How to remove location data from photos before you share them
Your phone quietly stores GPS coordinates inside every photo. Here's when that data is shared, how to remove it from photos you already have, and how to stop your camera recording it.
Updated 4 October 2026 · Image tools
What’s hidden inside a photo
Phone cameras save extra information, called EXIF metadata, inside each photo file:
- GPS location: latitude and longitude, accurate to a few metres.
- Date and time the photo was taken.
- Phone make and model, sometimes a serial number.
- Camera settings and the editing apps used.
You can’t see any of this in the photo itself, but anyone who gets the original file can read it in seconds.
When the location is shared, and when it isn’t
| How you share | Location usually included? |
|---|---|
| WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook (as a photo) | No, these apps strip it |
| WhatsApp “send as document” | Yes, the original file is sent |
| Email attachments | Yes |
| Google Drive, Dropbox, shared links | Yes |
| Marketplaces, rental and classified sites | Often yes |
| Bluetooth, Nearby Share, AirDrop | Yes |
The risky cases are the ones where the original file travels: documents, email and cloud links.
Remove it from photos you already have
- Open Remove EXIF data.
- Add the photos you plan to share. NapTools shows whether GPS location was found.
- Press Remove metadata and download the clean copies.
- Share the clean copies, not the originals.
For JPG, PNG and WebP, NapTools cuts out the metadata without re-encoding the image, so quality is exactly the same. Colour profiles are kept so colours don’t shift.
Stop your camera saving location
iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → choose Never.
When sharing a single photo on iPhone, you can also tap Options at the top of the share sheet and turn off Location for that share.
Android: open the Camera app → Settings → turn off Location tags, Save location or GPS tag. The exact name depends on your phone brand.
Turning it off affects new photos only; existing photos keep their location until you clean them.
Why it matters
Photos of a new flat, a child’s school uniform, a car outside your house or a parcel at your door can all point straight to where you live or spend time. Sellers on marketplaces and people posting rental listings are especially exposed, because their photos are public and often taken at home.
Does removing EXIF affect anything else?
Photos may lose their “taken on” date in some gallery apps, since that date comes from EXIF. Keep your originals privately, and share only the cleaned copies.