How to Remove EXIF Data and Location from Photos
What EXIF Data Reveals
Every photo your phone takes embeds metadata called EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format). This includes: GPS coordinates (your exact location), date and time, device model, camera settings (aperture, shutter speed, ISO), and sometimes your name or a unique device identifier. When you share a photo, this data goes with it unless you strip it.
Why You Should Care
Posting a photo online with GPS coordinates reveals exactly where you were. A photo taken at home reveals your home address. Photos of your kids at school reveal the school's location. Stalkers, data brokers, and bad actors can extract this information trivially. Most social media platforms strip EXIF before publishing, but not all — and sending photos via email, messaging (WhatsApp preserves location data on some platforms), or file sharing exposes everything.
Remove EXIF on iPhone
When sharing from the Photos app: tap Share, then tap Options at the top of the share sheet. Toggle off 'Location' and 'All Photos Data.' The shared version will have EXIF stripped while your original retains it. This is the simplest approach and works for individual photos or batches.
Remove EXIF on Windows
Right-click the photo → Properties → Details tab → 'Remove Properties and Personal Information' (link at the bottom). Choose 'Remove the following properties from this file' and select what to strip, or choose 'Create a copy with all possible properties removed.' The copy is safe to share.
Remove EXIF Online
When converting images with CocoConvert, EXIF data is not carried over to the converted file by default. Converting a JPG to JPG (even at the same quality) effectively strips all metadata. This is a quick way to clean photos for sharing without needing to find platform-specific settings. Some users convert specifically for this purpose.