# Remove location from a photo on iPhone

> On iPhone you can tap Share, then Options, and turn off Location; the sheet then shows "Location Not Included". To stop new photos recording a place, set Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera to Never. This page adds a check you cannot get from the Share sheet: it lists what it finds in each file, removes the location blocks, and rereads the result.

## Apple's own options, and what each one covers

iPhone gives you three built-in controls. They are worth knowing, and this page does not replace them.

**For one share: the Options switch.** In Photos, open a photo or select several, tap the Share button, then tap **Options** near the top. Turn off **Location**. Apple's guide says the line "Location Not Included" then appears above the Options button. The originals in your library keep their location; only the shared copies leave without it.

**For one photo in your library: Adjust Location.** Open the photo, tap the More button, tap **Adjust Info**, tap **Adjust Location**, then tap **No Location**. This changes the photo in your library, including on other devices that use the same library.

**For every new photo: the Camera permission.** Go to **Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera** and choose **Never**. Photos and videos you take afterwards will not record a location. Photos you already took keep theirs.

Watch for one switch in the same Options screen that does the opposite. **All Photos Data**, available with AirDrop, sends the original file with its edit history and metadata. Leave it off unless you mean to hand over everything.

## When to use this page instead

The built-in switches are quick, but they are blind: you cannot see what was in the file or what went out. This page is useful when:

- you want to see what a photo still carries before posting it somewhere permanent;
- the photo did not come from your Photos library, for example a file someone AirDropped to you or one saved in the Files app;
- you need a batch of files cleaned the same way and want a report for each;
- you want the camera model and serial number gone too, which the Location switch does not touch.

## How to clean iPhone photos in Safari

1. Leave **What to remove** on **Location only** to keep the date and camera details, or choose **Everything** to remove them as well.
2. Tap **Choose files**. Safari offers your Photo Library, the camera, or **Choose File** to pick from the Files app.
3. Select one or more photos. Cleaning starts right away.
4. On each card, read **Location** under **Found in this file**, then the **Left in the file** line.
5. Tap **Share** to send the cleaned copy straight to Messages, Mail or another app, or **Download** to save it to the Files app (the Downloads folder, unless you changed Safari's setting).

## What this page removes from an iPhone photo

In **Location only** mode the GPS directory is cleared, caption and comment tags are removed, and the XMP, IPTC, Content Credentials and maker-note blocks are removed. Apple's maker notes are private data the camera writes; removing them is part of this mode because they are opaque. Other EXIF entries this tool cannot identify are deleted for the same reason and show up in the **Removed** line as vendor-specific or unrecognized data, or with the captions if they hold text. The capture date and the "Apple iPhone" make and model stay, unless the EXIF block is damaged, in which case the whole block is removed.

Switch to **Everything** and the camera details and dates go as well. What survives is the rotation flag and the color profile, which keep the picture upright and its colors intact. In a HEIC, the extra picture items Apple stores beside the main image, such as an HDR gain map or a depth map, also stay in both modes.

Both modes leave the picture data untouched. A HEIC photo stays a HEIC photo and keeps its full resolution. If you want to know what Apple's format holds and how it is cleaned, read [HEIC metadata](/heic-metadata/).

## Things specific to iPhone

**The copy you pick may not be the original.** Depending on the route, iPhone can hand Safari a converted copy: Apple's developer documentation for the photo picker describes transcoding as something an app has to opt out of. Whatever arrives, the **Found in this file** panel shows what that copy actually holds, so you are working from facts, not assumptions.

**Live Photos.** When a Live Photo reaches the page as a single image, only the still is cleaned. If you share Live Photos, the video half is a separate MOV file; clean it on the [remove metadata from video](/remove-metadata-from-video/) page. Expect the pairing to break: the identifier that joins still and video lives in Apple's maker notes, which are emptied here, so Photos may treat the cleaned still as an ordinary photo.

**Reference mode on iPhone 18 Pro.** Apple's Reference Image feature can attach a reference image to a photo, and Apple warns that sharing one before it is developed may include sensitive device information such as the serial number. Turn **Reference Image** off in the Share Options if you do not need it. This page has not been tested with such files.

## What this tool cannot do

- **Edit the picture.** Nothing in the frame is examined, so a recognizable doorway or a letter lying on the table still tells its story. The [redaction tool](/redact-image/) is the place to hide those.
- **Remove "Apple iPhone" in Location only mode.** The make, the model, the iOS version in the software field and the lens stay by design, together with any owner or artist name. If such a name is present, the result lists it.
- **Remove the color profile or a HEIC's separate preview.** Both stay and both are listed. After you crop a photo in the Photos app, the stored preview may still be the uncropped one.

"Nothing left" in a result always means "nothing this tool checks for". What it does not check is listed under [limits](/methodology/#limits).

## Where your photo goes

The photo is cleaned inside Safari on your iPhone. The page does not upload it, and the cleaned copy exists only as a temporary file in the tab until you share or save it. Closing the tab clears it.

## How it works on iPhone

Safari runs the cleaning in a background worker, so the page stays responsive while a batch is processed. For HEIC, the Exif and XMP items are overwritten in place, keeping the file the same length. For JPEG, the location blocks are removed or blanked and the image data is copied as is. Nothing is re-encoded, so cleaning a 48-megapixel photo is fast and lossless.

Instructions for checking, from a computer's developer tools, that the page makes no uploads are on the [methodology page](/methodology/).

## FAQ

### Does turning off Location in the Share sheet remove it from my library?

No. It only affects the copies you are sharing. The photo in your library keeps its location until you use Adjust Location or delete it.

### If I set Camera location to Never, are my old photos safe?

No. The setting only applies to photos taken afterwards. Older photos keep their coordinates. Use Adjust Location, the Share option, or this page for those.

### Will the cleaned photo still be HEIC?

Yes. A HEIC goes in and a HEIC comes out, with "-clean" added to the name. JPEG stays JPEG.

### Why does the cleaned photo still say "Apple iPhone"?

**Location only** keeps camera details on purpose. Choose **Everything** to remove the make, model and dates as well.

### Can I clean photos straight from the Photos app here?

Yes. Tap **Choose files**, then pick from your Photo Library. You can also pick files saved in the Files app.

### Do I still need this if I always turn off Location when sharing?

Not for every share. It is useful when you want proof of what a file contains, or when the photo came from somewhere other than your library.

## Sources

Checked 2026-10-11.

- [Apple Personal Safety Guide: Manage location metadata in Photos](https://support.apple.com/guide/personal-safety/manage-location-metadata-in-photos-ips0d7a5df82/web)
- [Apple iPhone User Guide: Share photos and videos](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/share-photos-and-videos-iphf28f17237/ios)
- [Apple Support: Use Apple Reference Image](https://support.apple.com/en-us/128064)
- [Apple Developer: Selecting photos and videos in iOS](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/photokit/selecting-photos-and-videos-in-ios)

Last updated: 2026-10-17