To remove location data from photos on a Mac, choose Image > Location > Hide Location in Photos. On Windows, use Properties > Details > Remove Properties and Personal Information. On any device, a browser tool can remove GPS from a photo.
The browser route strips a copy, free and without uploading it.
Steps were checked against Apple's current guides on 17 October 2026.
Key takeaways
- Turning off camera location stops new photos being geotagged. It does nothing to photos you already have.
- Removing location from existing photos means hiding or stripping the GPS fields in the file.
- Built-in options differ by device, and each has limits.
- Always check the result in a metadata viewer.
Turning off camera location vs removing it from photos already taken
| Goal | What to do | Affects old photos? |
|---|---|---|
| Stop new photos from recording location | Turn off the camera's location setting | No |
| Remove location from photos you already have | Hide or strip the GPS metadata in each file | Yes |
| Share one photo without its location | Remove location on the shared copy | Only the copy |
A geotag is stored as EXIF metadata inside the image file (fields such as GPSLatitude and GPSLongitude). It travels with the file unless something removes it. See our guide to GPS metadata in photos.
How to remove location data from photos on Mac
Photos for Mac
Apple's Photos guide for macOS 27 says: select the photo, then choose Image > Location, then Hide Location or Revert to Original Location (Apple Photos User Guide). Apple's Personal Safety guide gives the same steps (Apple Support).
Apple does not say whether a hidden location is left out of a file you export, and the export dialog in the current guide lists no location option (Apple Photos User Guide). Check the exported file before you send it.
Preview
Apple's Preview guide covers viewing location only: open the photo and choose Tools > Show Location Info. If that command is grey, the image has no location information (Apple Preview User Guide). It does not describe removing it.
Third-party guides such as 512 Pixels (2016) describe Tools > Show Inspector > the GPS tab > Remove Location Info, then saving the image. That is an older macOS; your menus may differ. It removes GPS only; camera model, dates and other fields stay.
How to remove location data from photos on Windows
File Explorer has a built-in option:
- Right-click the photo and choose Properties.
- Open the Details tab.
- Click Remove Properties and Personal Information.
- Choose to create a copy with all possible properties removed, or pick the fields to remove, such as the GPS fields.
We found no current Microsoft support page for this dialog. Microsoft's TechNet Magazine described it in the Windows 7 era (TechNet Magazine). Menu names may differ in your Windows version, and users on Microsoft's Q&A forum report that the option sometimes leaves properties in place. Check the result.
See what your photo is actually revealing
Drop a photo to view its GPS location and full EXIF. Everything runs in your browser — the file never leaves your device.
Read in your browser. Your photo is not uploaded or stored.
iPhone
- Remove it from the photo: in Photos tap More, then Adjust Info > Adjust Location > No Location (Apple Support).
- Send a copy without it: Share > Options > Location off. Apple's iOS 26 guide lists this switch; the iOS 27 guide no longer does.
- Stop new photos saving it: Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera > Never.
Full steps for iOS 26 and iOS 27: how to remove location from a photo on iPhone.
Android
Steps depend on your phone brand and gallery app.
- Pixel, new photos: open the Camera app, tap Settings, then More settings, and turn off Save location (Pixel Camera Help).
- Google Photos, existing photos: Google says you can only change or remove estimated locations and locations you added yourself. A location your camera added cannot be removed there (Google Photos Help).
- Samsung Gallery: Samsung documents a "Remove Location data" option on the share screen, in a 2022 page written for One UI 3.0 or higher (Samsung Support). The label on newer One UI versions may differ.
Because of the Google Photos limit, a browser tool is often the simplest route for camera-tagged Android photos.
Remove location from photos on any device, or many at once
A browser tool works the same on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android:
- Open the tool to remove GPS from a photo.
- Drop in your photos. Up to 25 at once without an account; more needs a free account.
- Download the clean copy, or a zip for a batch.
It is free and needs no account. The photo is read and stripped in your browser and is never uploaded. When a photo has GPS, the page shows it on a map, so map tiles for that area load from OpenFreeMap. Place search, and the address shown in the geotag editor, use Geoapify. If you are signed in and click Save my result, the file name, coordinates, camera and date (never the image) are saved to your account.
It removes all metadata, not only GPS. For JPEG it deletes the EXIF, XMP, IPTC and content-credential segments without recompressing the image. HEIC files are converted to JPEG first. PNG and WebP are re-encoded, which drops their metadata. More detail in our guide to removing EXIF data from photos.
Check that the location is really gone
- Open the cleaned copy in the Photo Privacy Checker.
- Confirm it reports no GPS location.
- If GPS still shows, you are looking at the original, or the built-in option did not finish. Strip again and re-check.
You can inspect every field with the EXIF viewer. To learn what apps remove on upload, see which apps strip EXIF data.
Limits
- Removing metadata does not change what the picture shows. A street sign or a view can still reveal where you were.
- A visible stamp or watermark with coordinates is part of the pixels. Metadata removal does not touch it.
- Copies you already sent, or a cloud backup of the original, keep whatever they had.