Most phones record where each photo was taken, usually to within a few metres, and write it into the file. A picture taken at home tells anyone who gets the original file where you live. Here are four ways to deal with it, from prevention to cleanup, and the other places location can leak from.
What the GPS tags contain
The location block inside a photo’s EXIF data holds latitude and longitude, altitude and the time of the position fix. Many phones add the direction the camera faced and the speed you were moving at. Anyone can paste the coordinates into a map and land on the spot.
1. Stop recording it
The most reliable fix is to stop the location being written in the first place.
- iPhone: Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, Camera, then choose Never.
- Android: open the camera app’s settings and turn off location tags, sometimes called Save location.
- Cameras with GPS or phone sync: turn off the GPS feature or the pairing in the camera menu.
The trade-off is that your photo app can no longer show pictures on a map. It also does nothing for the photos you have already taken.
2. Remove it when you share
- iPhone: in the Photos share sheet, tap Options and switch Location off before you send.
- Samsung: choose “Remove location data” in the Gallery share screen.
- Windows: right-click the file, Properties, Details, then “Remove Properties and Personal Information”.
- Mac: open the photo in Preview, Tools, Show Inspector, open the GPS tab and click “Remove Location Info”.
These work one photo at a time, and they leave other details such as the device model and the date in place. Check the result afterwards rather than assuming it worked.
3. Clean a batch of files
To clean many photos in one go, drop them on the image metadata remover. The report highlights the GPS fields so you can see them go, the picture data is copied unchanged so quality stays identical, and a second scan confirms nothing identifying is left. Everything happens in your browser. For whole folders or regular jobs, the API and the MCP server do the same without a browser.
4. Use ExifTool on the command line
ExifTool is the reference tool for this job. This command removes every tag whose name starts with GPS, in every metadata group, so it also catches copies of the location stored in XMP:
exiftool "-gps*=" -overwrite_original photo.jpgThat removes only the location. To remove all metadata, use exiftool -all= photo.jpg, with one warning: it also removes the rotation flag, so portrait photos can come out sideways. Our tool keeps the rotation for that reason.
Check that it worked
exiftool -a -G1 -s -gps:all photo-clean.jpgOther places location leaks from
- The picture itself. Street signs, house numbers, a view from the window, a distinctive building or a reflection can give a place away.
- Captions, tags and check-ins you add on social platforms.
- File names, such as
flat-12-main-street.jpg. - Messaging apps in file mode, email attachments, cloud links and USB drives, which deliver the original file with its GPS tags.
- Photos of screens, such as a map or a delivery app showing your address.
Cropping, filters and screenshots
Cropping, filters and other edits do not remove location. Many editors carry the original EXIF block into the edited file, and some update the embedded thumbnail while others leave it showing the original framing. Taking a screenshot of a photo does create a new file without the original’s GPS tags, but screenshots have their own metadata and the picture can still give the place away. If you need the metadata gone, remove it deliberately and check.
Photos you have already posted
Cleaning your local copy does not change a file that is already online. If you shared an original with its location, the safest move is to delete that post or file, upload a cleaned copy instead, and treat anything that was cached, downloaded or forwarded in the meantime as out of your hands. Shared albums and links often carry location unless you switch it off in their options, so check those settings the next time you create one.
Videos and Live Photos carry location too
Location is not only in still photos. Videos recorded on a phone store it in tags and sometimes in separate timed tracks, and the video half of a Live Photo is an ordinary video file with the same tags. The video metadata remover cleans MP4 and MOV files without re-encoding them.
A habit that works
Keep location on in your own library if you like maps and albums. Clean a copy whenever a photo leaves your control, check the report once, and keep the original. If you want the full picture of what else photos carry, read what is EXIF data and why remove it.