Quick answer
X does not publish whether it removes EXIF or GPS data from the photos you upload. We found no statement either way in the X Help Center pages on post location or in the developer documentation for media upload. If a photo was taken at home, at work or anywhere you would rather not share, do not rely on unpublished behaviour: remove the metadata yourself before you post it.
X also has a documented, opt-in option to attach a location to a post. That is a different thing from the GPS tags a camera writes into a photo file, and it is covered below.
What X says
- The Help Center page How to add your location to a Post says the feature is off by default and you must opt in. Opting in allows X to collect, store and use your precise location, such as GPS information. Once it is on, you tap the location icon in the compose box and pick a place for each post.
- The Post location FAQs say you can turn post location on or off at any time, and that a delete option removes all location information attached to your posts. They add that deleting does not guarantee removal from copies on third-party applications or in external search results, and that it does not remove locations shared through Direct Messages.
- The developer Geo guidelines say users must opt in to posting with location, and that X saves the data a user chooses to publicly display, including exact coordinates if posted.
- The developer page Upload media does not mention EXIF or image metadata.
None of these pages says what X does with the EXIF block inside a JPEG or other photo. They describe the post location setting only, and none of them says how it relates to GPS tags already in the file. Treat the two as separate things.
Clean the photo before you send it
- Open the tool above and add your JPG, PNG or WebP photos, up to 5 at a time. It runs entirely in your browser and your files are never uploaded.
- Read the before list. It shows what each file held, such as GPS position, camera make and model, serial number, and date and time.
- Download the cleaned copy. The metadata is cut out of the file without re-encoding, so there is no quality loss. The ICC colour profile is kept, and on JPEGs a bare rotation flag is kept so the photo still sits the right way up.
- Check the after list. The tool re-reads the cleaned file to show you what is left.
- Upload the cleaned file to X as you normally would. For HEIC, Safari can open the file and the tool re-saves it as a JPEG, which is a re-encode; in a browser that cannot open HEIC, convert it first. GIF is not supported.
What this does not remove
- What is visible in the picture. Faces, street signs, house numbers and a recognisable view all stay. Crop or retake the photo if they give away where you are.
- The file name. The tool does not rename files, so a name that mentions a street or a town travels with the photo. Rename it yourself.
- Copies stored elsewhere. The tool cannot clean anything X stores, a cloud backup, or a copy someone has already saved.
- A location you attach to a post. The place chosen in the compose box is a separate X setting. Cleaning the photo does not change it, so leave it off if you do not want a place shown.
Want to see what a photo holds first? Try checking what metadata a photo has. To stop your camera tagging photos at the source, see iPhone or Android.