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How to remove GPS location from photos — and stop writing it in
Your camera knows where you took every picture. Strangers who get the file can know too. Here's how to stop the leak at the source, and clean the photos you already have.
Last updated: · ~6 min read
Geotagging is the single most sensitive thing a photo carries. Coordinates don't just say "downtown" — they resolve to a street address, a house, a hotel room. Posted repeatedly, they draw a map of your life: where you live, where your kids go to school, that you're on vacation 2,000 miles away from your unattended apartment.
The data itself is two EXIF fields, GPSLatitude and GPSLongitude, written by your phone at the moment of capture. Anyone who receives the original file can click them straight into a map. The fix has two halves: stop writing GPS into new photos, and scrub it from the ones already on your device.
Stop geotagging at the source
iPhone / iPad:
- Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services.
- Scroll to Camera and tap it.
- Set "Allow Location Access" to Never.
New photos will carry no GPS. (Trade-off: the Photos app's map view of your pictures stops filling in — albums and search still work.)
Android (Google Camera):
- In the Camera app, open Settings (gear icon).
- Turn off Location / Location tags.
On Samsung phones the same switch is called "Location tags"; on others, look for "Geotagging" or "Save location" in camera settings. If the Camera app lacks the Location permission entirely (Settings → Apps → Camera → Permissions), no geotags can be written.
Clean GPS from photos you've already taken
Existing photos keep their coordinates — turning the setting off is not retroactive. Before you email, upload as a document, or hand over originals, strip the metadata in one pass:
Open the tool
Go to the EXIF remover. It runs entirely in your browser — the photo is never uploaded.
Drop the photos
One or thirty at once — a whole marketplace listing, a whole email batch.
Download clean copies
GPS, timestamps and device info are gone; the images themselves are untouched. Grab all as a ZIP.
Not sure a given photo has coordinates? Check it first with the EXIF viewer — geotagged photos get a map link right in the results.
When metadata survives "sharing"
Platform behavior is inconsistent enough to trip careful people. Posting to your feed usually strips metadata; sending the same file elsewhere often doesn't. Treat these as "metadata survives" channels: email attachments, messaging apps' file/document mode, cloud storage links, AirDrop/Bluetooth transfers, forum and Discord uploads, and any marketplace where the buyer receives the original.
For more on what else your photos carry — device fingerprints, edit history, embedded thumbnails — see what EXIF data is and the privacy-risks guide.
Frequently asked questions
Do all phone photos have GPS coordinates?
By default, yes — both iPhone and Android cameras write GPS coordinates into every photo unless location access for the camera is revoked or geotagging is switched off. Wi-Fi-only tablets and cameras without GPS are the exceptions; some cameras can add it via a paired phone.
Does WhatsApp or Instagram remove GPS data?
When you send a photo as a chat image or post it, WhatsApp and the major social networks re-compress and strip most metadata, GPS included. But send the photo as a "document"/"file" attachment, or share it via cloud links and email, and it arrives with the EXIF intact — GPS included.
Do screenshots contain GPS data?
No — a screenshot is a new image of your screen and doesn't inherit the original's EXIF. If you need to send a photo without its location data and don't care about quality, a screenshot is a quick-and-dirty workaround; stripping the file properly keeps full quality.
Can I remove GPS but keep the other EXIF data?
Most simple tools strip everything or nothing. ScrubExif removes the whole metadata block in one pass; if you need camera fields preserved for a photography workflow, keep geotagging off at the source so GPS never enters the file in the first place.