Remove Location from iPhone Photos Before Sending

Short answer: to remove location from iPhone photos before you send them, use the Location switch in the Share sheet's Options if your iPhone shows it, or remove the location from the photo itself with Adjust Info > Adjust Location > No Location. To stop new photos from saving a location, set Camera to Never in Location Services. For a photo you already saved as a file, or one you need to send as an original, a browser tool such as Remove GPS from Photo strips the metadata from a copy without uploading it.

This guide is only about iPhone. For Android, Windows and Mac, see our main guide on how to remove location from photos.

What an iPhone photo carries when you share it

When location is allowed for the Camera, your iPhone saves where each photo was taken inside the file. Apple's iPhone User Guide says it plainly: sharing a photo or video includes sharing its associated metadata, such as date and time, location, device and captions. (Apple iPhone User Guide)

So if you do nothing, assume the location goes with the photo. Apple's guide names Mail, Messages and AirDrop as sharing options from Photos, and does not say any of them removes location for you.

You can see what a photo holds before you send it. Open the photo in Photos and swipe up, or tap the info button. If it has a location, you see where it was taken, with a link to Maps. (Apple iPhone User Guide)

Method 1: turn off Location in the Share sheet

This removes location from the copy you send. The photo in your library keeps it. Apple's Personal Safety User Guide lists these steps: (Apple Support)

1. Open Photos and select one or more photos.
2. Tap the Share button, then tap Options.
3. Turn off Location.
4. Check that Location Not Included shows above the Options button.
5. Share the photos as usual.

Check your iOS version. Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 26 and iOS 18 lists the Location switch under Options. The iOS 27 version of the same page no longer lists it. It only lists Keywords, the file format, and All Photos Data. If you do not see a Location switch on your phone, use Method 2 or Method 4 instead. (iPhone User Guide, iOS 26)

Leave All Photos Data off. Apple says turning on All Photos Data shares the original file with its edit history and metadata. The iOS 27 guide says it works with AirDrop only. The iOS 26 guide says AirDrop and iCloud links. For a private send, keep it off.

Method 2: remove the location from the photo itself

If you want the photo in your library to stop carrying a location, edit it. Apple's Personal Safety User Guide gives these steps:

1. Open the Photos app and open the photo.
2. Tap the More button.
3. Tap Adjust Info, tap Adjust Location, then tap No Location.

Apple's iPhone User Guide says you can do this for a batch: tap Select, choose the photos, then follow the same steps. (Apple iPhone User Guide)

The same page says you can tap Revert to bring back the original date, time or location. So Photos still knows the original location after you clear it. That is fine for everyday sharing, but it is a good reason to check the file you actually send, as shown below.

Method 3: stop the Camera from saving location

Methods 1 and 2 deal with photos you already have. To stop new photos from recording where you are, Apple says to go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera, then tap Never. (Apple Support)

This does nothing to photos you already took. Those keep their location until you remove it. It also means features that sort photos by place will not have a location for new shots.

What about screenshots?

A screenshot is made by the system from what is on your screen, not by the Camera. So it does not start with the GPS location of where you stood. Our post on whether screenshots have location data goes through what a screenshot does carry.

Two catches make a screenshot a weak privacy fix:

• It copies what is on screen. If the photo shows a street sign, a house number or a view, the screenshot shows it too.
• You lose quality. A screenshot is limited to your screen's resolution and includes anything else on screen.

Also, Photos lets you add a location to an item by hand. If you or an app added one, it is there. Check before you send.

Messages, AirDrop and Mail

Apple's guide says sharing includes the photo's metadata, and it does not describe Messages, AirDrop or Mail removing location on their own. Treat all three as sending the location unless you used Method 1 or Method 2 first.

AirDrop has one extra setting to watch: All Photos Data. If it is on, Apple says the person gets the original file with its edit history and metadata.

Other apps follow their own rules. WhatsApp, for example, behaves differently depending on how you send. Our post on whether WhatsApp removes photo location covers that.

When you need a browser tool instead

The iPhone methods work inside the Photos app. They do not help in every case. A browser tool is the simpler route when:

• The photo is a file, not in Photos. It sits in the Files app, came as an email attachment, or was saved from another app.
• You are sending it as a file or original. For example as a document in a chat app, or uploaded to a website that keeps metadata.
• Your iPhone does not show the Location switch. As noted above, the iOS 27 guide no longer lists it.
• You want everything gone, not only location. Camera model, dates and other fields can still say a lot.

Here is how to do it with Remove GPS from Photo in Safari on your iPhone:

1. Open the page and tap to choose a photo.
2. Look at what it found. If the photo has a location, the page shows it on a map.
3. Strip the metadata and save the clean copy.
4. Share that clean copy, not the original from Photos.

What to know about the result:

• The photo is read and stripped in your browser. It is not uploaded. Removing GPS is free and needs no account.
• Strip removes all metadata, not only GPS. Camera details and dates go too.
• HEIC photos, the iPhone default, are converted to JPEG during stripping. That decoding step is lossy, so the clean copy is a JPEG and not a perfect copy of the HEIC.
• When the map shows a location, map tiles for that area load from a map server. Your photo is not part of that request.

Check before you send

Do not trust a switch label. Open the copy you plan to send in the Photo Privacy Checker and confirm it shows no GPS location. If you want to see every field, use the EXIF viewer. Our guide on how to check if a photo has location data shows what to look for.

Limits to keep in mind

• The picture can still give you away. Removing metadata does not change what the photo shows. Signs, landmarks and the view out of a window can reveal a place.
• Copies already sent stay as they were. Removing location now does not change a photo someone already has, or a backup of the original.
• Menus change with iOS updates. The steps above come from Apple's guides as of October 2026. If your screen looks different, check Apple's current guide for your iOS version.

If you are curious about the other direction, reading the coordinates from your iPhone photos, see our iPhone photo GPS guide.

For a photo that has to go out clean, the steady route is the same on any iPhone: make a clean copy with Remove GPS from Photo, check it, then send that copy.