Quick answer
Turn location off in the camera, or clean each photo before you share it, so the file no longer carries the GPS position where it was taken. Apple's own guide warns that when photos with location metadata are shared, the people you share them with may be able to access that location data. Cleaning the file is one step only. It does not touch a school logo or a street sign in the picture itself, and the American Academy of Pediatrics says sharing online can never be 100% safe.
What the official pages say
Apple's Personal Safety guide says that when Location Services is on for the Camera app, the phone collects location data from cellular, Wi-Fi and GPS networks and Bluetooth, and that data is saved as metadata in your photos and videos. That is how Photos can search by place, and it is also what travels with the file when you send it.
iPhone and iPad (Apple Support)
- To stop it at the source: Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Location Services, then Camera, then tap Never.
- For a photo you already took: in Photos, open it, tap the More button, then Adjust Info, Adjust Location, No Location. On a Mac, choose Image, then Location, then Hide Location.
- When sharing: tap the Share Sheet button, then Options, and turn off Location. Apple says Location Not Included then shows above the Options button.
Android and Google Photos (Google Help)
- Google's page on camera location settings says that on Google devices you open the camera's settings and turn Save location on or off, and on Samsung devices the setting is called Location tags. It notes that photos without location information may not show in your map view, in location searches or in Memories.
- Google Photos says that, other than for partner sharing, new albums, links and conversations you share do not include location details by default. It also says that even without a location, people may be able to guess from landmarks in your photo or video.
Child-safety guidance for parents
The American Academy of Pediatrics page on sharing photos of children says to turn off location sharing and remove geotags from posts, and to remove recognizable content such as a school name or logo. It also says sharing online can never be 100% safe. An American SPCC article for parents says to look at the background for school names, street signs, house numbers and license plates, and that a private family chat, shared album or closed group may be safer than public social media.
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 whether each file holds a GPS position, plus camera details and dates.
- 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 stays upright.
- Check the after list. The tool re-reads the cleaned file and lists what is left.
- Send or post the cleaned copy, not the original. For HEIC, Safari can open the file and the page 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. A school logo, uniform, street sign, house number or license plate stays. Crop, retake or cover it, as the sources above suggest.
- A location tag added when you post. The AAP lists removing geotags from posts as its own step. The tool only cleans the file, not what you type or tick in an app.
- The file name. The tool does not rename files, so a name that mentions a school or a street travels with the photo.
- Copies stored elsewhere. The original on your phone, a cloud backup and the copy a relative receives are not changed.
This is not a safety guarantee. Step-by-step phone guides: iPhone and Android. Sending to a family group chat? See WhatsApp and photo metadata.