How to remove location from photos
Photos taken on a phone can store the exact location in hidden data. To remove it, turn off location for the camera app, or switch off location in the share options when you send a photo, and check a photo's info panel to confirm. Most social apps strip this data on upload, but files sent by email, messaging or cloud links often keep it.
Why it matters: A photo posted from home can carry your address in its hidden data.
Steps
- Open location permissions and set the camera app to never, or accept that new photos carry location.
- Open a recent photo, view its info or details, and see whether a map or place appears.
- When sharing, open the share options and turn off location before sending.
- For files sent by email or links, use the share option that removes location, or take a screenshot of the photo and send that.
- Look at the background too: house numbers, street signs, car plates and school names give places away.
- Wait to post travel photos until you have left the place.
Common mistakes
- Assuming every app removes location data.
- Checking metadata but forgetting what is visible in the picture.
- Posting live from a place you visit regularly.
Teach this to someone
A one page sheet for showing a friend, a teenager or a parent: what to say, what to show, and one question to check it landed.
Teach: How to remove location from photos
What to say
Photos taken on a phone can store the exact location in hidden data. To remove it, turn off location for the camera app, or switch off location in the share options when you send a photo, and check a photo's info panel to confirm. Most social apps strip this data on upload, but files sent by email, messaging or cloud links often keep it.
What to show
- Open location permissions and set the camera app to never, or accept that new photos carry location.
- Open a recent photo, view its info or details, and see whether a map or place appears.
- When sharing, open the share options and turn off location before sending.
- For files sent by email or links, use the share option that removes location, or take a screenshot of the photo and send that.
- Look at the background too: house numbers, street signs, car plates and school names give places away.
- Wait to post travel photos until you have left the place.
Check question
Where can you check if a photo stores location?
Answer: The photo's info or details panel. The info panel shows the stored location when there is one.
Your checklist
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Related skills
Sources
- US national cybersecurity guidance for individuals, 2026. Reviewed September 28, 2026.
Written in our own words from the sources above. It is general information, not advice for your situation; where a professional, your doctor or your lease says something different, follow them.
Last reviewed . First published .