Remove location data from photos before sharing

A photo file from your phone can carry more than the picture: where it was taken, which phone took it and when. Before you post photos to a marketplace listing, a forum or social media, check two things. Remove the hidden location data (EXIF) from the file, and hide personal details that are visible in the picture, such as license plates, account numbers and shipping labels.

What a photo file stores besides the picture

The way digital cameras and phones record this information is set by the Exif standard from the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA). In Exif 2.3, the “GPS Attribute Information” section (4.6.6) defines fields such as latitude, longitude, altitude, GPS time (UTC), the direction the camera was facing and the speed of movement. Latitude and longitude are stored as three values: degrees, minutes and seconds. The same document also has tags for the camera make and model, the date and time the photo was taken, the camera owner’s name and the camera body’s serial number.

Google Photos Help puts it simply: “When you take a photo or video, the camera app may capture and save location data.” If that data stays in the file, anyone who gets the file can see where it was taken with an everyday feature like a photo app’s info view. A photo of an item you’re selling, taken at home, can carry your home’s location along with it.

Whether a service strips this info from photos you post varies, and policies change. Removing it yourself first is the reliable way.

Phone settings that keep location out

Your phone’s settings can also handle future photos and sharing. The menu names below come from Apple’s and Google’s official help pages (checked October 1, 2026) and may differ by OS version and device.

What you want	iPhone	Android
Stop saving location in new photos	Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera, then tap Never	In the camera app’s settings, turn off Save location (Google devices) or Location tags (Samsung devices)
Leave location out when sharing	In Photos, tap the Share Sheet button → Options, then turn off Location	Google Photos doesn’t include location details in new shared albums, links or conversations by default, except partner sharing
Remove location from a photo	In Photos, tap the More button → Adjust Info → Adjust Location → No Location	Remove it from the file itself (next section)

A few things are worth knowing:

• Turning off location in the camera only affects photos you take afterward. Photos you already took keep their location.
• A sharing option applies only to that way of sharing. Photos copied to a computer, or picked as files from another app, may still contain location, so check them again.
• Google Photos Help notes that even if you don’t include a location when you share, people “may be able to guess based on landmarks in your photo or video.” What’s visible matters as much as what’s in the file.

Remove the location left in the file

For photos you already took, remove the info from the file itself. Remove EXIF accepts JPG, PNG and WebP. As soon as you add a photo, the Photo info table lists what it found: Location (GPS), Camera, Date taken, Software, Author, Copyright and Other info. Everything in the table is then removed. If nothing is found, you’ll see “No info to remove”.

The tool doesn’t recompress the photo. It only takes out the parts that hold the info. With a test JPG (1200×900, 171 KB) containing fake GPS and camera info, the image data matched the original byte for byte, and the file got 358 bytes smaller. Measured in desktop Chrome; results vary by device and browser. Portrait photos keep just the orientation tag so they don’t end up sideways. Motion photo video or extra images appended to the end of a JPG are removed too, because they can carry their own location data.

This tool doesn’t accept HEIC, the default format on iPhone. Convert it with HEIC to JPG and the resulting JPG won’t keep location or other metadata. The difference is that the conversion recompresses the photo. For ways to convert, see How to convert iPhone HEIC photos to JPG: 3 ways.

Hide what’s visible, and crop out the rest

Removing EXIF doesn’t change what’s in the picture. Before you post, zoom in and check for things like:

• Car license plates
• Shipping labels on boxes, with names, addresses and phone numbers
• Account numbers or names on bank books, cards and receipts
• Addresses on mail and bills, apartment numbers on doors, buildings visible through windows
• Other people’s faces, and reflections in mirrors or glass

Cover these with Blur Image. Choose an effect: Mosaic (the default), Blur or Black box. Mosaic and Blur also have a strength of Low, Medium or High. For text and numbers, use Black box or Mosaic (High). A black box leaves none of the original pixels, while Blur looks natural but text under it can sometimes be recovered. A mosaic block is the area’s short side divided by 16 (Low), 10 (Medium) or 6 (High), so higher strength means bigger blocks.

If the photo only needs to show the item, you can also cut the background away with Crop Image. Fit the crop box around the item and clues like the view from your window go with it. If you use both, crop first and then hide what’s left.

Both tools build the result fresh from the pixels, so location and other metadata isn’t kept either. The same test JPG had no EXIF after a Mosaic at Medium (148 KB, same measurement conditions). So you don’t need a separate EXIF step for photos you’ve blurred or cropped.

How to do it with ZEKILO Studio

1. Open Remove EXIF and drag and drop your photos or pick them with [Choose files]. The Photo info table shows items such as Location (GPS) and Camera right away, and removal starts automatically. Save with [Download], or use [Download all (ZIP)] for several photos. You can skip this step for photos you’re going to blur or crop.
2. To trim the background, first fit the crop box in Crop Image, press [Start] and save with [Download].
3. If something visible still needs hiding, add the saved result to Blur Image, then draw an area or press [Add area]. Choose Black box, or set Mosaic to High, press [Start], and zoom in on the result once more before you post.

All three tools process your photos inside this browser, and files never leave your device. To see how that works, read How do online file tools work without uploading?

Summary

• Under the Exif standard, phone photos can store GPS data such as latitude and longitude, along with the camera model and date taken.
• For future photos, turn off location in the camera. When sharing, use the option that leaves location out.
• For photos you already took, use Remove EXIF to strip the info without recompressing. Converting HEIC to JPG also leaves no metadata.
• Hide license plates, shipping labels and account numbers with Black box or Mosaic (High), not Blur.
• Crop out the background, and zoom in on the result before you post.