How to remove the location from photos
Most phone photos carry the GPS coordinates of where they were taken. Anyone who receives the original file can read them. Here is how to see what your photos say, and how to remove it.
What a photo can reveal
Every photo from a phone or camera carries a block of details called EXIF (see what EXIF data is). Depending on the settings it can contain:
- the GPS position, often accurate to a few metres
- the date and time
- the phone or camera model, and sometimes its serial number
- the software used to edit it
A photo of your living room, your children’s school or a parcel at your front door can therefore show where you live. That is why it is worth cleaning photos before sharing them publicly, selling something online or sending them to people you don’t know.
Check what a photo contains
- iPhone: open the photo in Photos and swipe up (or tap the info button). A map appears if there is a location.
- Mac: open the photo in Preview, choose Tools, then Show Inspector, and look at the GPS tab.
- Windows: right-click the file, choose Properties, then Details. Latitude and longitude are listed under GPS.
- Any device: add the photo to the tool above. It shows what it found in each file, for example location, camera and date.
Remove it on the device
- iPhone: when you share a photo, tap Options at the top of the share sheet and turn Location off. This only applies to that share.
- Mac: in Preview’s Inspector, the GPS tab has a Remove Location Info button.
- Windows: in the Details tab, choose Remove Properties and Personal Information, then create a copy with the properties removed.
Those methods work one photo at a time and are easy to forget. If you share photos often, or have many, a batch tool is quicker.
Clean many photos at once
- Add all the photos to the tool at the top of this page, or paste them.
- Leave Remove location only selected to keep the date and camera, or pick Remove everything for a fully clean file.
- Download the files one by one, or all of them as a ZIP.
JPG, PNG and WebP files are not re-encoded, so the image is identical and the file is usually a little smaller. HEIC and AVIF are converted to JPG because their details can’t be rewritten safely in place.
Stop recording the location
If you never want photos tagged, turn it off at the source. On an iPhone: Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, Camera, then choose Never. On Android, open the camera app’s settings and turn off location tags (the wording differs between makers).
Remove location and other details here
Drop your images here
or
You can also paste an image with Ctrl+V.
Converted on this device. Nothing is uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
Do social networks remove the location for me?
Many large platforms remove it from the version they display, but not all do, and messaging apps and email often send the original file. Don't rely on it for a photo you want to keep private.
Does removing the location reduce image quality?
Not with JPG, PNG or WebP here. The picture data is copied byte for byte and only the details are removed, so quality and file size stay the same.
What about screenshots?
Screenshots usually have no GPS position, but they can still carry the device and the date. Run them through the tool if in doubt.
Can I keep the date and remove only the location?
The default option removes the location only, and keeps the rest. The other option removes everything.
Learn more
- What is EXIF data?EXIF is the hidden information stored inside photos: camera, date, settings and sometimes GPS. What is in it, why it exists and when you should remove it.
- Converting on your device vs uploading: what we measuredMeasured timings for converting HEIC, compressing and resizing photos inside the browser, and the arithmetic of uploading the same files to a server instead.