How to Remove Location Data From Photos Before You Share

Most phone photos quietly record where they were taken. That is useful for finding vacation pictures on a map, but it also means a photo of your front porch, your kid's school, or an item you are selling can carry its location with it when you share it.

Apple explains it plainly in its Personal Safety guide: when Location Services is on for the Camera app, location coordinates "are embedded into each photo and video," and the people you share them with "may be able to access the location metadata and learn where it was taken."

Menu paths below follow Apple's and Google's help pages as of October 2026. Both iPhone and Android give you control at three points: when you share, after the photo is saved, and before you take the next one.

1. On iPhone

1.1. Share without location (one time)

Apple's steps:

1. Open the Photos app, or the camera roll from the Camera app, and select one or more photos.
2. Tap the Share button, then tap Options.
3. Turn off Location.
4. Check that Location Not Included appears above the Options button.
5. Share using any method in the share sheet.

Apple describes this as sharing photos without sharing the location where they were taken.

1.2. Remove location from a saved photo

If you want the location gone from the photo in your library:

1. Open the Photos app and the photo.
2. Tap the More button.
3. Tap Adjust Info, then Adjust Location, then No Location.

On a Mac, Apple says to select the photos in Photos, then choose Image > Location > Hide Location. You can later choose Revert to Original Location.

1.3. Stop recording location in new photos

Apple notes that location metadata "can be collected only if your Camera app has access to Location Services." To turn it off:

• Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera, then tap Never.

New photos will have no location. Existing photos keep theirs until you remove it.

1.4. Check which photos have a location

To see what is tagged, open a photo and swipe up for its details. In the Photos app, the Map collection under Pinned shows only pictures with embedded location data, which is a quick way to audit your library.

2. On Pixel and in Google Photos

2.1. Stop the camera saving location

Google's Pixel Camera Help lists the setting:

1. Open the Camera app.
2. Tap Settings at the bottom left, then More settings.
3. Turn off Save location.

On other Android phones, Google Photos Help says to open your Camera app's settings and turn the location setting off, noting that this setting varies by manufacturer.

2.2. Know what Google Photos can and cannot remove

This surprises many people. Google says you can only change or remove estimated locations and locations you added manually. If your camera added the location automatically, Google Photos cannot edit or remove it.

To remove an estimated location:

1. Open the photo in Google Photos.
2. Tap More, then Edit.
3. Tap Remove location.

You can also select several photos, tap More, then Edit location, and remove it from all of them.

2.3. Control location when sharing in Google Photos

Google describes separate controls for each kind of sharing:

• Shared albums: open the album, tap Share, then Options, and turn Share photo locations on or off. The same option appears when you create an album.
• Conversations: location sharing is off by default for new conversations. Conversations started before August 18, 2021 may still show locations unless you turned that off.
• Partner sharing: all photos you share include location details.

Google adds an important limit: these controls do not affect photos you share outside Google Photos. If you download a photo and email it, the original location your device saved goes with it, without any edits you made in Google Photos.

3. What location removal cannot hide

Google points out that even with locations hidden, people "can guess the location based on landmarks in your photo." A street sign, a house number, a school logo, or a recognizable view can give away as much as the coordinates. For sensitive photos, check the background as well as the settings.

4. A quick checklist before you post

1. Is the location attached? Check the photo's details.
2. Sharing from iPhone? Tap Options and turn off Location.
3. Sharing from Google Photos? Check the album or conversation's location setting.
4. Sending a downloaded file? Remember that the camera's original location goes with it.
5. Scan the background for signs, numbers, or landmarks.

5. Key takeaways

• On iPhone, tap Share, then Options, and turn off Location to send photos without where they were taken.
• Remove a saved photo's location with Adjust Info, then Adjust Location, then No Location.
• Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera > Never stops iPhone recording location in new photos.
• On Pixel, turn off Save location in the Camera app's More settings.
• Google Photos cannot remove locations your camera added, and its sharing controls do not apply to downloaded files.