How to Geotag Photos on iPhone (Add or Change Location)

To geotag photos on iPhone, set Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera to While Using the App. For older photos, add a location in Photos with Adjust Location. Both are free.

If you only want the place to show on your Photos map, that is all you need. If the photo file itself must carry GPS when it leaves your phone, for a client, a Google Business Profile or Lightroom, see the section on writing GPS into the file.

Steps were checked against Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 27 and iOS 26 on 17 October 2026.

How to geotag photos on iPhone, step by step

1. Turn on location for the Camera

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Privacy & Security, then Location Services, and make sure it is on.
3. Tap Camera and choose While Using the App.
4. Leave Precise Location on. Apple says that to share only your approximate location, you turn Precise Location off (Apple iPhone User Guide), so with it off the Camera gets only an approximate position.

Choosing Never stops the Camera saving location (Apple Support). If you use another camera app, it has its own entry in the same list. More on camera settings in our guide to camera settings for GPS metadata.

2. Take a test photo and check it

Open the photo in Photos, then swipe up or tap the Info button (Apple iPhone User Guide). If the photo has a location, a map shows where it was taken.

How to add location to photos on iPhone you already took

Apple's Photos app can add or change the location of a photo you already have (Apple iPhone User Guide):

• Add a location: open the photo, swipe up or tap Info, then tap Add a location and enter a place.
• Change a location: on iOS 27, tap More, then Adjust Info, then Adjust Location. On iOS 26, tap More, then Adjust Location (iOS 26 guide).
• Many photos at once: tap Select, choose the photos, then follow the same steps.
• Undo: the same menu has Revert, which brings back the original date, time or location.

This is free and works inside Photos.

Will the location you add in Photos be in the file you send?

Apple says sharing a photo includes its metadata, such as date, time and location (Apple iPhone User Guide). Apple does not say whether a location you added by hand is written into the file in every export route, such as Mail, Save to Files or AirDrop. We have not tested this yet.

If it matters, check the file that arrives. Open it with the free geotag checker, which reads the GPS in your browser.

When the file itself must carry GPS

Some jobs need the coordinates inside the photo file, not only in your Photos library: delivering photos to a client, uploading to a Google Business Profile, importing into Lightroom on a computer, or sending to someone on Windows. For those, write the GPS into the file:

1. In Safari, open the tool to geotag photos online and choose your photo.
2. Open the geotag editor and set the spot: search a place, drop a pin on the map, or type latitude and longitude.
3. Download the geotagged photo.

What to know:

• The photo is read and edited in your browser and is not uploaded.
• Setting the location is free. You sign in only to download, and each downloaded geotagged photo costs 1 credit. New accounts start with 1 credit, so your first geotagged photo is free when you sign up.
• When it writes GPS, the editor saves a HEIC photo as a JPEG.
• It is a website, not an app.

For Google Business Profile photos, see geotagging photos for Google Business Profile.

How to see where an iPhone photo was taken and get its GPS coordinates

In Photos on iPhone. Swipe up or tap Info. If there is a location, a map shows where the photo was taken (Apple iPhone User Guide). A map does not prove the camera recorded the GPS: a location you added by hand shows the same way. If no map shows, Photos has no location for that photo.

Exact coordinates. Open the photo in Safari with the free EXIF viewer. It reads the GPS latitude and longitude from the file in your browser and pins the spot on a map.

On a Mac. In Preview, open the photo and choose Tools > Show Location Info. If that command is grey, the image has no location information (Apple Preview User Guide).

Why some iPhone photos have no location

• The Camera's location access was set to Never, or you did not allow it when asked.
• The photo was taken before you turned location on.
• It was taken with another camera app that has no location access.
• It is a screenshot, or a file saved from an app or website that removed the metadata. See do screenshots have location data.
• The phone had no location fix when you took it, for example deep indoors or underground.

You can add a location to any of these in Photos, as shown above.

Limits

• Menus change with iOS updates. These steps follow Apple's guides as read on 17 October 2026.
• A location is only as good as the spot you set. A hand-added location is where you put the pin, not where the camera was.
• Privacy works both ways. A geotagged photo shows where it was taken. To remove it, see how to remove location from a photo on iPhone.