A photograph is more than the picture. Behind it is a small record that can say where you were standing, when you took it and which phone you used. Most of the time that is harmless. Sometimes it is not.
What is hidden in a photo
This hidden record is called metadata, and the common kind is called EXIF. A photo from a phone or camera can carry the date and time, the make and model of the device, camera settings such as exposure, and, if location was switched on, the GPS position where the photo was taken. That position can be accurate to a few metres.
You cannot see any of this by looking at the photo. It travels inside the file, so anyone who receives the original file can read it with the right program.
When it matters
For a holiday picture sent to a friend, it hardly matters. It matters more in situations like these:
- Selling something online from home: the location of the photo can reveal your address.
- Photos of children, or taken at your home, school or workplace.
- Sending pictures to someone you do not know well, or posting them where strangers can download the original.
- Publishing photos where the place should not be public, such as a private venue.
Do websites strip it for you?
Many large social networks and messaging apps remove location data when you post, but not all, and it is not guaranteed. Email attachments, shared folders, forum uploads and your own website usually pass the original file along untouched. If you are not sure what a service does, it is safer to clean the photo yourself before you share it.
How to remove it
Our Remove photo details page redraws each photo from its picture alone, which leaves the hidden record behind, then saves a clean copy. For JPG photos it also lists what it found, such as location, camera and date, so you can see what would have been shared. iPhone photos work too.
The picture looks the same. Because it is saved again, a very small amount of quality can be lost in a JPG, so keep the original for yourself and send the clean copy. Everything happens in your browser, so the photo is never uploaded while you clean it.
Do not forget what is in the frame
Removing the hidden record does not remove anything you can see. A street sign, a house number, a car registration, a school badge or a distinctive view can give away a place just as well. Before sharing, look at the whole picture and ask what a stranger could work out from it.
If you want to stop the location being saved at all, you can switch it off for the Camera in your phone's privacy settings. You will not get a map of where your photos were taken, but nothing will be recorded.
A simple habit
Treat location as something you choose to share, not something that comes along by accident. For anything going to people you do not know, clean the photo first. For everything else, a quick look at the settings on your phone once is enough.