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[Photos]Published DateTimeOriginal 2026:10:27

How to remove location from photos on iPhone, Mac and Google Photos

Step-by-step ways to share photos without their GPS position, remove it from saved photos, and stop your camera recording it, based on Apple's and Google's own instructions.

A photo’s location is stored as GPS tags inside the file. Whether it is there depends on your camera’s location permission at the moment you took the photo. Below are the options each platform documents, starting with the one most people need: sending a photo without its location.

Check first: does this photo have a location?

Drop the file into the photo location checker. It reads the GPS tags in your browser and shows the coordinates if there are any. Check the copy you are about to send: a photo exported, downloaded or shared from an app may differ from the one in your library.

On iPhone or iPad you can also open the photo in Photos and swipe up, or tap the Info button, to see its location[1].

iPhone and iPad

Share a photo without its location

  1. In Photos, select the photos you want to share.
  2. Tap the Share button, then tap Options.
  3. Turn off Location. “Location Not Included” appears above the Options button.
  4. Share as usual[1].

You need to do this each time you share. It applies to the copy you send; the photo in your library keeps its location.

Remove the location from a saved photo

  1. Open the photo in Photos and tap the More button.
  2. Tap Adjust Info, then Adjust Location, then No Location[1].

Stop new photos recording location

Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera and choose Never. Apple notes that location metadata is collected only if the Camera app has access to Location Services[1]. Photos you already took keep their location.

Mac

In the Photos app, select the photos, then choose Image > Location > Hide Location[1]. Apple’s guide does not describe a separate share-without-location option on Mac, so if you are exporting files to send, check the exported copy with the checker or clean it with the metadata remover.

Google Photos

Google Photos treats two kinds of location differently[2]:

  • Recorded by your camera: can’t be edited or removed in Google Photos.
  • Estimated by Google Photos from landmarks or your other photos: can be removed. On a computer, open the photo at photos.google.com, click Info, then next to the location click More, Edit, Remove location.

Google also notes that sharing outside Google Photos, for example downloading a photo and emailing it, sends the original location saved by your device[2]. If you download a photo to send it, clean the downloaded file before it goes anywhere.

Any device: clean the file itself

If you have the file (a JPEG, PNG or WebP), the metadata remover removes the GPS tags together with other metadata, then reads the cleaned copy again to confirm nothing is left. For iPhone HEIC files, use Apple’s share option above, or export as JPEG and clean that copy.

Questions

Does turning off Location when sharing remove all metadata?
No. It removes the location from the shared copy. Other fields, such as the date taken and the device model, can still be included. Use the metadata remover if you want those gone too.
If I remove the location, can someone still tell where the photo was taken?
Possibly. Landmarks, signs and other details in the picture itself can give a place away, and Google notes this in its own help page.

Sources

  1. Manage location metadata in Photos, Apple Support (Personal Safety User Guide) (2026-09). Official documentation · checked October 27, 2026 · Full page
    Limits: Menu names can change between iOS and macOS versions. The page gives no Mac steps for sharing without location.
  2. Understand, find & edit your photos' locations, Google Photos Help. Official documentation · checked October 27, 2026 · Full page
    Limits: Computer steps only; the page does not describe Android camera settings.

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