Privacy
Photo location data (EXIF): why and how to remove it before you share
Phone photos can carry the exact GPS spot where they were taken. How to check a photo for location data, when it gets shared, and how to remove it.
What is hidden in a photo
Besides the picture itself, a JPG or HEIC file from a phone usually contains a block of EXIF data: the camera model, the date and time to the second, exposure settings, the orientation of the phone and, if location was allowed for the camera, the GPS coordinates where you stood. Those coordinates are typically accurate to a few metres.
That is useful in your own photo library, which can show your holiday on a map. It is less welcome when a photo of your new sofa for an online marketplace quietly contains your home address.
When it actually leaks
Many large social networks strip location data from the copy they show to the public. But plenty of routes send the original file unchanged:
- Email attachments.
- Cloud storage share links and file transfer services.
- Many forums, classified-ad sites and small community sites.
- Messaging apps when you choose to send the photo “as a file” or in original quality.
Since it is hard to know what each service does, the safe habit is to remove location from any photo of your home, your children or your daily routine before it leaves your phone.
How to check a photo
- Windows: right-click the file → *Properties* → *Details*, and look for a *GPS* section.
- Mac: open it in Preview → *Tools* → *Show Inspector*; a *GPS* tab appears if there is location data.
- iPhone: open the photo in Photos and swipe up; a map means the photo has a location.
- Android (Google Photos): open the photo and swipe up to see the details and location.
How to remove it
Any of the image tools on deskumo can do it, because they redraw the picture in your browser and save a brand-new file. The new file contains the pixels only, without the original EXIF block, so the GPS coordinates, camera model and timestamp are gone.
- JPG PNG WebP Converter: convert to JPG (or keep the format you need). This is the simplest option for one-off photos.
- Bulk Image Resizer: useful if you also want a smaller picture, for example 1,600 px wide for a listing.
- Compress Image: removes it as a side effect too. One exception: if a photo is already so small that compressing wouldn’t help, the tool returns the original unchanged, metadata included. Use the converter in that case.
The photo is processed on your device and isn’t uploaded, which matters for exactly the kind of picture you are trying to keep private. Afterwards, check the new file with one of the methods above.
Stop adding it in the first place
- iPhone: *Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → Never*. When sharing from Photos you can also tap *Options* at the top of the share sheet and switch *Location* off for that share.
- Android: open the Camera app’s settings and turn off the option called something like *Location tags* or *Save location* (the name varies by manufacturer).
You lose the map view in your own photo library, so some people prefer to keep it on and clean photos before sharing instead.