PRIVACY GUIDE · LOCATION

How to stop your phone saving location in photos

By Tidy (Infinite Dev Works) · Updated 22 October 2026

If location access is on for your camera app, every photo can record where it was taken, often precisely enough to identify a building. You can stop it at the source, leave it out when you share, or remove it from photos you already have. Here's how on iPhone and Android.

Why location gets saved

When the camera app has permission to use your location, it writes GPS coordinates into the photo's EXIF metadata as you take the picture. Your gallery app uses them for map views and "places" albums. The same coordinates stay inside the file when you send it somewhere else as a file. What else is stored in a photo.

Turning location off doesn't touch photos you've already taken. It only stops future ones from being tagged. Decide whether you want to stop tagging entirely, or keep it for your own map views and remove it only when you share.

iPhone

Stop the Camera saving location

Open Settings.
Go to Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera.
Choose Never.

Leave location out when you share

Select the photos in Photos and tap the Share button.
Tap Options at the top of the share sheet.
Turn off Location. The share sheet shows "Location Not Included" when it's off.

Remove it from a photo you already have

Open the photo in Photos, tap the More button, then Adjust Info → Adjust Location → No Location. Menu names can shift a little between iOS versions.

Android

Android phones use different camera apps, so the setting's name varies. There are two ways to stop tagging, and the second works on almost any phone.

In the camera app's own settings

Google Pixel Camera: open Camera, tap the Settings icon at the bottom left, then More settings, and turn off Save location.
Samsung Camera: open Camera, tap the settings gear, and turn off Location tags.
Other phones: look in the camera's settings for "location", "geotag" or "save location".

By removing the camera's location permission

Open Settings → Apps and choose your camera app.
Tap Permissions → Location.
Choose Don't allow.

Turn off the in-app setting too, or the camera may ask for location again the next time it opens. If you use a third-party camera app, it has its own permission to check.

Sharing through an app isn't the same as sending the file.

Some services handle location for you. Google Photos, for example, leaves location out of shared links and conversations unless you choose to include it, and many social networks remove metadata from public images. But a photo sent as a file, an email attachment or a cloud-drive link usually arrives exactly as it was saved. When in doubt, check the copy you're sending.

Photos you've already taken

Turning off tagging doesn't clean your existing library. For photos you've already taken, you can:

Remove location in your gallery app before sharing, using the steps above.
Use the share sheet's location toggle on iPhone each time.
Make cleaned copies with a metadata remover. Photo Privacy Check removes GPS and other metadata from JPEGs without recompressing the image.

iPhones save photos as HEIC by default. Many apps and transfers convert to JPEG along the way, so check what format your copy ended up in. Photo Privacy Check works on JPEGs.

What turning off location won't hide

A visible street sign, a house number or a distinctive view can give away a location without any metadata. So can the date and time a photo was taken, if it lines up with a public post. What a photo can reveal without metadata.

Check a photo for location

Photo Privacy Check shows whether a JPEG contains GPS coordinates, along with camera and date details, and makes cleaned copies. Your photos are processed in your browser.

Check a photo for location data

Independent guide by Tidy, not affiliated with Apple, Google or Samsung. Steps checked against Apple's and Google's help pages on 22 October 2026; menus can change with updates. This is general information, not an anonymity guarantee.