How to remove location from your photos

Phone photos can carry the exact spot where they were taken. On iPhone you can leave that out each time you share, remove it from a photo for good, or stop the camera recording it at all. Which one you pick depends on whether you want location in your own albums.

What a photo file can reveal

Most phone photos carry Exif metadata, a standard block of information stored inside the image file. A typical photo records the date and time it was taken, the camera make and model, image resolution, exposure settings, editing software and GPS location. The GPS details sit in their own section within the Exif data. In one 2025 study, iPhone photos also recorded the iOS version number.

Apple says that when the Camera app has access to Location Services, GPS coordinates are embedded in each photo and video so you can later search your library by place. Apple also says the people you share those photos with may be able to read the location and learn where they were taken.

Some images also carry C2PA Content Credentials, an open standard for recording where a piece of content came from and how it was edited.

Leave location out when you share

This works per share, so your own copy keeps its location:

1. In Photos, select the photo or photos.
2. Tap Share, then tap Options.
3. Turn off Location. “Location Not Included” appears above the Options button.
4. Share as usual.

A note on Apple’s documentation: this switch is described in Apple’s Personal Safety guide (September 2026). The iOS 27 iPhone User Guide’s page on sharing photos lists other Options, such as keywords, file format and All Photos Data, and doesn’t mention a Location switch. If you can’t find it on your phone, remove the location from the photo itself or clean the file before sending, as described below.

Remove location from a photo for good

To strip the location from one photo on iPhone:

1. Open the photo in Photos and tap Info.
2. Tap Adjust Info, then Adjust Location.
3. Tap No Location.

On a Mac, open the photo in Photos and choose Image > Location > Hide Location. The same menu has Revert to Original Location if you change your mind.

Stop the camera recording location

Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera and tap Never. Apple says location can be added to photos and videos only if the Camera app has access to Location Services, so new photos won’t carry it.

The trade-⁠off: you lose the ability to find those new photos by place in your own library. Photos you already took keep the location they have, so use the steps above for any you share.

Which ways of sending keep the data

Apple’s own note is the starting point: sharing a photo or video includes its metadata, such as date and time, location, device and captions, unless you change Options. Beyond Apple, the evidence is thinner. The table below uses Apple’s guide and one peer-⁠reviewed 2025 study (Soni) that sent 10 images through different channels. Ten images is a small sample and the study doesn’t name app versions, so treat its results as a snapshot.

On Signal specifically: its Android code has stripped Exif data from JPEG photos it sends since 2018, but the 2025 study found its document mode kept metadata, and other reports differ. Behaviour can change between versions, so don’t rely on any chat app to clean a photo for you.

AirDrop is a middle case. With All Photos Data off, Apple doesn’t spell out which fields are left out, and its general note says metadata such as location is included unless you change Options. If location matters, turn it off under Options or clean the file first.

Photos you’ve already shared

Removing location now doesn’t change copies you’ve already sent or posted. Whoever has those files has whatever metadata went with them. What you can control is the next share: strip the location from photos still on your phone before you send them again, and set up the routine below so it doesn’t depend on remembering.

Clean the file before you send it

If you’re sending a photo by email, as a document or file, or through any channel you’re not sure about, remove the metadata from the file first. The photo metadata tool linked below shows what a photo holds, including location, device and dates, then saves a copy without it. It runs in your browser.

One caution if you work with news or evidence: the C2PA standard notes that a file can become separated from its Content Credentials when its metadata is removed. If you may later need to show where a photo came from, keep the untouched original somewhere safe and share the cleaned copy.

A simple routine covers most people:

• For everyday sharing, turn off Location under Options.
• For anything sensitive, clean the file, then send it.
• If you never use location in your albums, set Camera’s location access to Never and stop the problem at the source.