How to remove location data from photos before you share them

You send a photo of your new flat to a stranger selling a sofa. Without knowing it, you may also have sent them the exact coordinates of your front door. Photos from phones usually carry location data, and it travels with the file unless you remove it.

Where the location comes from

When location access is allowed for the camera app, the phone writes the GPS position into the picture file when you take it. It sits in a hidden section called EXIF metadata, along with the time and the phone model. You cannot see it in the image, but anyone who gets the original file can read it with a free tool.

Who sees it, and who does not

• Most large social networks remove location data from the version they display, though policies change and they may keep it on their side.
• Email, cloud links and “send as file” in messaging apps usually deliver the original with everything inside.
• Marketplace and forum uploads vary from site to site. Do not assume.

Three ways to protect yourself

1. Stop the phone adding it

Turn off location access for the camera app in your phone’s privacy settings. Future photos will have no GPS data. This is the most reliable habit, but it does not help with photos you already took.

2. Remove it from a photo you already have

1. Open the Photo Metadata Viewer & Remover.
2. Drop in the photos. The tool lists the location, camera and date it found in each one.
3. Download the clean copies and share those.

Photo Metadata Viewer & RemoverFree · runs in your browser · nothing is uploadedOpen tool

3. Take a screenshot

A screenshot of a photo is a new image with no location data. It is a quick fix, but the quality is lower and the screenshot has its own metadata, such as the date.

Check before you share

Run a photo through the viewer first. If it shows a location, you know the original would have shared it. Because the tool works in your browser, you can check as many photos as you like without uploading any of them.