# Remove location from a photo on Android

> On a Pixel, open Camera, tap Settings, then More settings, and turn off Save location; Samsung calls the switch Location tags. Google Photos itself cannot edit or remove a location the camera wrote, only estimated or manually added ones. This page removes camera GPS and the other location blocks from JPEG, PNG, WebP and HEIC files right in your browser.

## First, stop the camera writing coordinates

Every Android camera app has its own switch, and each brand names it differently. Google's help center lists them. A few common ones:

| Phone brand | Setting in the camera app |
|---|---|
| Google Pixel | Settings > More settings > **Save location** |
| Samsung Galaxy | Settings > **Location tags** |
| Motorola, Sony | **Save location** |
| OnePlus | **Store location data** |
| Xiaomi | **Save location info** |
| OPPO | **Location** |

Turning the switch off affects only new pictures. Everything already in your gallery keeps the coordinates it was saved with.

## What your gallery apps can and cannot do

**Google Photos.** Google's own help page is clear: if the camera added the location automatically, you cannot edit or remove it in Google Photos. You can remove only an estimated location, or one you added yourself. For sharing, Google Photos lets you control whether locations are shared in each album, link or conversation you create, but that does not change the file stored on your phone.

**Samsung Gallery.** Samsung's support page describes removing the location from a single item: select the photo, tap More options, then **Details**, then **Edit**, tap the red minus next to the location, and **Save**. On some One UI versions, the Share screen also offers a **Remove location data** checkbox. Samsung adds that turning on Auto Blocker with Maximum restrictions removes location data from images shared from Gallery automatically.

These tools work on the location field only. They do not show you what else the file contains, such as the phone model, maker notes or an XMP copy of the place.

## How to clean photos in Chrome on Android

1. Keep the default, **Location only**, if the date should stay; switch to **Everything** to remove dates and camera details too.
2. Tap **Choose files** and pick photos from the system picker or your Files app.
3. Wait a moment; each photo is cleaned as soon as it arrives.
4. Check **Location** under **Found in this file**, then read **Left in the file**.
5. Use **Share** to hand the cleaned file to another app, or **Download** to keep it in your Downloads folder.

## A detail about Android's photo picker

Android protects photo locations from apps by default. Its developer documentation says that when an app asks the system photo picker for images, location metadata is redacted unless the app specifically requests it and you allow it. Apps that read your gallery directly need a separate permission, called ACCESS_MEDIA_LOCATION, to see the original coordinates.

What this means in practice: depending on how you choose a file, Chrome may receive a copy whose GPS fields are already empty. The page's report covers exactly the copy it was given. If it reports no location, that describes the copy in front of the page. The original in your gallery may still have it, and other apps that are allowed to read it can still see it. Sending the cleaned copy from this page, rather than the gallery original, avoids the question entirely.

## What gets removed

With the default setting, coordinates are blanked, and four other blocks that can mention a place (XMP, IPTC, Content Credentials and maker notes) are dropped, along with captions and EXIF entries the tool does not know, a phone brand's private tags among them; the date and camera model stay. In **Everything** mode those remaining camera and date fields go as well.

One Android-specific effect: many phones save **motion photos** and **Ultra HDR** pictures as a JPEG with extra data appended, either a short video or a gain map that brightens highlights on HDR screens. Both kinds of appended data are removed, whichever mode you pick, and the result lists them as extra images. The cleaned file is a plain still photo that shows in standard range. If the motion or the HDR look matters more to you than the extra metadata, use your gallery's own location switch for that photo instead.

## What this tool cannot do

- **See what is in the shot.** The image data is copied, not read. A street corner, a school badge or a car's plate in the photo stays visible; cover it with the [redaction tool](/redact-image/) first.
- **Take the phone's name out in Location only mode.** Make, model, software name and lens stay there on purpose, and so does an owner or author name if your phone wrote one. A name that stays is listed in the result. **Everything** removes them all.
- **Drop the color profile.** It is kept in either mode and shows up in the list of what is left.
- **Take out a HEIC's own preview picture.** Some phones store a small preview in a HEIC file as a picture item of its own. It stays in either mode, and the result lists it as left. If the photo was cropped or edited after it was taken, that preview can still show the earlier picture; converting the photo to JPEG before cleaning leaves it behind.

A report with nothing left in it covers what this tool looks for and no more. The [limits](/methodology/#limits) are published in full.

## Where your photo goes

Chrome cleans the photo on the phone. The page sends no part of it to a server; the coordinates shown in the result panel are visible only on your screen. Until you share or download it, the cleaned copy lives only in the tab's memory.

## How it works on Android

The cleaning runs in a background worker inside Chrome. For JPEG files, which most Android cameras produce, the GPS directory is blanked in place inside the EXIF block and the other location-bearing segments are removed; the compressed picture is copied as it is, so there is no quality loss and no visible difference. HEIC files from phones that save in that format are patched without changing their length.

The [methodology page](/methodology/) explains how the tools were tested and how to confirm from a desktop browser that no upload takes place.

## FAQ

### Why can't Google Photos remove the location my camera added?

That is how Google Photos is designed: its help page says camera-added locations cannot be edited or removed there. You can stop future tagging in the camera app and clean existing files with a tool like this one.

### I turned off Save location. Are my old photos clean now?

No. The switch only affects photos taken after you change it. Clean older photos before sharing them.

### This page found no location, but my gallery shows a map pin. Why?

Android may have handed the browser a copy with the location already redacted. The original file still has it. Share the cleaned copy from this page rather than the original.

### Does Samsung's Remove location data checkbox do the same thing?

It removes the location from the copy you share. This page also removes maker notes, XMP, IPTC and Content Credentials, and shows you a before and after list.

### My cleaned motion photo no longer moves. Is that expected?

Yes. The video part of a motion photo is stored after the still image and is removed with the other appended data.

### Will the cleaned photo lose quality?

No. The image data is copied byte for byte. Only an Ultra HDR photo looks different on an HDR screen, because its gain map is gone.

## Sources

Checked 2026-10-11.

- [Google Photos Help: Change your camera location settings](https://support.google.com/photos/answer/9921876?hl=en)
- [Pixel Camera Help: Change your Camera app settings](https://support.google.com/pixelcamera/answer/2838995?hl=en)
- [Google Photos Help: Edit a photo or video's location](https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6153599?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid)
- [Samsung: Use the Gallery app on your Galaxy phone or tablet](https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS10002535/)
- [Samsung New Zealand: Removing location data from photos in the Gallery](https://www.samsung.com/nz/support/mobile-devices/removing-location-data-from-photos-in-the-gallery/)
- [Samsung: Send and receive files with Quick Share](https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS10007268/)
- [Android Developers: MediaStore reference (location metadata in the photo picker)](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/MediaStore)
- [Android Developers: Access media files from shared storage](https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage/shared/media)
- [Android Developers: Motion Photo format 1.0](https://developer.android.com/media/platform/motion-photo-format)
- [Android Developers: Ultra HDR image format](https://developer.android.com/media/platform/hdr-image-format)

Last updated: 2026-10-17