Quick answer: to remove location from a photo, you have to delete the GPS coordinates stored inside the file, not just switch location off in your camera. Turning the camera setting off only protects future photos. For photos you already took, use your phone's share options, your computer's file properties, or a browser tool such as GeoTag.world's GPS remover, which strips the metadata from a copy of the file for free with no account.
Key takeaways
- Turning off camera location stops new photos from being geotagged. It does nothing to photos you already have.
- Removing location from photos already taken means editing or stripping the EXIF GPS fields in the file.
- iPhone can drop location from a shared copy: Share > Options > Location off. The original stays geotagged.
- Windows and macOS have built-in options, but menu names differ by version and each has limits.
- Always check the result. Open the cleaned file in a metadata viewer and confirm the GPS fields are gone.
Turning off camera location vs removing it from photos already taken
These are two separate jobs, and mixing them up is a common reason people still leak their location.
| 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 | Strip the GPS metadata from 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 wherever you send it, unless the app you use strips it. See our guide to GPS metadata in photos for the full picture.
iPhone
Stop recording location (future photos). Apple's documentation says to go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera and choose Never. (Apple Support)
- Remove it from the photo itself. Apple documents: open the photo, swipe up, tap Adjust Info, tap Adjust Location, then tap No Location. (Apple Support)
Share without location (existing photos).
- Open Photos and select one or more photos.
- Tap the Share button, then tap Options.
- Turn Location off.
- Share as usual. "Location Not Included" appears above Options when it worked.
Apple describes this as removing location from what you share. This applies to the copy you share. To clear the photo itself, use Adjust Location (above). Menu names differ by iOS version, so if Options looks different on your phone, check Apple's page above.
Android
Android is not one system. The steps depend on your phone brand and gallery app, so menu names differ by version and by device.
- Camera setting (future photos). On Pixel, Google's help says to open the Camera app, tap Settings, then More settings, and turn off Save location. (Pixel Camera Help) Other brands use a similar toggle, often called Location tags or Save location.
- Google Photos (existing photos). Open the photo, tap More > Edit, then Remove location. Google states you can only remove estimated locations and ones you added manually. If your camera added the location automatically, Google Photos cannot remove it. (Google Photos Help)
- Samsung Gallery. Samsung documents a "Remove Location data" option on the share screen for some Galaxy models on One UI 3.0 or higher. (Samsung Support) Guides such as Android Central also describe swiping up on the photo, tapping Edit and removing the location. Availability varies by model.
Because of the Google Photos limit above, a browser tool is often the reliable route for camera-tagged Android photos. For the Android metadata side, see extracting GPS from Android photos.
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.
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Windows
Windows has a built-in option in File Explorer:
- 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 select specific properties such as the GPS fields.
Menu names differ by version of Windows. We did not find a Microsoft support page describing this exact dialog, so this is based on widely published guides and on how the dialog looks in File Explorer. Microsoft's own Q&A forum carries user reports that the option sometimes fails to remove properties. Do not assume it worked: check the result, as covered below.
macOS
Preview's own guide from Apple covers viewing location (Tools > Show Location Info), and says that command is greyed out when the image has no location. (Apple Support) Apple's guide does not describe removal. Third-party guides such as 512 Pixels describe the flow as Tools > Show Inspector > the GPS tab > Remove Location Info, then save the image. Menu names differ by macOS version, and this removes GPS only: camera model, dates and other EXIF fields stay.
Remove location from many photos at once, or from any file
The built-in options above work one app at a time and differ per device. A browser tool gives you the same steps everywhere:
- Open Remove GPS from Photo.
- Drop in your photos. Batch mode accepts up to 25 files at once without an account; more needs a free account.
- Download the cleaned copy, or a zip for a batch.
It is free and needs no account. The photo file 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 and coordinates are saved to your account.
What the tool actually does: 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. If you want the specifics, read our guide to removing EXIF data from photos.
This is how to remove geolocation from photos on any device, including your desktop, and how to remove geotags from images in bulk before sharing.
Check that the location is really gone
Never trust a menu label. After removing location:
- 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 file, or the built-in tool did not finish. Strip again with the browser tool and re-check.
You can also inspect every field with the EXIF viewer. To learn what platforms remove for you on upload, see which apps strip EXIF data.
Limits to know
- Removing metadata does not change what the picture shows. A street sign, a storefront 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.