How to Remove the Location From a Photo on iPhone (3 Free Ways)

To remove the location from a photo on iPhone, open the Share sheet, tap Options at the top and turn Location off before you send it, or remove it from the photo itself in the Photos info panel. If you need a clean file that you can check, send anywhere and keep, strip the GPS data in your browser with Filevale. Here is when to use each method.

Why your iPhone photos carry a location

When Location Services is on for the Camera, every photo stores the GPS coordinates of where it was taken, along with the phone model and the date. That information is saved inside the file as EXIF data and travels with it. Many social networks remove it when you post publicly, but email, messaging apps that send files as documents, cloud links and marketplaces often keep it.

Turn off location when you share

The quickest option for a single share is built into iOS:

1. Open the photo in Photos and tap the Share button.
2. Tap Options at the top of the Share sheet.
3. Turn off Location, tap Done, then pick the app or contact.

This only affects the copy you are sending. The photo in your library keeps its location, and you have to remember the toggle every time.

Remove the location from the photo in Photos

On recent iOS versions you can delete the location from the photo itself. Open the photo, swipe up or tap the info button, tap Adjust next to the map, then choose No Location. This removes the GPS position, but the camera details and date stay in the file.

Strip location and other metadata in your browser

If you want to see exactly what is removed, or you are cleaning photos that are already in Files, use Remove EXIF Data from Photos in Safari. It deletes the GPS location, camera, date taken and software from JPG, PNG, WebP and HEIC files, and nothing is uploaded.

1. Open Remove EXIF Data from Photos and choose your photos from Photos or Files. You can add several at once.
2. Click Remove metadata from. Everything happens on your device.
3. Check the list of what was removed under each file, for example GPS location, camera and date taken.
4. Download the clean copy. Your original is not changed.

JPG, PNG and WebP files are rewritten without re-compressing, so every pixel is identical. iPhone HEIC photos are saved as high-quality JPG, because HEIC metadata can't be edited in place in a browser. The rotation tag is kept, so a portrait photo still shows the right way up. If you prefer an app, the free Filevale iPhone app on the App Store has the same kind of tools on-device; the browser tool is the option that needs nothing installed.

Videos and other files

iPhone videos usually store the GPS position where they were filmed too. Remove Metadata from Video & Audio deletes the location, device and dates from MOV and MP4 files, and the streams are copied without re-encoding, so quality stays the same. For a mixed batch of photos, PDFs, Office files and videos, Remove Metadata cleans each one the right way for its type.

Stop the camera saving location

To keep location out of future photos, open Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera and choose Never. Photos you have already taken keep their location, so clean those with one of the methods above. For the same task on Android, Windows or Mac, see how to remove the location from a photo before sharing it.

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