Photo location checker

How a photo stores its location

When a phone's camera app has permission to use location, it writes the position into the photo as GPS tags: latitude, longitude and often altitude, direction and the time from the GPS clock. On iPhone, Apple notes that location metadata is only collected if the Camera app has access to Location Services^[1].

The checker reads those tags and shows the position as decimal coordinates. The map link is optional: opening it sends the coordinates to openstreetmap.org, so it is off until you click.

If no location is found

That does not prove the photo was never geotagged. Apps, messaging services and websites can drop GPS tags when a photo is uploaded, sent or downloaded, and screenshots usually carry none. If you need to know where a photo was taken, the original file from the camera is the one to check. Without GPS tags, the only clues are in the picture itself.

Removing the location

For JPEG, PNG and WebP files, use Remove metadata and re-check above. The cleaned copy is read again so you can confirm the GPS position is gone. This removes all other metadata too, such as the camera serial number and date taken.

For HEIC photos straight from an iPhone, removal isn't available here. Apple's own options work well:

• Share without location: in Photos, select the photos, tap the Share button, tap Options, and turn off Location^[1].
• Remove it from the saved photo: open the photo, tap More, then Adjust Info, Adjust Location, No Location^[1].

In Google Photos, a location recorded by the camera can't be edited or removed, and a photo you download and email keeps the location saved by your device^[2]. Clean the downloaded copy before you send it.

More steps for iPhone, Mac and Google Photos are in How to remove location from photos.

Checking photos other people send you

Use this to understand a file you received, or to check what your own photos would reveal. Don't use location data to find or follow a person.