How to remove GPS location from photos

On iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac — where the location hides and the fastest way to strip it before sharing.

A photo taken with location services enabled stores an exact coordinate: latitude, longitude and often altitude, accurate to a few metres. It is written into the EXIF block and travels with the file wherever you copy, upload or email it.

Fig. 01What is actually stored

latitude: 52.520008° N
longitude: 13.404954° E
altitude: 34 m
place: Berlin

GPSDateStamp: 2026:09:12GPSTimeStamp: 14:33:11ZGPSProcessingMethod: GPS

A single GPS fix is enough to identify a building — sometimes an apartment. The place name is usually derived by the app you use, not stored in the file, but the raw coordinate is.Exif GPS tags, CIPA DC-008

Where you can turn it off (before the photo exists)

iPhone / iPad: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → set to Never, or turn off "Precise Location". You can also remove the location for a single photo in Photos → Info.
Android: open the camera app → Settings → turn off Location tags / Geotagging. In Google Photos, swipe up on a photo → Edit → Remove location.
Remember that some apps re-add coordinates when they import a photo.

Where you can remove it (after the photo exists)

Fig. 02Where location hides, and how to get it out

WindowsFile Explorer

Right-click → Properties → Details → Remove Properties

macOSPreview / Get Info

Tools → Show Inspector → GPS → Remove

iPhone / AndroidPhotos app

Info → Adjust → No location

BrowserShredHub

Minimal presetautomatic re-scan

Every operating system exposes a different removal path. Only one of them re-verifies the result for you.

The command-line route

For a folder full of photos, tools like exiftool remove coordinates in bulk:

Fig. 03Stripping GPS in one pass

exiftool -gps:all= *.jpg

  1 image files updated
    1 image files updated
  Before: GPS Position : 52 deg 31' 12.03" N, 13 deg 24' 17.83" E
  After:  (no GPS tags)

The command removes only the GPS group and leaves the rest of the file untouched. Add -overwrite_original once you trust the result.ExifTool option reference

The browser route (no install)

Open the photo in ShredHub — analysis is local, the file is never uploaded.
Check the Location group. If it is empty, there is nothing to remove.
Choose the minimal preset to remove location only, or standard to also drop device and author data.
Download the cleaned file and re-scan it — ShredHub shows a verified clean badge.

Takeaway

Turning off location tags is the cheapest fix, but it only affects new photos. For the ones you already have, check before you share: the coordinate is invisible in the image and trivial to read in the file.