac: open the photo in Preview, choose Tools, then Show Inspector, and look for a GPS tab.
3. On an iPhone: open the photo in Photos and swipe up, or tap the info button. If you see a map, the location is saved.
4. On Android: open the photo in your gallery app or Google Photos and swipe up or open its details. A place name or a map means it has a location.
5. In any browser: drop the photo into the EXIF remover. It lists the location, camera, date, serial number and other metadata it finds.

Your gallery shows your own copy. What matters is the file the other person receives, so checking a received copy is useful.

How to remove it with the EXIF remover

1. Open the EXIF remover and drop one or more photos, or click to choose them. Everything runs in your browser, and the photos never leave your device.
2. Read what each photo reveals. If it has a GPS location, the tool shows the coordinates.
3. Download the clean copy and share that one instead of the original. Your original file stays as it was.

What the tool does, exactly:

• JPEG and PNG: it copies the image data byte for byte and removes only the metadata: EXIF (including GPS), XMP, IPTC, comments and any extra data hidden after the image. There is no loss of quality.
• What it keeps: the color profile, so colors look the same, and the rotation flag, so the photo doesn't appear sideways.
• Other formats, such as WebP: it re-draws the image. That removes all metadata but recompresses the picture slightly.
• Files your browser can't open: the tool tells you. Some browsers can't read HEIC, the format many iPhones use. On an iPhone, the Options switch described below is the easier route.

Need a smaller file too, for example for a marketplace listing? The image compressor re-draws each image in your browser, and its output doesn't carry the original's location or camera details. It doesn't show what was in the original, though.

Stop your phone from saving the location

If you rarely want the location in your photos, turn it off at the source. Menu names vary by brand and version.

1. Android: open the Camera app, tap the settings (gear) icon and look for an option such as Save location or Location tags. Turn it off. Or, in Settings, go to Apps, Camera, Permissions, Location, and don't allow it. Google's help page covers the camera location setting.
2. iPhone: go to Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, Camera, and choose Never.
3. iPhone, when sharing: after tapping the share button, tap Options at the top and turn off Location. Apple's guide explains this, and how to remove the location from photos already in your library.
4. Take a new test photo and check it with one of the methods above.

Turning it off only affects new photos. The ones you already have keep their location until you clean them.

When to keep the metadata

Metadata is not bad in itself. In your own archive it is useful: the date keeps photos in order, and the location lets your gallery show them on a map. Photos without a location may not appear in map views or in searches by place. The date can also show when you photographed, say, damage to a car.

So the habit is simple: keep the originals, with all their metadata, in your own backup, and share clean copies. The EXIF remover never changes the original file, so you can do both.

Quick checklist

• Clean a photo before you send it as a file, by email or to a marketplace or forum.
• Don't assume an app removes the location: test it, or clean the photo first.
• Turn off location in the camera if you rarely need it.
• On an iPhone, tap Options and turn off Location when sharing.
• Look at what the picture itself shows: house numbers, street signs, license plates, documents.
• Keep the originals, with their metadata, in your own backup.

Frequently asked questions

Does removing metadata lower the photo quality?

Not for JPEG and PNG in the EXIF remover: the image data is copied exactly and only the metadata is removed. Other formats are re-drawn, which recompresses them slightly.

Do videos store the location too?

They can. Phones often save where a video was recorded. The EXIF remover works only with images. On an iPhone, the Options switch when sharing covers videos as well, and turning off location for the camera usually stops it for new videos too.

Once I remove the location, can someone get it back?

Not from the clean copy, because the data is no longer in the file. But the original still has it, and so does any copy you shared before. Cleaning a new copy doesn't change files that are already out there.

Are my photos uploaded when I use the tool?

No. Both tools work inside your browser. Your photos are read and cleaned on your device and never sent to a server.

Try it

• 3.3Remove EXIF & GPSSee and remove hidden photo metadata (GPS location, camera, date) before you share.
• 3.2Compress imagesShrink JPEG, PNG and WebP images by quality, dimensions or a maximum size in KB, several at once.