Guide
What your photos give away (and how to check)
A photo from your phone carries more than the picture. Hidden inside it is usually where it was taken, to within a few metres, when, and on which phone. Here's what's in there, when it matters, and how to check and remove it.
1. What's hidden in a photo
Cameras and phones save a block of details inside every photo, called EXIF. Editing apps often add more of their own (XMP and IPTC). None of it shows in the picture, but anyone with the file can read it. It can include:
- Where it was taken: GPS coordinates, often accurate to a few metres outdoors, and sometimes the altitude and which way you were facing.
- When: the date and time, to the second.
- Which phone or camera: make, model and lens, and on some cameras a serial number that ties every photo back to one device.
- Who: your name, if your camera or editing app has it set as the author or copyright holder.
- Place names and captions: added by some editing and photo-library apps.
- A hidden preview: a small copy of the photo, stored inside it. More on this below.
2. When it matters
Most of the time, nobody looks. It matters when a photo goes to people you don't know, or might be passed on:
- Selling online. Photos of things for sale are usually taken at home, so their location can be your address.
- Photos of children. A photo taken in the garden or at the school gate can show where they live or go to school.
- Sending photos as files. Many social apps remove the location from photos others can see, but it varies by app and changes over time. Email attachments, and photos sent as a “file” or “document” in messaging apps, usually arrive exactly as they were taken.
- Anyone you'd rather didn't know where you live, from a dating match to a stranger replying to a forum post.
The hidden preview problem
Many phones and cameras store a small preview inside the photo, so galleries can show it quickly. Some editing apps don't update that preview when you crop. Crop out your house number or a face, share the photo, and the full, uncropped version can still be sitting inside the file.
The sample photo in the checker below shows this: the picture is a hillside, but its hidden preview still shows the front door and house number that were cropped out.
3. Other ways to check a photo
- iPhone: open the photo in Photos and swipe up (or tap the ⓘ button). If it has a location, you'll see a map.
- Android: open the photo in Google Photos and swipe up for its details, including any location.
- Windows: right-click the file, choose Properties, then the Details tab. Look for the GPS section.
- Mac: open the photo in Preview, choose Tools → Show Inspector, then the ⓘ tab. A GPS tab appears if it has a location.
These show the main details but not everything. The checker above also reads editing-app data and shows any hidden preview.
4. How to remove it
- With Photo Scrub: drop photos into the checker and download the clean copies. It removes everything except the picture, which stays exactly the same. Several photos at once is fine.
- On iPhone, for one share: in Photos, tap Share, then Options at the top, and turn off Location. This removes only the location; the date and phone model stay. It has to be done each time you share.
- On Android: some phones offer a similar option when sharing, or a way to remove the location in the photo's details. It depends on the phone and gallery app.
5. How to stop your phone recording location
- iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → Never.
- Android: open your camera app's settings and turn off Location tags, Save location or similar. The name varies by phone.
The trade-off: your own photo library can no longer sort photos by place or show them on a map. And photos you've already taken keep their location, so it's still worth checking older ones before sharing them.
Common questions
Do screenshots have a location?
Usually not. Screenshots and most images saved from websites have no location, though they may still have a date.
Do social networks remove it?
Most big ones remove the location from the copy other people can see or download. They can still read it when you upload, and smaller sites, forums and messaging apps vary. Cleaning a photo first means you don't have to rely on them.
Does removing it change the photo?
Not with Photo Scrub, for JPEG, PNG and WebP: the picture data is copied exactly, and only the hidden details are removed. HEIC photos (from iPhones) are saved as high-quality JPEGs, because that's the only way to clean them in a browser.