Photo guide · November 2026

Remove the location from a photo

Your phone saves where each photo was taken inside the file, often accurate to a few metres. Anyone who gets the original can read it. Here’s how to remove the location from a photo on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac, how to stop your camera adding it, and how to clean a whole folder at once.

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IMG_4172.jpg3 findings
  • GPS location44.4268° N, 26.1025° EFoundRemoved
  • GPS altitude82 m above sea levelFoundRemoved
  • Place nameSaved by the editing appFoundRemoved
  • Date takenKept as it wasFoundKept
  • Camera and colour profileKept · image unchangedFoundKept
Clean copy verified · image unchanged

Short answer

A photo’s location is saved as GPS coordinates in its EXIF data. To remove it:

  1. iPhone: in Photos, tap More › Adjust Info › Adjust Location › No Location, or turn Location off under Share › Options.
  2. Windows: right-click › Properties › Details › Remove Properties and Personal Information, and tick the GPS fields.
  3. Mac: open it in Preview › Tools › Show Inspector › GPS and click Remove Location Info.
  4. A whole folder, photos and videos: drop it into MetaClean on your Mac or PC and save verified copies without the location.

Get MetaClean freeFree for 3 days · then $5 once · no subscription

Watch: what the location in a photo gives away, and how to remove it from a whole folder at once (1:03, captions on screen).

What the location in a photo reveals

Once the camera app has location access, which most people allow when they set up their phone, every photo and video gets a set of GPS fields:

GPS

Coordinates

Latitude and longitude of the spot you took it, often accurate to a few metres.

ALT

Altitude and direction

Many phones add the height and the way the camera was facing.

TIME

When you were there

The GPS time and the date taken, down to the second.

PLACE

Place names

Some editing apps add the city or country as text too.

A photo taken at home carries your home’s coordinates. Not sure if yours does? Drop it into our free EXIF viewer: it shows the coordinates with a link to the spot on a map, read in your browser, so the photo isn’t uploaded.

How to remove location from a photo on iPhone and iPad

There are two ways: remove it from the photo in your library, or leave the original alone and share a copy without it.

  1. 1

    Remove it from the photo

    Open the photo in Photos, tap the More button, then Adjust Info › Adjust Location › No Location.

  2. 2

    Or share it without the location

    Select one or more photos, tap Share, then Options, and turn Location off. “Location Not Included” appears above the Options button. Share as usual.

  3. 3

    Stop new photos getting it

    Go to Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Camera and tap Never. This covers videos too. Photos you already have keep their location.

Source: Apple, Manage location metadata in Photos.

How to remove location from photos on Android

Menus differ by phone maker. On the two most common:

Samsung Galaxy

  1. In Gallery, select the photos and tap Share.
  2. Turn on Remove location data on the share screen.
  3. To stop it for new photos, open the Camera settings and turn off Location tags.

Google Pixel and Google Photos

  1. Open the Camera app’s settings and turn off Save location.
  2. In Google Photos, Settings › Sharing › Remove geo location applies to photos you share by link.
  3. For everything else, copy the photo to your computer and clean it there.

How to remove location from photos on Windows

File Explorer has a built-in remover. It works on the files you select:

  1. 1

    Open the details

    Right-click the photo, or several selected together, and choose Properties › Details. The location is under GPS.

  2. 2

    Choose what to remove

    Click Remove Properties and Personal Information. Pick Remove the following properties from this file and tick the GPS fields, latitude, longitude and altitude.

  3. 3

    Or make a clean copy

    Pick Create a copy with all possible properties removed to keep your original and remove more than the location.

It works on the files you select, not on subfolders, and it doesn’t tell you if anything was left behind.

How to remove location from a photo on a Mac

Preview, for a photo file

  1. Open the photo in Preview and choose Tools › Show Inspector.
  2. Open the GPS tab and click Remove Location Info.
  3. Save the photo.

Photos, for your library

  1. Select the photos and choose Image › Location › Hide Location.
  2. Or export them with File › Export and untick Location information.

Both remove the location and nothing else, one file or one export at a time.

Remove the location from a whole folder with MetaClean

The built-in options are fine for one photo you’re about to send. For a shoot, a holiday or a folder of listings, they get slow, file by file or share by share. MetaClean does it in one pass on your Mac or Windows PC:

  1. 1

    Drop in photos, videos or a folder

    JPG and PNG photos and MP4 and MOV videos, subfolders included. Nothing is uploaded. iPhone photos are often HEIC: export them as JPG first, for example from Photos on a Mac.

  2. 2

    See the location before anything changes

    Every field is listed in plain words: GPS position, altitude, date, camera, software and AI tags.

  3. 3

    Pick a clean level

    Custom removes the location only and keeps the date and camera. Privacy clean removes location, camera, dates, software and AI tags. All removable removes everything it can.

  4. 4

    Share the verified copy

    MetaClean saves a clean_ copy next to the original after checking it. The image isn’t recompressed and keeps its colour profile and orientation.

MetaClean for Windows: choose a photo or scan a folder to remove its metadata. Files stay on this PC.
MetaClean on Windows. Drop a photo or scan a folder; nothing is uploaded.

More on what else a photo carries in the photo metadata remover, and on clips in the video metadata remover.

Phone, computer and MetaClean, compared

Phone share optionsWindows or PreviewMetaClean
Removes the GPS locationYesYesYes
Your original keptShares a copyYour choiceAlways
Camera, dates and AI tagsLocation onlyWindows onlyIf you choose
A folder and its subfoldersNoNoYes
Checked after cleaningNoNoEvery file

Online tools that “remove location from a photo for free” work too, but most upload your photo to their server first. A private photo, with your address in it, then leaves your device to have the address removed.

Your photos stay on your computer

Removing a location shouldn’t mean sending the photo somewhere else. MetaClean works on your own Mac or Windows PC: no uploads, no account, no file size limits. More about privacy →

People are asking

Where was this photo taken?

Does a screenshot remove it?How do I check a photo?Videos too?Can I keep the date?A whole folder at once?Is there a free way?

Photo location: your questions

How do I remove location from a photo on iPhone?

Open the photo in Photos, tap the More button, then Adjust Info › Adjust Location › No Location. To send a photo without its location and leave the original alone, tap Share, then Options, and turn Location off. “Location Not Included” appears above the Options button.

How do I remove location from photos on Windows?

Right-click the photo in File Explorer, choose Properties › Details and click Remove Properties and Personal Information. Pick Remove the following properties from this file and tick the GPS fields, or choose Create a copy with all possible properties removed. To remove only the location from a whole folder, subfolders included, use MetaClean’s Custom clean.

Does a screenshot remove the location from a photo?

A screenshot doesn’t carry the original’s GPS or camera details, but it is a new, smaller image with its own date and device, and it can include parts of your screen you didn’t mean to share. Removing the location from the original keeps full quality and changes nothing else.

How do I check if a photo has location data?

On iPhone, swipe up on the photo or tap the Info button. On a Mac, open it in Preview › Tools › Show Inspector and look for a GPS tab. On Windows, look under Properties › Details › GPS. Or drop it into our free EXIF viewer, which reads it in your browser without uploading it.

Do videos have location data too?

Yes. Apple notes that the Camera app’s location setting applies to videos as well as photos, and Android phones do the same. MetaClean removes the location from MP4 and MOV videos the same way as from photos, without re-encoding them.

Is there a free way to remove location from photos?

The share options on iPhone and Samsung phones, File Explorer on Windows and Preview on a Mac remove the location at no cost, one file or one share at a time, and leave the camera details and AI tags in. MetaClean is free to try for 3 days, then $5 once: it cleans whole folders, removes camera details and AI tags too if you want, and checks every copy.

Share the photo.
Not where you took it.

Remove the location, camera details and AI tags from your photos and videos on your own Mac or PC, with a verified copy every time. Free for 3 days, then $5 once.

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