Photo Location & Privacy Checker
See where and when a photo was taken, and what took it, from the details hidden in the file. Then save a copy without them before you post or send it. Your photo is read on this device: nothing is uploaded.
Your photo’s hidden details
Choose a photo to checkIts hidden details are read on this device: where it was taken, when, and what took it. Nothing is uploaded.
Advice quoted from Apple Support and Google Photos Help, read September 28, 2026.
A photo shows where it was taken only if the camera wrote the spot into the file: a phone does when its camera may use your location. Choose the photo above to read it, with the date and the phone, and save a copy without them before you post. Nothing is uploaded.
How to use it
Tap “Choose a photo” (or drop one on the tool). The file is read by your own browser, and the answer lists everything hidden in it that anyone you send it to can read: the spot, to a few meters, with the nearest town and the direction the camera faced; the date and time; the phone or camera, its lens and the software; and a serial number or a name when the camera wrote one. Then tap “Save a copy without location” and post or send the copy, not the original. The tool never guesses: a photo without a GPS block has no location here, whatever it shows.
What is in a photo, and who can see it
Apple puts it plainly: “When photos and videos that include location metadata are shared, the people you share them with may be able to access the location metadata and learn where it was taken.” The details sit in the file in a block called EXIF (and sometimes a second one, XMP, that editing apps add). A phone writes the spot only when its camera may: “Location metadata in photos and videos can be collected only if your Camera app has access to Location Services.” And an app’s own setting does not follow the file out of it. Google Photos Help: “If your camera adds a location and you share that photo on Google Photos, the photo shows the location provided by the camera.” “This doesn’t affect photos or videos you share outside of Google Photos, such as when you download and email them to someone.“
| File | The details are in | The copy without them |
|---|---|---|
| JPEG (.jpg) | an EXIF block near the start of the file, often with XMP beside it | the same picture, byte for byte, without them |
| HEIC or HEIF (iPhone) | an Exif item inside the file | redrawn as a JPEG (Safari opens HEIC; other browsers may not) |
| PNG | an eXIf chunk | redrawn as a JPEG |
| WebP | an EXIF chunk | redrawn as a JPEG |
| TIFF or DNG | the file’s own first directory | redrawn as a JPEG, when the browser can open it |
The JPEG copy keeps the picture’s own bytes and its colour profile, and one detail on purpose: which way up it goes, so a photo taken upright does not turn sideways.
Remove it on your phone
On an iPhone, for one photo, in Photos: “Tap Adjust Info, tap Adjust Location, then tap No Location.” Or when you share: “You can share photos with others without sharing the location where the photos were taken.” (in the Share sheet, Options, then Location off). To stop it for good, turn off Location Services for the Camera app in Settings, Privacy & Security.
Worked examples
A phone photo from Lisbon. 38.70750° N, 9.13654° W, within about 5 m: near Lisbon, 1.7 mi from its center, the camera facing south, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 18:42 (UTC+01:00), with an Apple iPhone 15 Pro and its lens. Travel Magma’s guide near there is Is Sintra worth visiting? The copy keeps none of it.
A photo from home, sent to sell something online. The spot is your front door to within a few meters. Send the copy, or the buyer has your address.
A screenshot. Nothing hidden: a screenshot has no location, whatever map it shows.
Common mistakes
- Sending the original “as a file”. An email attachment, a cloud link or a file sent as a document keeps everything in it.
- Trusting the app’s switch. A location hidden in one app’s album is still in the file you download from it.
- Forgetting the date and the camera. The time a photo was taken and the phone that took it say more than people think; the copy drops them too.
- Thinking a photo with no GPS block can be placed. This tool does not guess from what is in the picture, and a guess is not the camera’s record.
More for your photos
Take better ones with travel photography tips that work on just a phone, and stay safe on the road with these solo travel tips and the travel scam almost no one sees coming. Then turn a good one into a card with the Postcard & Travel Poster Maker, or pin the places you have been on a travel map with pins.
FAQ
Where was this photo taken?
If the camera wrote the spot into the file, choose it above: the tool shows the spot on a map, the nearest town, and links to open it in OpenStreetMap, Google Maps or Apple Maps. If it did not, the file cannot tell you.
How do I find the location of a photo?
Read its EXIF data: this tool does it on your device. On an iPhone, Photos shows it too: open the photo and swipe up.
How do I remove location from a photo?
Save a copy without it here, or on an iPhone tap Adjust Info, Adjust Location, then No Location. When sharing from an iPhone, turn Location off in the Share sheet’s Options.
How do I remove metadata from a photo?
“Save a copy without location” removes all of it: the spot, the date, the camera, the lens, any serial number or name, and XMP. A JPEG keeps its picture byte for byte; other photos are saved as a JPEG.
What is EXIF data?
The details a camera writes into a photo file: when it was taken, the camera and lens, the settings, and, with location on, the GPS spot. Most apps show the photo and never the EXIF, so it travels with the file unseen.
Can you find where a photo was taken without GPS?
Not from the file. Some sites guess from what the picture shows; this tool does not, because a guess is not a record and can point at the wrong person’s street.