How to remove location data when sharing photos on iphone
Benj Edwards is an Associate Editor for How-To Geek. For over 15 years, he has written about technology and tech history for sites such as The Atlantic, Fast Company, PCMag, PCWorld, Macworld, Ars Technica, and Wired. In 2005, he created Vintage Computing and Gaming, a blog devoted to tech history. He also created The Culture of Tech podcast and regularly contributes to the Retronauts retrogaming podcast. Read more.
If you have Location Services enabled for the Camera app on your iPhone or iPad, every photo you take includes GPS info about where it was taken. Starting with iOS 13, though, you can choose to share photos without location data.
Turn Off Location Data When Sharing One Photo (or Group of Photos)
To get started, open the Photos app and browse to a photo (or photos) you want to share without location data. To share multiple photos, select and tap each one, and then tap the Share button. To share a single photo, tap it, and then tap the Share button at the bottom left.
In the Share menu that appears, tap “Options” at the top of the screen (it’s under the number of photos you selected).
If you see “Location Included” next to “Options,” this means location data is currently enabled for that photo or photos. We’re about to change that, though.
In the Options menu that appears, look for the “Include” section. Toggle-Off the “Location” option for the selected photos.
If you don’t see the “Location” option here, then either location data is turned off for the Camera app (see below), or no location data is associated with that particular photo.
Tap “Done” to return to the Share menu. You should now see “No Location” under the photo selection message.
Now, whether you share your photo via SMS, email, or on an app, no location data will be included.
Keep in mind, however, this method will only work for this one instance. The photo’s location info is still stored on your iPhone. If you want to share it again in the future without location info, you’ll have to repeat the process above.
Even Better: Turn Off Location in the Camera App
If you find yourself frequently disabling the location data before sharing photos, you might want to consider turning it off in the Camera app. This way, none of your new photos will include location data.
To turn off Camera location access, open “Settings,” and then navigate to Privacy > Camera. In the “Allow Location Access” section, tap “Never.”
Note, however, that you won’t be able to take advantage of any features that rely on location data after you do this. For example, the Photos app won’t be able to show where you took your photos on a map or group photos you’ve taken by location.
While any photos you take in the future won’t include GPS metadata, all of those you took before turning off this feature will still include it.
If you want to permanently remove location data from photos you’ve already taken, you’ll have to use a utility that will allow you to modify or remove each photo’s EXIF metadata. This process can be confusing, so it’s usually best left as a last resort for situations in which maintaining privacy is extremely important.
This tutorial is about How to Remove Location Data from iPhone Photos When Sharing. Recently I updated this tutorial and will try my best so that you understand this guide. I hope you guys like this blog, How to Remove Location Data from iPhone Photos When Sharing. If your answer is yes after reading the article, please share this article with your friends and family to support us.
- Check How to Remove Location Data from iPhone Photos When Sharing
- Share photos
- Share photos on iOS
- Final remarks: How to Remove Location Data from iPhone Photos When Sharing
Check How to Remove Location Data from iPhone Photos When Sharing
While adding a location to photos can help organize them, there are a number of reasons why you might not want a record of where you are in the photos you share. If keeping your location private is a problem, you can delete it before sharing your images with others. You can even go a step further and prevent your location from being associated with your photos and videos in the first place. If you frequently share photos without deleting locations, you’d better turn them off completely.
When you take a photo with your iPhone or iPad, the iOS Camera app uses GPS to automatically record the exact location where the photo was taken. This is a great time saver because it helps you organize your many photos by exact place and occasion. Helps in organizing photo shoots and keeping track of family and friends over time. Most of the time, photo location metadata is helpful, though not always.
Share photos
You can share photos in various ways. You can send them directly from the Photos app or from other apps that manage photos, and you can add them to Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, from different apps or browsers. Most of these apps remove location data from your photos, but you can never really be sure.
However, if you email or share photos from your Photos library, or want to be completely safe before posting photos in a public place, there are steps you need to take to remove location data from photos.
Share photos on iOS
If you share a photo from the Photos app on iOS, location data is included by default. You may want this to be the case, especially if you’re adding a photo to a shared library. But in some cases, you want to remove this location data.
- Select one or more photos, then tap the share button (that’s the little square with the arrow pointing up). At the top of the screen, tap Options.
- On the next screen, you’ll see a number of options, including Location; disable this.
- You’ll need to do this every time you share a photo; your iOS device does not remember this setting, nor is there a global setting to disable it.
Final remarks: How to Remove Location Data from iPhone Photos When Sharing
I hope you understand this article, How to Remove Location Data from iPhone Photos When Sharing. If your answer is no, you can ask anything via the contact forum section related to this article. And if your answer is yes, please share this article with your friends and family to give us your support.
Pranay Parab
Every time you take a picture with your iPhone, the exact location where it was taken is saved along with the photo. This feature is called geotagging, and it’s useful because your iPhone lets you search for photos by location. It’s less useful when you want to share photos without sharing everything about where they were taken.
Luckily, most social media sites strip location data from photos before they’re uploaded, but it’s a good practice to remove it yourself before sharing photos via another method, as some messaging apps, cloud storage services, and file sharing services (including AirDrop) retain that location data. Here’s how you can remove it quickly.
How to remove location data from your photos before sharing them
Open the Photos app on your iPhone and select the pictures you want to share. Hit the share icon in the bottom-left corner, which opens the share sheet on your iPhone.
At the top of the share sheet (in a smaller font below where it says how many photos you’ve selected for sharing), tap Options next to Location Included. Here, under the heading Include, you can turn off the slider for “Location.” If the button next to Location is green, it’s enabled. If it’s grey, it’s disabled. Tap Done to confirm the change and send the photos.
How to turn off geotagging on all iPhone photos
While it only takes a couple seconds to remove location data from photos before sharing them, you can also plug this gap at the source and stop your iPhone from geotagging your photos altogether. If you aren’t ready for that extreme a step, you can also easily stop the phone from recording your precise location each time you snap a photo.
A caveat: If you disable geotagging, you will not be able to search for photos on your device by location; the search function in photos will return no results when you enter the name of a city or a country. The advantage is that you don’t have to worry about exposing your location data accidentally. Disabling precise location tags is probably the better option for most people: It’ll still allow people to see roughly where the photo was taken, but the radius is wide enough to avoid revealing exactly where you took a photo.
To disable geotagging completely, go to Settings > Privacy > System Services > Camera on your iPhone and select “Never.”
To stop your iPhone’s camera from logging your exact location when you take a photo, go to the same settings page (Settings > Privacy > System Services > Camera) and uncheck “Precise Location.”
Samir Makwana is a freelance technology writer who aims to help people make the most of their technology. For over 15 years, he has written about consumer technology while working with MakeUseOf, GuidingTech, The Inquisitr, GSMArena, BGR, and others. After writing thousands of news articles and hundreds of reviews, he now enjoys writing tutorials, how-tos, guides, and explainers. Read more.
The photos you take with your iPhone could expose where you took them when you share them. Fortunately, you can remove the embedded GPS coordinates from the images. Here’s how to wipe location details from pictures on your iPhone.
Privacy Made Easy
With the iOS 15 update, the Photos app makes it easier to view the photo information, also called EXIF data, which includes location details pinned on a mini-map. If you haven’t turned off location access for the Camera app, all the captured photos could expose the GPS metadata.
Unfortunately, Photos doesn’t offer the option to remove location details from all photos at once. So you’ll need to sift through your photos library and check each photo’s information. However, you can always check the photo information and delete the location data before uploading a picture.
Remove Location Details From a Photo on iPhone and iPad
To get started, open the “Photos” app on your iPhone or iPad and select the photo from where you want to delete the location details.
Tap on the “i” icon with a circle around or swipe up on the photo to see its information.
Under the photo information, you’ll where you took the photo with the location on the map. From there, tap the “Adjust” in the bottom-right corner.
When a new window pops up, select “No Location.”
If you change your mind about removing the location, tap the “Add Location” button from the photo information screen.
Then select “Revert” to restore the original location as tagged by the Camera app.
Now, keep swiping right or left to view other photos to remove locations details from them.
How to Prevent the Camera App From Adding Location Details
You can stop the camera app from automatically adding location details to photos you capture. Here’s what you need to do.
Open the “Settings” app and select the “Privacy” section.
Tap on “Location Services.”
Scroll down to select the “Camera” option.
Under the “Allow Location Access” section, select “Never.”
Close the “Settings” app. Now you won’t have to worry about location details while taking photos.
By: Waseem Patwegar
When you shoot Photos with iPhone and share them online, you also end up sharing your location data with others. You will find below the steps to Remove Location Data from Photos on iPhone.
Remove Location Data from Photos On iPhone
The Camera App adds EXIF data to every photo that you take using the Camera on your iPhone.
Along with technical information, EXIF data also contains information about the date, time and the location at which a particular photo was taken.
While the technical information included in EXIF Data can be useful for learning and improving Photography skills, the location information can be misused.
For future photos, you can easily deal with this issue by Turning OFF Geotagging for Photos on your iPhone, which will totally prevent Location information from being added to Photos.
In case of existing Photos that already have the Location Data, you can Remove the Location Data from these Photos using Apps designed for this purpose.
1. Remove Location Data from Photos on iPhone
There are many Apps in the App Store that can help you view and remove EXIF Data from Photos on your iPhone. In this case, we are making use of a paid App known as ViewExif ($0.99).
This App allows you to remove Location Data from Photos before sharing them with others, while still preserving the original Photo along with its Exif data.
Open the App Store on your iPhone > Download & Install the ViewExif App on your device.
Next, open the Photos app on your iPhone > select the Photo from which you want to remove Location Data and tap on the Share icon located at the lower left corner of your screen.
On the Share menu that appears, locate and tap on the More option.
On the next screen, toggle ON the option for ViewExif and tap on Done .
Once the ViewExif option is enabled on iPhone, you will see the ViewExif option in the share menu.
Back on the Share Menu, tap on ViewExif option (See image below).
You will be prompted to allow “ViewExif” to access your photos. Click on OK .
On the ViewExif screen, tap on the Share icon in the upper left corner of your screen.
On the popup that appears, tap on Share without Metadata option.
Once you tap on Share Without Metadata option, ViewExif App will make a copy of the photo without its EXIF Data and make it available for sharing.
Next, you will be prompted to select how you want to share the Photo. You will be able to select from Messages, Mail, Facebook, WhatsApp, AirDrop and various other sharing options as available on your iPhone.
As mentioned above, the original Photo will still remain on your iPhone along with all its EXIF Data.
Metadata about where your photos were taken is no doubt useful for your personal memories. But with iOS 13, it’s possible to remove location data from your pics and videos on iPhone when sharing them online. This bolsters your privacy because it prevents anyone from misusing this information. So if you want to shield against such prying eyes, keep reading.
How to Share Photos and Videos Without Geotags in iOS 13 and iPadOS 13
Step #1. Open Photos app on your device and head over to the images you would like to share.
Step #2. If you want to share a single photo, just tap on it and then choose Share button.
But if you wish to share multiple images, first tap on the Select button at the top right and then choose Share button.
Step #3. Now, tap on “Options” (at the top) on the right side of the location.
Step #4. Next, you need to disable the toggle for Location. Don’t forget to tap on Done to confirm.
Sticky Note: Under the location option, there is another toggle called All Photos Data which allows you to share original quality photos using AirDrop. If you are deep into the Apple ecosystem and often use AirDrop to share files between iOS and macOS devices, you should keep it enabled. But keep in mind, it will work only when the Location toggle is also ON.
Step #5. Up next, you will return to the Share sheet. Select your favorite social media or any other medium to share the pics as usual.
That’s pretty much it! You have successfully shared your pics without location metadata.
Signing Off…
As an iOS user who loves sharing a ton of clips and pics on social sites, I welcome this highly appreciable feature. In this digital world where security and privacy have become a matter of grave concern, it pays to safeguard your information so that it doesn’t fall prey to the evil minds.
You may also like to read:
What’s your take on this security feature and why it’s so helpful? Share your feedback with us in the below comment section.
The GPS coordinates that are tagged to every picture taken with a smartphone (and many cameras) can be useful in all kinds of ways—finding shots from other people near your location or getting an overview of where your travels have taken you, for example.
But if you’re snapping images around your home or office then you might not want others knowing exactly where you live or work—particularly if there’s a row of hugely valuable paintings in the background. It’s also a dangerous practice for anyone on the run from the law . Here’s how to remove the data whether you’re on a Mac or Windows machine.
Stripping out GPS data
The GPS information stored with your snaps is part of the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File) data which also includes the time and date of each photo and the camera used to take it . Erase the relevant fields in the file’s metadata and suddenly no one is any the wiser as to where it was taken.
On Windows, right-click on a picture and choose Properties, then open the Details tab and click Remove Properties and Personal Information. You have the option to strip out some or all of the attached EXIF data, and you can create a a copy of the image file if you don’t want to mess with the original.
Experience Next-Level Sound
Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking provides theater-like sound that surrounds you
A variety of third-party tools can do the same job (such as the free BatchPurifier ) and there are online apps for the task too. If you’re on a Mac, you’re going to need a separate app, such as NoIMGdata ($2.99) or IMT Exif Remover (free). Many freeware image editors, viewers and converters come with some way of viewing or changing EXIF data.
Of course you can just choose to disable the feature on your smartphone or camera instead. On the latest version of the stock Android camera app, swipe in from the left, tap the settings cog and turn the Save location option off. On iOS, go into Settings, tap Privacy >> Location Services and toggle the Camera option to off.
Is it really necessary?
Stripping out this GPS information isn’t always necessary, depending on the site you’re using. Based on tests we’ve done and information gleaned elsewhere , both Facebook and Twitter strip out EXIF data automatically. Instagram does too, unless you add a picture to your Photo Map , while Flickr gives you the option to keep GPS data intact or take it out during the upload process (it’s set to strip it out by default). eBay is another site that removes location information as a matter of course.
Google+ is one of the biggest sites that does keep the location data with your pictures, and Tumblr is another. Any pictures you Dropbox will have their GPS coordinates intact, as will any pictures you email around to family and friends. If you’re not sure, you could always run a test yourself to see how a particular site or service works, but it’s always worth thinking twice about whether you want location information to be included with your pictures.
If you’re a privacy conscious individual like I am, I bet you’ve wanted to remove location data from your photos before sharing them to social media. It’s possible to do this on macOS, but did you know you can do it on iOS too? Here’s how to remove photo metadata on your iPhone or iPad.
Metadata pertaining to photos is called exif data, which stands for Exchangeable Image File Format. It’s a tag structure for photos—usually JPEG—that lets cameras add information to your photos. For example, when I take a photo with my iPhone, information saved to the file include:
- Manufacturer
- Model
- Focal Length
- ISO Speed
- Time Stamp
- Location
This information is helpful for photographers or anyone else who wants to remember where they took that photo. But it’s possible for anyone to download a photo from the web and look at the exif information. This is particularly concerning if someone downloads one of your pictures from Facebook. They will be able to see all of the above information. Fortunately, there are iOS apps that can remove this information. I’ll give a brief overview of three apps that I’ve used.
Photo Investigator by Daniel Anderson
Photo Investigator lets you view all of the metadata for your photos. You can edit and/or remove GPS, caption, and timestamp. If all you want to do is view the exif data, the app is free. But there is a US$2.99 in-app purchase to edit/remove the data.
Photo Investigator
Photo Data (Exif Photos) by John Rhea
Like Photo Investigator, Exif Photos lets you view, edit and remove metadata from photos. It’s also US$2.99 to use, but there are no in-app purchases. However, whenever I try to edit the exif information for my photos, the app crashes. The last update it received was almost one year ago, so I’ve moved on to the next app.
Exif Photos
Pico by Clean Shaven Apps
Pico is a multi-feature app. The app’s main purpose is to compress any photo to choose down to kilobyte size. It reduces the image quality but it comes in handy if you want to save cellular data, or if your high-speed data has been throttled. Smaller photo sizes means faster sharing.
Pico
When you compress a photo, you can also choose to remove metadata such as location. Unfortunately it’s not possible to view or edit the metadata; you can only remove it. Pico also has an iMessage app. Pico is free with a US$2.99 in-app purchase. If you’re a free user, it adds a watermark to your compressed images.
Toggle Dark Mode
Tagging your photos with their location can be helpful. It lets you quickly find photos taken on your last vacation or another particular spot. Once uploaded to social media, these geotagged images can inadvertently reveal the location of your home or your favorite restaurant. You may appreciate having access to this location information, but you likely don’t want to share it with the world. You can prevent any accidental sharing with these few simple steps.
Disable Location Sharing on Individual Photos
This method not only allows you to keep the location information that is stored with your photos, but it also lets you disable it on a photo-by-photo basis. Stripping the GPS data in this way has its benefits, but it can be tedious as you need to modify every image you share.
- Start by opening the photo or photos you want to share.
- Select the Share button.
- Select Options at the top of the sharing screen.
- Turn off the location toggle to remove the GPS data from the selected photos.
- Select Done to save your changes.
Once the location toggle is turned off, you can safely share your photo(s) with others without revealing where you were when you took them.
Turn Off Sharing Permanently
To ensure you don’t accidentally share your location information, you can turn off location services permanently. It disables location within the camera app making it impossible to track where your photos were taken.
- Open the Settings app.
- Go to Privacy >Location Services.
- Select Camera to access the camera settings.
- Select Never under “Allow Location Access.”
Once location is disabled, none of your photos going forward will contain the GPS coordinates. Consider carefully before you disable this feature. Yes, it hides where you took the photo, but it also prevents you from searching for images by their location.
“When you shoot photos with most smartphones, they’ll embed location information for all sorts of uses,” David Chartier reports for Finer Things.
“But if you get some photos onto your Mac and would rather remove location info before sharing them, Preview gained a tool in OS X Yosemite that makes this pretty easy,” Chartier reports. This method will “remove all location info from the photos so they’re safe for sharing.”
Chartier adds, “You might be able to automate this with OS X’s Automator, though I haven’t tried yet.”
Easy steps in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
Related
Previous Post
Next Post
17 Comments
Actually, there’s a great iOS app – Metaphor that simplifies things with an extension to remove that metadata before sharing pics.
You mean the free “Metadata” app?
Yes. I was wondering if the first post meant Metapho and instead was auto corrected to Metaphor.
If I am going to share photos, I am going to share them with friends & family, all of them know where I live, where my kids live, and where I am visiting. The majority of the photos I share are sent via iMessage (sorta secure – according to my retired from former employer at NSA) so why should I be as paranoid as the authors of these articles and readers of their articles?? If I were one to spew photos to every social media website then I would be worried about trying to impress the whole world of my accomplishments, well that ain’t gonna happen.
In other words, “Why isn’t everyone else exactly like meeee. ”
So the article doesn’t apply to you. That’s great. Thanks for letting us know. But lots of other people do post pictures to things like facebook, twitter and craigslist and would rather the world not know the GPS coordinates of their homes, and this article is written for them.
One of the good things about this forum is that people can share THEIR opinion / use / ways so we can read and draw our conclusions. Multiple insights can help determine your own perspective. So go easy, I like opinions voiced, even when they differ from mine.
But then again, that’s just me 🙂
Well said. I too enjoy reading different workflows expressed by different folks for different reasons while trying NOT TO READ too much into them.
Expressing opinions are fine. But trying to dictate how information may or may not be beneficial to others is not expressing opinion, It’s expressing stupidity.
Well that’s my opinion, at least 🙂
On my good days, I try to read those and form my opinion, even when what is said is stupid. But I too, often fail miserably at being who I would want myself to be… 😉
Sounded more like a concerned parent or grand pop speaking plain english to the kids for their greater good.
Great, thanks for sharing that this tutorial is not for you. I feel enlightened now.
This tutorial is about How to Remove Location Details From Photo on iPhone/iPad. Recently I updated this tutorial and will try my best so that you understand this guide. I hope you guys like this blog, How to Remove Location Details From Photo on iPhone/iPad. If your answer is yes after reading the article, please share this article with your friends and family to support us.
Table of contents
- Check How to Remove Location Details From Photo on iPhone/iPad
- How to remove location details from a photo on iPhone/iPad
- Final remarks: How to Remove Location Details From Photo on iPhone/iPad
Check How to Remove Location Details From Photo on iPhone/iPad
It’s great to have location data stored in your photos. This way, you can search through your photo library and find all the photos from your recent vacations or favorite places you love to visit. With some photos, like the one of the Eiffel Tower, it’s obvious where you took them. But you may not want people to be able to find out where all your photos were taken. For example, you probably don’t want location data in photos you take in your backyard showing up on social media so people can find exactly where you live.
Your iPhone can use its internal GPS system to record the locations where you take your photos. It stores precise location data like Latitude: 51° 25′ 38.532″ N and Longitude: 1° 51′ 18.39″ W. Enter these coordinates into Google Maps and it will pinpoint the location of a photo. This is useful in Apple’s Photos app so you can search for places, and you can view a specific photo in Photos and see exactly where it was taken on a map. Below are the steps to delete photo location details on iPhone and iPad.
How to remove location details from a photo on iPhone/iPad
- First, open the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad and select the photo you want to remove location details from.
- Tap the circled “i” icon or swipe up on the photo to see its information.
- Below the photo information you will see where you took the photo with the location on the map. From there, tap “Adjust” in the bottom right corner.
- When a new window appears, select “No location”.
- If you change your mind about removing the location, tap the “Add Location” button on the photo info screen.
- Then select “Revert” to restore the original location tagged by the Camera app.
- Now, keep swiping right or left to view other photos and remove location details from them.
Final remarks: How to Remove Location Details From Photo on iPhone/iPad
I hope you understand this article, How to Remove Location Details From Photo on iPhone/iPad. If your answer is no, you can ask anything via the contact forum section related to this article. And if your answer is yes, please share this article with your friends and family to give us your support.
Geotagging lets your iPhone or iPad Camera record the location with a bunch of other metadata termed EXIF. It helps sort pictures according to location. However, sometimes you might want to keep those locations or visits personal. The good news is that your iPhone lets you disable geotagging, so your photos do not have location data.
Let’s learn how to turn off geotagging and understand why you should do it.
Why should you turn off geotagging for photos on iPhone and iPad?
Geotags allow your photos to be tracked to a specific location, and that could be your home, office, or any other place. If you share photos with geotags on the internet, anyone can trace those photos to your location.
And you definitely wouldn’t want a stranger across the internet to know where you were or where you are! So, it’s better to turn off geotagging for photos on your iPhone and iPad. Keep scrolling to learn more.
How to disable geotagging for iPhone photos
This will prevent the camera app on your iPhone from saving geolocation data. However, you won’t be able to create albums based on location/places.
- Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap Privacy →LocationServices.
Now, tap Camera and select Never.
If you’re more skeptical about your privacy, you can choose to turn off location services all the time. However, you can’t use navigation services.
How to remove the location from old photos in iOS 14 and earlier
What if you want to remove geolocation information in the EXIF metadata from the old photos? Don’t worry! There are many third-party apps available that you can use to remove the geotags. Here are some apps I would recommend:
However, if you have downloaded iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 developer beta, you can remove the geotags directly from the Photos app. Let’s learn more.
Remove the geolocation from old photos in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15
- Launch the Photos app and open any photo.
- Tap the i button at the bottom.
This will remove the geolocation data from the photo, and you can share your photo on the internet without any worries.
I’d love to hear if you’ve got any more tricks to disable geotagging for photos on iPhone and iPad. Share them in the comments below.
We recently published an article showing you how to view the metadata of iPhone photos, including EXIF and GPS data. Being able to view the metadata of your iPhone photos is great, but being able to delete that metadata, and maybe more importantly deleting geolocation tags from these photos can actually be even more helpful.
There are many reasons why you’d want to remove the metadata from your photos but the one that makes the most sense to me is that you’d want to remove GPS geotags to prevent anyone from tracking the exact location where the picture was taken.
In this post, we will show you how to delete the metadata of your iPhone photos to effectively get rid of any data such as EXIF or geolocation. We’ll be using an app we developed called Exif Metadata. Other apps allow you to remove the GPS tags of iPhone photos but we’ll be using the one we made because we think it’s the best one out there…
Make sure your iPhone doesn’t geotag your photos
Before we get started, it must be noted that you can prevent your iPhone from automatically tagging your photos with your location in the first place by going into Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Camera > and make sure you choose “Never,” regarding when the Camera app can use your location. This being said, the rest of this post can apply to any photo (not only those taken with an iPhone).
How to remove geotags from photos taken with your iPhone
1) Download Exif Metadata from the App Store.
2) Launch the application and allow it to access photos on your iPhone.
3) Tap on the ” + ” icon in the center of the screen to access photo library.
4) Search for the photo for which you want to remove the GPS data and open it in the app.
5) This will bring up the photo metadata, including its GPS information. Scroll down a little bit and tap on the Remove Location button under the map view. This will remove all location information from this photo.
6) The photo is now clear of any identifiable location data. You may share it online without having to worry about other people finding the exact location where it was taken, for example.
This tutorial is about How to Remove Location Data from Photos/Videos in iOS 13. Recently I updated this tutorial and will try my best so that you understand this guide. I hope you guys like this blog, How to Remove Location Data from Photos/Videos in iOS 13. If your answer is yes after reading the article, please share this article with your friends and family to support us.
- Check How to Remove Location Data from Photos/Videos in iOS 13
- How to remove the location of photos and videos on iOS (iPhone/iPad)
- Stop your phone camera from saving GPS location data
- On iOS (iPhone/iPad)
- Final remarks: How to Remove Location Data from Photos/Videos in iOS 13
Check How to Remove Location Data from Photos/Videos in iOS 13
In the early naive days of smartphone photography on devices with approximate positioning based on GPS or Wi-Fi, Apple and other operating system manufacturers didn’t consider the implications of embedding coordinates in file metadata when it came time to share them. Twitter and other social networks got smarter after that, removing photo coordinates along with additional identifying metadata, reserving geolocation as something that could be positively chosen and identified.
But when you share an image captured by the Camera app or other hardware or software that geotags images and videos through iOS, iPadOS, or macOS, you can accidentally share that location, even if you prefer not to. Here’s how to avoid that.
How to remove the location of photos and videos on iOS (iPhone/iPad)
iOS comes with a handy switch to turn off location and other data while sharing photos and videos with other people. If you have an iPhone or iPad, here’s how you can remove location data from your photos and videos.
- Launch the Photos app on your iPhone and iPad.
- Select the photos and videos you’d like to share.
- Click the Share button at the bottom left.
- Click Options at the top of the Share menu.
- On the next screen, turn off the toggle for Location.
You can also turn off “All Photo Data” if you don’t want to share any other metadata along with your photo.
Stop your phone camera from saving GPS location data
On iOS (iPhone/iPad)
There is no direct switch to disable geotagging on photos in iOS. However, you can disable “Location Services” while clicking images to prevent the camera from saving GPS data. Alternatively, you can disable location access for the camera app, as follows.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Go to Privacy > Location Services.
- Here, scroll down and tap on Camera.
- Change the access to Never.
Final remarks: How to Remove Location Data from Photos/Videos in iOS 13
I hope you understand this article, How to Remove Location Data from Photos/Videos in iOS 13. If your answer is no, you can ask anything via the contact forum section related to this article. And if your answer is yes, please share this article with your friends and family to give us your support.
iPhone app deGeo removes geotags to help protect your privacy when sharing photos.
Matt Elliott, a technology writer for more than a decade, is a PC tester and Mac user based in New Hampshire.
You may be sharing more information than you may know when sharing an interesting or adorable photo on your preferred social network. If you have location services enabled for the camera app on your iPhone, then each photo you snap contains geotag data that shows where it was taken. With 99 cent deGeo, you can easily remove this location information before sharing photos online.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
When you launch deGeo for the first time, it will ask for permission to access your photos before providing a quick tutorial about what it does and which gestures it supports. Briefly, you can swipe up on a photo to return to your photo library to select a new photo (or just tap the Choose an Image button), swipe down to share (or just tap the Share button), and swipe left to view geotag data on a map. If a photo does not have any geotag data, you’ll see a map with no pin marking the spot where the photo was taken.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Swiping right on a photo reveals a largely useless menu. Of its four buttons, only the top one is of any use; it loads the last photo you took. You can also load your most recent photo by shaking your phone.
Related stories
- Four iOS 7 privacy tips
- How to delete and disable your Google location history
- The private information Facebook now makes public
Lastly, you can tap on a photo to view it in full screen. To get out of this mode, swipe in any direction.
DeGeo was recently updated, and now lets you select up to eight photos, which you can strip of location data before sharing on social networks which allow you to share multiple photos at once.
DeGeo lets you share to social networks including Dropbox, Evernote, Flickr, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Sina Weibo, Twitter, and Tumblr. You can also send photos from the via e-mail and text, and you can save a geotag-less photo to your iPhone’s camera roll.
Alternatively, you can skip deGeo and disable location services for your iPhone’s camera app, which keeps your photos free of geotags in the first place. (You may find this information useful or interesting for photos you don’t intend to share.) To disable location services for the camera app, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and turn off the toggle switch for the camera app.
Wondering about the places where you were recently? It can be for personal reasons to help you recall the places you visited. Or, if you have to prove someone for legal reasons or otherwise, you can use the past location history of your iPhone to establish your presence at that location.
Here are two ways to find your location history on iPhone using Apple’s Significant Locations and Google Maps. We also go over the steps to delete the saved location history and how to turn it off.
See your location history on iPhone
When you set up your new or restored iPhone, you’re given the option to turn on location services. You most likely enabled it during setup or later (from settings), as most apps like food delivery, taxi, weather, and payments apps require your location to work. When you enable location services, Significant Locations are also enabled.
As per Apple, Significant Locations “keeps track of the places you recently visited, as well as when and how often you visited them.” This end-to-end encrypted location data is used to offer you personalized services like predictive traffic routing.
Here’s how to check your iPhone location history:
- Open Settings and tap Privacy.
- Tap Location Services.
- Scroll to the end and tap System Services.
- Tap Significant Locations, and you will see your recent locations where you have visited with date, approximate position on the map, and a few other details.
If you had not enabled Significant Locations, you can do it now and check back after a few days.
Use Google Maps on iPhone to find your location history
You can see the location history in Google Maps only if:
- You have the Google Maps app installed on your iPhone
- Permitted Google Maps to always access your location (iPhone Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Google Maps > Always).
- Signed in to Google Maps using your Google account
- Have enabled Location History (Google Maps > profile picture icon > Your data in Maps > Location History > Turn on).
Here’s how to find your location history in Google Maps on iPhone:
- Open Google Maps and tap your profile picture.
- Tap Your data in Maps.
- Tap See & delete activity under Location History.
- Here, you will see today’s location history with your travel routes and stops. Tap Today to pick a different date or use the arrows ( ) to go to adjacent dates and view the location history.
You can also see and manage your location history in Google Maps Timeline. Here’s how to access it:
- iPhone: Google Maps app > profile picture >Your timeline.
- Computer: and sign in with your Google account.
How to delete and stop saving location history on iPhone
You can easily prevent Apple and Google from storing the location history of places you visit.
Turn off Significant Locations
Significant Locations are encrypted, and Apple can’t read them. But, if you don’t feel comfortable, you can turn off the toggle for Significant Locations to prevent Apple from storing this data.
Here’s how to clear location history and turn off Significant Locations on iPhone:
- Open Settings and tap Privacy.
- Tap Location Services >System Services.
- Tap Significant Locations.
- From here, first, tap Clear History, and it will delete your recorded locations from all your Apple devices with this Apple ID.
- Next, toggle off Significant Locations >Turn Off.
Turn off Google Maps location history or timeline
By default, your Google Maps location history is auto-deleted after 18 months. But you can change it to 3 months, 36 months, or even choose not to auto-delete. Here’s how:
- Tap your profile picture inside Google Maps, and select Your data in Maps.
- Tap On below Location History.
- Under Auto-delete (On), tap Deleting activity older than 18 months.
- Choose a different option for Auto-delete activity older than.
Here’s how to delete all or date-wise saved Google Maps location history:
- Open Google Maps and tap your profile picture.
- Tap Your data in Maps.
- Tap On below Location History.
- From here, tap Manage history.
- To delete all data, tap the settings icon and choose Delete all Location History.
- To delete location history for individual dates, tap TODAY from the top right. Now, use the arrows ( ) or the dropdown options on the top to go to a date or time period. Finally, tap the delete icon >Delete Day.
At last, here’s how to turn off location history in Google Maps:
- Inside the Google Maps app, tap your profile picture.
- Tap choose Your data in Maps.
- Tap Turn off >Pause to stop Google Maps from saving your location history.
Want to disable iPhone GPS geotagging of photos and the camera? Many users may wish to turn off geotagging on iPhone photos for privacy reasons. In case you didn’t know, the iPhone Camera defaults to storing GPS and geographic tagging information in the EXIF data of your iPhone images. If you don’t want this type of location information stored in a pictures EXIF meta data, you can disable the feature easily in iOS settings, which essentially prevents the image from keeping location details within the file and can help to increase privacy. We’ll cover how to make this settings adjustment on all versions of iOS so you can disable the location feature of the camera and snapped photos.
How to Disable iPhone Photo GPS Geotag Location Data
This will prevent the location GPS coordinates from being embedded into all photos taken with the iPhone Camera app, this settings adjustments is available to and works in all modern versions of iOS:
- Open the Settings app on iPhone
The above setting screenshot shows what the Privacy > Location Services > Camera setting should look like to prevent location tagging of iPhone photos.
It’s important to point this settings adjustment only changes photos taken with the Camera app on an iPhone.
If you want to prevent other apps from being able to geotag images taken within their respective application, say like Instagram, you’d need to locate that app from the same Privacy > Location Services list and disable those apps as well.
Do not overlook other apps usage of geolocation data if you are aiming to maintain maximum privacy with geographic location data and GPS coordinates, because it’s not only the iPhone camera that will attempt to store and gather geolocation in images metadata.
You’ll find this privacy setting in all modern iOS versions, from 6, 7, iOS 8, iOS 9, iOS 10, iOS 11, iOS 12, and onward. New versions of iOS actually gave “Location Services” it’s own separate preference settings within the Privacy section of Settings app, whereas old versions of iOS still allow you to disable the settings but you have to go deeper into the iOS preferences to do so, which we’ll cover next.
Turning Off Camera Location Services in Older iOS Versions
If you have a much older iPhone model with an older iOS release you can still turn off this feature too. Turning off Camera GPS data with older models iPhone running iOS 5 and iOS 4 is done through the following settings adjustment, note how it’s different from doing so in modern iOS releases:
- Tap on Settings
- Tap on General
- Tap on “Location Services”
- Select the On/Off switch next to “Camera” so that the switch is set to OFF
- Exit settings
The appearance of these Camera location data and privacy Settings also has changed slightly, but again the functionality remains the same across all versions of iOS that include the ability to toggle the setting on or off.
Images taken from the iPhone will now no longer include GPS and location data when taking photos, and your privacy concerns should be alleviated.
For those interested, it’s fairly easy to see the iPhone photo GPS data by using the Preview app or any other EXIF viewer on the Mac. Likewise, it’s also fairly easy to strip the EXIF details using applications as well, so if you want to remove location data from past images that’s what you’d want to do.
There are many reasons to want to disable geotagging of images, but perhaps the leading reason is for privacy and security. Do you really want every photo you take to have the precise GPS coordinates and location of the image stored in that pictures metadata? This is something to consider, especially if you put photos on the internet through a website or social media. Many photo sharing apps and services will also gather that GPS data from the photos too, keeping a record of exactly where images are taken. Thus for many of us, simply turning off geotagging of images is a simple way to not have to deal with any of that. Going beyond photos, if you care about this for privacy reasons, you might want to audit the Location Services access of other apps on your iPhone or iPad too, disabling location for social networks and social media along with other apps can be a simple way to enhance your own privacy and security a bit.
If you have any thoughts, tips, tricks, or helpful advice about turning on or off geotagging camera photos on the iPhone or iPad, share them with us in the comments below.
With the advancement of GPS feature embedded in almost all smartphones nowadays, there are many ways how GPS data can be utilised. In iPhone, if you enabled the GPS location sharing and also geotagging feature, whenever you take pictures, your photo will also contain other data such as your GPS coordinates and location. The data that includes this information is called the EXIF data. Read here if you want to know more what EXIF data is and how you can use it to track a phone.
There are also cameras that can embed EXIF data into the photos of the camera. However, if the smartphone or camera do not have GPS chip embedded, the photos will not have any GPS data embedded in it.
WHY DO YOU WANT TO EXTRACT THE LOCATION OF YOUR PHOTOS?
There are many reasons why you would want to know the location of a photo you have taken. Here are some of the top reasons:-
- TRAVELLING BACKTRACKING – To be able to get back to the same place where you made the picture a long time ago while you are travelling
- SHARING WITH FRIENDS – If you send a photo taken with your iPhone, you can email that photo to your friend. The friend will be able to get the GPS coordinates of that photo so that they can able to go to that place in the pictures too
- WORK PURPOSES – Sometimes some of the working professionals need to travel to a site or a business location. If you take photos of that site, you can extract the coordinates so that in future you would be able to travel again to that site.
However, it is worth to know that most of the social media platform will erase any EXIF data of the pictures that you uploaded to the site. This way you should not be worry too much if you uploaded a photo on the social media platform and worried if some strangers can pinpoint your location.
So, if you want to know the location of a picture that you have taken, you can extract the location by using simple steps.
Here are the steps.
HOW TO EXTRACT LOCATION FROM PHOTOS ON IPHONE
Step 1
Take a picture of your current location. In the iPhone, tap “Photos.”
Step 2
Select the photo where you have just taken
Step 3
In the selected photo, swipe up
Step 4
iPhone will show the place where the picture is taken
Step 5
You can choose to see the picture in a map, hybrid or satellite format
Step 6
The location of the phone can be tracked based on the map shown here
GET GPS COORDINATES FROM PHOTOS ON IPHONE
You can extract location from photos on iPhone using online GPS viewer. There is a lot of free GPS viewer on the internet. You can Google “GPS Viewer”. Make sure your iPhone is GPS enabled, and Geotagging turned on when taking the pictures.
One of the free GPS viewers is
Step 1
Go to the website and upload the photo you want to extract the location
Step 2
Upload the photo from your desktop to Pic2Map
Step 3
It will then show the detail information of the photo including the GPS coordinates
So, there you have it — two simple ways how you can extract the location from your photos on iPhone. Please leave us a comment below on what are the potential use of having location embedded into your photos that are not listed here.
If you’re an iPhone or iPad user, you’re probably aware of the sharing menu in iOS. It gives you access to a lot more options than just being able to send information to different apps or share files with other users. Did you know that you could customize this sharing menu according to your preference?
Apple calls this menu “Share Sheet”, and it has been around for a few years. However, with the introduction of ipadOS and iOS 13, Share Sheet has received some major visual changes and other improvements. There’s a lot more flexibility when it comes to customization, so that users can have more control over what’s displayed in this menu.
Interested in learning how this works, so you can customize the share sheet on your iOS device? Look no further, because in this article, we’ll be discussing exactly how you can add to & edit sharing menu options on both the iPhone & iPad, as long as they’re running iOS 13 or later.
How to Add & Edit Sharing Menu Options on iPhone and iPad
The Share Sheet in iOS 13 does not remain constant across apps. Certain options that you see in the sharing menu are strictly specific to the app you’re using. However, the procedure to add and edit options in the share sheet remains the same. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the necessary steps.
- You could access the Share Sheet from any app that you’re familiar with. However, for the sake of this article, we’ll be using Safari. Simply tap on the “Share” icon to bring up the Share Sheet from the bottom of your screen.
Now, swipe up to get an entire view of the sharing menu.
As you can see here, the Share Sheet is categorized into three segments. The top-most segment is called the Favorites section. Right below it, you’ll see a list of app-specific options. Lastly, the third segment will house shortcuts to perform various other actions, which remains similar across apps.
Here, scroll all the way to the bottom of the Share Sheet and tap “Edit Actions…”
In this menu, you’ll be able to add app-specific actions and other shortcuts to the Favorites section of the Share Sheet. Simply tap on the green “+” icon located right next to each action, in order to move them to Favorites.
Now, if you want to rearrange the actions in the Favorites section, press and hold the “triple line” icon located right next to each action and move them around according to your preference.
You can also remove the unnecessary actions from the Favorites segment by simply tapping the “-” icon and then confirming it by pressing “Remove”, as shown in the screenshot below. Once you’ve finished customizing your Share Sheet, tap “Done” to confirm the changes.
Similarly, you can also customize the row of apps that show up in the Share Sheet. This is primarly used to send information to other apps, and comes in handy whenever you want to share content on social networking platforms. In the sharing menu, scroll through the row of apps and tap on “More”, which is located at the very end.
As you can see in the screenshot below, you can add, remove and rearrange apps in the Favorites section, similar to the steps that we just discussed above. Once you’ve customized it according to your liking, tap “Done” to confirm the changes.
That’s pretty much all you need to do, in order to make changes to the sharing menu on your iPhone and iPad.
Since the content that’s displayed on the Share Sheet is app-specific, you might necessarily see some of your favorite actions as you switch between different apps. Let’s say you added a “Bookmark” action to Favorites in Safari, you won’t find it when you access the Share Sheet in the Music app, because that particular action isn’t supported by the app.
Therefore, you might want to edit your Favorite actions in order to better suit the app you’re using. As a result, it will take some time before you neatly customize the Share Sheet according to your preference across various applications.
This iOS feature comes in handy in so many situations, and you can save plenty of time by performing certain actions within the Share Sheet. For example, you could use the Skitch action in the sharing menu to annotate screenshots right in the stock Photos app, without even having to open the Skitch app itself.
Did you customize the sharing menu on your iPhone and iPad according to your preference? What do you think about the redesigned Share Sheet and the customization it has to offer? Do let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments section down below.
You should remove identifiers, that is metadata from your photos, before sharing (Image for representation)
You should remove identifiers, that is metadata from your photos, before sharing, and the functionality is available on Windows PCs, Apple Mac, Android phones and Apple iPhone.
- Trending Desk
- Last Updated: August 16, 2021, 13:05 IST
- FOLLOW US ON:
Chances are, you use your phone’s camera to take a lot of photos. The metadata for an image includes latitude and longitude coordinate of the picture, details where the picture was taken, and the camera settings and software used to edit the photo. The metadata can also prove that the image was taken by a specific smartphone or camera. This information, in technical terms, is called image’s metadata. Although, it is nice to have the information linked with the file, at times you might not want the information to remain attached to the file, particularly if you are sharing it on social media or on a messaging app. The metadata, which is associated with a digital image is stored in a format called EXIF, which stands for Exchangeable Image File Format. There are ways to remove this metadata, before you share a photo.
On Windows PC
Step 1 – On a Windows computer, open the folder of pictures.
Step 2 – Highlight the image for which you want to remove the metadata, right-click on the snap.
Step 3 – Of the options that appear, select the ‘Properties’ option followed by the Details tab.
Step 4 – Click on the last option which will be a link reading ‘Remove Properties and Personal Information.’
Step 5 – before removing the metadata of the image, Windows will also ask you whether you want to save a copy of the snap with the information still attached or simply remove the EXIF information from the original click.
If you want to do the same for more than one image, you can do it at the same time. Highlight all the photos at once for which you want to remove the metadata, and the remaining process is the same.
On An Apple Mac
Step 1 – Use Preview to open the photo
Step 2 – Open the menu and select ‘tools’
Step 3 – Select Show Inspector
Step 4 – Click on the (i) tab
Step 5 – Tap on the GPS tab and remove the location information
In Mac, if you click on EXIF rather than the GPS tab, you will be able to see all the information related to the photo but won’t be able to delete it. ExifTool, ImageOptim, and Image Scrubber are some of the options one can select for removing information from a particular photo.
For Android
Step 1 – Open the Gallery app here you images/pictures are stored
Step 2 – Select the image and click ‘More’ (the three vertical dots)
Step 3 – The third step is to select ‘Details’
Step 4 – Click on Edit option
Step 5 – Delete the ‘Location’ and press ‘Save’
For Apple iPhone
Step 1 – Open the Photos app
Step 2 – Select the desired photo
Step 3 – Click on ‘Share’
Step 4 – Select ‘Options’ (it is present on top of your screen next to ‘location’
Step 5 – Toggle off Location or the entire photo data
Step 6 – Select ‘done’
Your iPhone doesn’t need to know your location 24/7.
While privacy as we used to know it might be dead and gone, there are still plenty of ways to protect yourself against the default tech standards on your iPhone. Apple might be a privacy champion, but there are plenty of settings you can tinker with and change to hide your location from Apple and your many apps.
How to disable location services for your entire iPhone
Since Apple is all about privacy (I can already see the CSAM arguments brewing in the comments), they make controlling which apps have access to your location a breeze.
If you want to disable Location Services entirely in one fell swoop, you’re free to do so. Just head to Settings > Privacy > Location Services, then disable the toggle next to Location Services. When you do, you get a pop-up letting you know that while Location Services will be turned off, your personalized settings will be temporarily restored if you use Find My iPhone to enable Lost Mode. Just tap “Turn Off” to continue.
All set! Well, maybe if you never need an app that uses Location Services. But there aren’t many of us out there that go without a navigation app like Google Maps. If you keep Location Services disabled, no apps that require your location to function will work. That’s a bit of a bummer.
Father’s Day CBD Bundle
Send Dad flowers
Well, send him a bundle of calming CBD products made from USDA-certified organic, Kentucky-grown, whole-flower hemp oil, at least.
How to manage Location Services for each app
Instead, you might find it more useful to fine-tune your location settings app-by-app. To do so, head back to the Location Services settings page, then tap on an app whose location permissions you’d like to edit. You might see an arrangement of the following five options, depending on the app and what features it has:
- Never: T he app will never have access to your location.
- Ask Next Time: T he next time the app wants access to your location, it will ask.
- While Using the App: This grants location permissions only when using the app.
- While Using the App or Widgets: This grants permission to your location only when using the app or the app’s widget.
- Always: T he app always has access to your location.
These options change depending on the app. Facebook, for example, has “Always” as an option, because of perpetual tracking features like “Nearby Friends” and “Find Wi-Fi.” CARROT has “While Using the App or Widgets,” because it has a widget. You can change these settings at any time, so you don’t have to stress too much about picking the right one for that particular app.
Apple has apps explain why they ask for the location information they do. That way, you can decide for yourself whether those purported features are worth handing over your location.
You’ll also find a “Precise Location” option at the bottom of this page. That gives the app permission to your specific location. If you turn off this feature, the app will only have your general location. Good for privacy, but not so good for apps that require precise location data, like Google Maps or friend trackers.
How to stop sharing your location with other people
Sure, we want to hide our location from noisy tech giants, but maybe you also don’t want your social circle knowing your whereabouts, either. Of course, you needed to give permission to your contacts before sharing your location with them in the first place, but we all have regrets.
You can disable location sharing for all by heading to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Share My Location. Here, just disable “Share My Location.” Alternatively, to whittle down your list of contacts that you share your location with more precisely, open Find My, tap People, tap the contact you want to remove, then scroll down and tap “Stop Sharing Location.”
Disable system services
If you scroll to the bottom of your list of apps in Location Services, you’ll find an option called System Services. Tap that, and you’ll see a list of services that your iPhone uses your location for. You can go through this list and disable the options if you like, but many of them (if not most of them) are going to be more useful than intrusive.
The exception might be the three options under Product Improvement: iPhone Analytics, Routing & Traffic, and Improve Maps are services that Apple collects location data for to improve across its ecosystem. If you’d rather opt out of Apple’s program, you can disable any and all of those options.
Finally, there are Significant Locations . Apple uses this feature to learn the locations you frequent most to provide location-based information in apps like Maps, Calendar, Photos, and more. While you can disable the option, the data is end-to-end encrypted on your devices, meaning Apple doesn’t have access to it. If you want to turn off the feature, just tap the toggle next to “Significant Locations,” then tap “Turn Off” on the pop-up.
You can also delete specific entires. To do so, just tap one, tap “Edit,” then tap the red minus on the entry. Alternatively, you can clear all entries at once by scrolling to the bottom of Significant Locations, tapping “Clear History,” then tapping “Clear History” on the pop-up.
Most people get surprised when their iPhone correctly recognizes their place of work or home even though they have not specified it themselves. iPhone is able to do this with such accuracy because it constantly records your whereabouts and then uses patterns in that data to determine where your work, office or a friend’s home is.
This personal location information is used to display location based alerts and suggestions in maps, calendar, photos etc. For example, if you are spending the time of around 9AM to 5PM every day, then it will tell the iPhone that this is where you work and so on.
The data collected by iPhone is quite accurate as it not only gets the name of the place and its address but also records the time you arrived and left that particular place. iPhone stores all this information securely encrypted right on your device so Apple can’t read this data. You can see this information by gong to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations. Then tap on the names of cities to get a list of locations you have previously visited. You will need to authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID before you can view this data.
Clear iPhone’s Significant locations data
If you are not comfortable with iPhone collecting information about your whereabouts, you also get the option to clear your history and turn off the Significant Locations feature. Follow the steps below.
- Open Settings > Privacy.
- Tap on Location Services and then on System Services.
- Scroll down and tap on Significant Locations option.
- On the next page tap on ‘Clear History‘ to delete location data iPhone has collected on you.
- Turn off the toggle for Significant Locations to prevent iPhone from further storing data on you.
Customizing location settings to protect your privacy can be confusing and complicated for the average user. Here’s how to control what Apple and app makers know about your whereabouts.
When you first boot up an iOS device, it asks if you’d like to turn on location services, which can be helpful for apps like Google Maps or when tagging your location on social media.
Many hit enable and never look back. Who has time to drill down and customize location settings? You do. It may seem daunting, but with a few simple taps, you can take control of your location data to only give Apple and its app developers the information they actually need to run their apps and services.
Turn Off Location Services
To turn off location services completely, navigate to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and toggle off Location Services at the top of the screen. Be careful about doing this, though, because most services you use every day will be disabled.
For example, photos won’t attach a location when you take them, map apps won’t be able to direct you anywhere, and Uber or Lyft won’t be able to pinpoint your location. Disabling location services may help you preserve your device’s battery life and maintain the highest level of smart device privacy, but it will diminish your overall experience.
Disable Location for Specific Apps
Instead of the nuclear option, adjust location permissions for individual apps under Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Select an app from the list and set the permission to match your comfort level. As of iOS 14, there are four options for location services for apps:
Never ensures that location services will never be tracked while using the app.
Ask Next Time will ask how you want to proceed each time you open the app: Allow once, Allow while using, or Don’t allow.
While Using tells the app to only utilize location tracking while it is actively in use on the screen, either in the app or via the on-screen widgets that iOS now supports.
Always will permit the app to always track an iOS device’s location even when the app is not actively being used.
If you’re ok with apps using location data but feel uneasy about them knowing exactly where you are, turn off Precise Location and the app will only know your approximate location, which should be sufficient for most apps and services.
Disable Location for iOS System Services
You can also disable certain backend location-tracking features within iOS System Services. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services, scroll to the bottom of the list, and select System Services. You’re presented with a list of items you can toggle on and off. Here’s how they use location tracking:
Apple Pay Merchant Information uses your current location to help provide more accurate merchant names when you use your physical Apple Card.
Cell Network Search tracks cell tower usage and sends data to Apple.
Compass Calibration uses location tracking to help calibrate the electronic compass.
Device Management allows you to wirelessly configure (Opens in a new window) devices, like an app for gig workers or a VPN for a school or business.
Emergency Calls & SOS allows users to discreetly call 911 and uses location data to help assist in the event of an emergency.
Find My iPhone is a service provided by Apple that will enable you to track an iOS device remotely.
HomeKit helps make smart homes smarter by using location tracking to do things like opening your garage door or turning on lights automatically.
Location-Based Alerts permit Apple to use your location to give geographically related alerts or news, like Amber Alerts or severe weather warnings.
Location-Based Suggestions enable location-specific suggestions for Safari and Spotlight.
Motion Calibration & Distance are used by fitness or activity apps to track activity accurately.
Networking & Wireless tracks Wi-Fi usage and sends data to Apple.
Setting Time Zone uses location tracking to automatically adjust the time when changing time zones.
Share My Location lets you share your current location with individuals through iMessage or other apps like Find My.
System Customization changes system appearance, behaviors, and settings using location data.
Significant Locations tracks and remembers the places that you are at most often and sends alerts based on calendar events or map directions.
iPhone Analytics helps Apple by occasionally providing the company with information about how a specific iOS device is used.
Routing & Traffic shares current traffic patterns and speed with Apple to improve Maps.
Improve Maps allows Apple to use current location to alert iOS users to the estimated time to get to their frequent locations.
Many of the items on this list are safe to disable. Features like Cell Network Search and Networking & Wireless are not necessary to your everyday usage. Others, like HomeKit or Motion Calibration & Distance, are only useful if you use home automation or fitness tracking.
Recommended by Our Editors
If you’re worried about when your phone is using location data, turn on Status Bar Icon under System Services. This will show a black arrow icon in the status bar any time system services access your location.
Disable Location Sharing
The Find My app tracks the location of your Apple devices so you can find it if it’s lost or stolen. It also allows you to share your location with friends. We recommend you keep this activated; you never know when an iPhone will be swiped or go missing. But if you have privacy concerns (or you need to disable Find My before selling an older device), go to Settings > [your name] > Find My > Find My iPhone. Toggle it off and enter your Apple ID password to confirm.
If you don’t want friends and family to know your location, turn off location sharing in the standalone Find My app. Tap the Me tab and toggle Share My Location to off. For individual people, open the People tab, select a specific contact, and either hide your location from them or remove them from the app completely.
Like What You’re Reading?
Sign up for Fully Mobilized newsletter to get our top mobile tech stories delivered right to your inbox.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Use Google Maps or Apple’s location services
- Tweet
- Share
- Tweet
- Share
What to Know
- On the iPhone, turn location services on, or the phone won’t track your location.
- View Google Maps history: In the app, tap your profile image >Your data in Maps >See & delete activity.
- To view iOS history: Go to Settings >Privacy >Location Services >System Services >Significant Locations.
This article explains how to view your location history using data collected by the Google Maps app on your iPhone or data from your iPhone’s location services. iPhone instructions cover iOS 12 and later.
Activate Location Services for Google Maps
Before Google Maps can track your location, you must turn on Location Services on the iPhone. The Google Maps app doesn’t have to be launched on the iPhone to track your location, but it can’t work without location services being turned on and then activated for Google Maps.
On the iPhone, tap Settings.
Tap Privacy, then turn on Location Services.
Scroll down and select Google Maps, then tap Always.
You don’t have to keep the Google Maps app open. Just keep your iPhone with you, and it will start tracking your location.
View Tracking History in Google Maps
After turning on Location Services, here’s how to view your tracking history in the Google Maps app:
Open Google Maps and tap your profile photo.
Tap Your data in Maps. In the Google-wide controls section, select See & delete activity.
A map opens for the most recent location history, showing your travel route and local landmarks or stops. The map is zoomable, so you can enlarge it for details. Use the menu directly under the map to switch to other dates. The details of the history also appear under the map.
You may delete history from the timeline or delete your entire history from the database.
You can also view your Google Maps app location history on a desktop or laptop computer by going to .
Apple iOS & iPhone Location History How-To
Apple also collects location data if you allow it to, but it provides less historical data and less detail. However, you can see some history. Here’s how you set it up on your iPhone:
Tap Settings.
Scroll down and tap Privacy > Location Services.
Scroll to the bottom of the Location Services screen and tap System Services.
Tap Significant Locations (called Frequent Locations in some versions of iOS). You can turn this feature off with the toggle switch at the top of the Significant Locations screen.
Scroll to the bottom of the screen to find your location history with location names and dates. You can now see everything that Apple sees.
Apple stores a limited number of locations and doesn’t provide precise travel tracks and timelines like Google. It provides a place, a date, and an approximate position circle on a non-interactive (you can’t pinch-to-zoom it) map. If you don’t want Apple to track you, toggle off Significant Locations in your iPhone’s Settings app.
How Location Services Work
Not many people know that the location awareness of their portable devices and software extends to tracking and recording their location history, as well. In the case of Google, if you opt-in, your location history consists of a detailed and searchable data file with a visible trail, organized by date and time. Apple provides less information but keeps, and displays at your request, a record of your recently visited places, without the detailed trail feature that Google offers.
Both Google and Apple provide these history files with assurances about privacy, and you can opt-out or, in the case of Google, erase your location history.
These are valuable services that help you as long as you have opted into them. In some situations, location history could play an important role in legal or rescue situations.
Organize and Share Photos Safely.
- iPhone
- Android
- Windows
- Mac
Control Personal Data:
Protecting your online privacy is important, especially nowadays. Use Pixelgarde to conveniently remove all personal data when sharing photos, or edit specific metadata, like; geotags, dates, nametags and other private information. Pixelgarde is better than turning off GPS, because you can keep location in your originals, while safeguarding against unintentionally sharing it with the content you post online. Pixelgarde provides peace of mind; share what you want and nothing more – it’s that simple!
Organize Photos:
Share Safely:
Sharing photos online is a great way to connect with friends and family, but sharing personal data isn’t safe. Pixelgarde’s patented technology gives you control and lets you make informed choices about sharing your private data online. Use our apps to create personal privacy profiles that automatically add or remove personal data when sharing your content – it’s simple, fast and free! Pixelgarde is a free download and doesn’t expire, but it does add a small watermark to the bottom border of edited copies – we never edit originals! To turn off watermarking, simply upgrade Pixelgarde in-app for just $1.99 (mobile) and $9.99 (PC/Mac). We appreciate your support and rely on your investment to improve our products and support victims of domestic violence and online abuse, by providing them free access to our upgraded applications.
Pixelgarde is great way to share photos online safely, and we are recommended technology by Kim Komando and USA Today to safeguard your privacy online. Give Pixelgarde a try today and start sharing your photos safely too!
When you install a new app on your iPhone and enter it, a dialog may pop up asking whether this app can use your current location. Thanks to GPS, your iPhone now is a mobile navigation system. It’s every convenient to identify your current location. Many apps rely on GPS and use the location data to function properly.
However, for different reasons, you want to reset the location on iPhone. For instance, sometimes your GPS is not functioning properly. Or you don’t want to allow some apps to use information of your current location any more. Then how to reset location on iPhone?
- Part 1. How to Reset Location and Privacy on iPhone
- Part 2. How to Turn Location Services Off for Specific Apps
- Part 3. Better Way to Manage and Reset Location Settings on iPhone
- Part 4. FAQs of Resetting Location on iPhone
Part 1. How to Reset Location and Privacy on iPhone
As long as you turn on the Location Services and give the permission, some apps like Maps and Weather will use information of your current location and grant them the permission to in the privacy settings. Actually, you are tracked by many apps while the daily usage of your iPhone. Surely you want to turn off some apps and only keep the necessary ones. This part will show you how to reset location on iPhone and remove all the permissions that apps use to keep track of your current location.
Part 2. How to Turn Location Services Off for Specific Apps
After you perform the location settings reset on iPhone, apps won’t be able to use your current location information. With the method above, you can easily reset your iPhone location. But as we mentioned above, in most cases, you only want to turn off the location service for some specific apps, what should you do?
You are given 4 options to control the location service for each app, Never, Ask Next Time, While Using the App and Always .
If you choose Always , this app will be allowed to access your location even when the app is in the background. The app will be prevented to get your location information when you choose Never . In fact, in most cases, you will select While Using the App . It will allow app to identify your current location only when the app or one of its features is visible on screen. Here you can pick one choice according to your need.
Part 3. Better Way to Manage and Reset Location Settings on iPhone
The truth is, as long as you give the location services permissions for some apps, they will always track you, even you turn their location services off. When you reset location on iPhone, some built-in apps won’t be allowed to get your current location. But some third-party apps still do. In the following part, we will show you a better way to reset location settings on iPhone.
Here we strongly recommend Aiseesoft iPhone Cleaner to help you reset the location settings on iPhone thoroughly. It is specially designed to protect your privacy.
- Wipe out and reset your iPhone’s content and settings fast and thoroughly.
- Offer 3 erasing levels for you to erase any data on iPhone/iPad/iPod optionally.
- Erase private data like contacts, messages, call history, photos, etc. on iPhone.
- Support both Windows and Mac operating systems.
Part 4. FAQs of Resetting Location on iPhone
1. Why is my location wrong on my iPhone?
You can first head to Settings > Privacy > Location Services to see if Location Services is turned on. Then scroll and find Maps. Make sure it is set to While Using the App or Widgets.
2. How can you track an iPhone location?
If you want to help your family member to track their missing device, you can go to Settings > Privacy and turn on Location Services. Then go to Settings > [your name] > Find My > Find My iPhone. Turn on Find My iPhone, Find My network, and Send Last Location.
3. Can you fake your location on iPhone?
It is not that easy to fake the location of an iPhone simply using an app like Android phone. The best solution is to use related software on your computer. You can give iTools or Dr. Fone a try.
Conclusion
We mainly talked about how to reset location on iPhone in this page. We tell you detailed steps to manage and reset location service settings on your iOS devices. If you still have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave us a message.
What do you think of this post?
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
Rating: 4.7 / 5 (based on 110 votes)
iPhone SIM card is locked by your carrier? Just unlock the SIM card lock to use any carrier freely.
This article shows you where to find iPhone backups stored by iTunes and iCloud as well as how to manage and change iPhone backup location on Windows 7/8/10 and Mac.
iPhone GPS is not working? Check here to know why your GPS is not working and seize solutions to fix the issue, whether your GPS is not showing location, no signal, or tracking wrong location, etc.
iPhone Cleaner can clean up useless data on your device selectively. You can also use it to wipe your private data and keep your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch fast and safe.
Learn how to turn off ad tracking on iPhone for one app, or stop all apps from asking to track you.
* This post is part of iPhone Life‘s Tip of the Day newsletter. Sign Up. *
Apps that you install on your phone can sometimes track your web and app activity outside of those particular apps—even when you’re not using them. This activity data is often sold to third parties to help them make advertising decisions. With iOS 15, they can’t track your data on the iPhone without your permission, but sometimes it’s easier to just stop apps from asking in the first place. We’ll show you how.
Why You’ll Love This Feature
- Limit add tracking on iOS universally with one set-it-and-forget-it toggle.
- Stop seeing pop-ups asking to track you every time you open a new app.
- Allow or disallow tracking on an app-by-app basis to support your favorite apps or any apps you trust with your data.
How to Turn Off App Tracking for All Apps
This is a multi-step process, but don’t worry! It’s pretty simple. Along the way I’ll also point out some optional privacy steps that may interest you. For more great privacy tips, check out our free Tip of the Day newsletter.
To disable tracking for all apps:
- Open the Settings app.
Scroll down and tap on Privacy.
Tap on Tracking, located near the top.
If the Allow Apps to Request to Track toggle is green, tap on the toggle to switch it off; it’ll turn gray.
If you’d like to read about this feature, you can also tap the blue Learn More link to see what kinds of information are involved in tracking.
It’s that simple! It’s worth noting though that certain apps like Google, Facebook, and other account-based sites may be able to continue tracking your data as part of your user agreement for their platforms.
How to Disable App Data Tracking on an App-by-App Basis
If you want to disable tracking for apps you’ve previously allowed to track you or let an app you denied track you after all, you can do that, too.
- Go into the Settings app.
Scroll down and tap on Privacy.
You will see Tracking near the top. Tap on it.
If a toggle is green, you can tap the toggle to disable tracking.
Optional Steps You May Find Helpful
If you’re concerned about advertising and data sharing, you may want to check the Apple Advertising setting as well. It’s a quick process.
- In Settings, scroll down and select Privacy.
Scroll all the way to the bottom and tap Apple Advertising.
Here you can read about Apple Advertising and see what information is collected and used by tapping either of the blue links.
If you’d like to turn off personalized advertising, you can tap the Personalized Ads toggle to disable the function.
Now that you’re well-versed in how to control which apps are able to track your activity, you can use your iPhone in peace!
Topics
Author Details
Author Details
Erin MacPherson
Erin is a Web Editor for iPhone Life and has been a writer, editor, and researcher for many years. She has a degree in communication with an emphasis on psychology and communication, and has spent many of her professional years as a coach in various business and specialty fields. Erin officially joined the ranks of iPhone and Apple users everywhere around nine years ago, and has since enjoyed the unique and customized feel of Apple technology and its many gadgets. When she’s not working, Erin and her son enjoy outdoor adventures, camping, and spending time with their eclectic collection of pets.
A TikToker is going viral after showing how iPhones share photo location information.
The clip, which revealed a default setting that many viewers seemed unaware of, comes from a user named @srh0e. Many users thought the feature was an invasion of privacy, and some called it “scary.”
“I’m gonna show you why you need to be careful when you’re sending a picture or a video to someone,” @srh0e says at the start of his clip.
The TikToker goes on to show how you can view a person’s exact location just from a photo they sent you. All you have to do is save the image, click it and swipe up.
In his clip, @srh0e uses a photo of his current dog as an example. He says when he showed the feature to the woman he bought his dog from, she was “blown away.” He was quick to add that his example is not showing her current, actual location. However, the concern rings true.
TikTokers were concerned to learn about the setting, which also shows information about the photo taker’s phone.
“This should not be a feature at all. ” one user wrote. “The amount of kids that have phones out there and the phone manufacturers think this is a good thing??”
“Why is that the default?” another asked.
Fortunately, @srh0e also showed how to disable the feature. Here’s how to do it.
How to disable your iPhone’s photo location information settings
First, go to your phone’s settings. Then scroll to “Privacy.” Once there click on “Camera.”
Then, under the section for “Allow Location Access,” change the setting to “Never.” This will stop your phone from sharing any location information within photos you take.
Additionally, you can turn off location info for specific images. To do that, open the Photos app and click on the image you want to adjust. Swipe up, then hit “Adjust,” which is located in the bottom right-hand corner of the map showing the image location.
That will take you to a page to edit the location. You can either add a false location or simply hit “No Location.”
Today smartphones combine the functions of a computer, a media player, a camera, a GPS, and other gadgets. For such a smart device, your current location is necessary to provide accurate weather forecasts, news, the exact position on a map, help locating a lost mobile phone, and for the use of many other apps. However, lots of Apple users may need to change location on their iPhones for different reasons. In this article, we will take a deep look at this question and explain how to change location on an iPhone.
Contents:
- 1. Possible reasons you may have to change your location on an iPhone
- 2. How to change location on an iPhone permanently
- 3. How to change your location on an iPhone temporarily
Phone Cleaner for
Media Files
Free up Space on iPhone
Cases When You Need to Change Your Location on an iPhone
We can highlight two main situations when a person wants to change his or her location on an iPhone:
- The first one is when you are going to move to another country or region. In this case, you need to make changes in your Apple ID account to get access to the App Store.
- The second situation is when you want to temporarily change your current location to use a certain application. Some of the most popular requests on the net are about changing location in Pokemon Go or Snapchat. So, read on to know the answers for both situations.
Permanently Change Location on an iPhone
Maybe you have heard that when you want to change the country within your Apple ID, you may face some difficulties. It depends on your activity in using your iPhone. Therefore, you may want to pay attention to several important steps before making changes.
- You should check to see if all your previous purchases in iTunes, iBooks, App Store are available in the country or region you are going to change from. If you are unsure, redownload all previous purchases on all your Apple devices to use them in the new country or region.
- You cannot change your country or region as long as you are a part of a Family Sharing group. First leave the group to proceed with changing your country location.
- You should cancel any subscriptions related to your Apple ID and wait for their termination to complete. You should also wait for any pre-orders, memberships, movie rentals, and so on, to edit your country or region.
- Your Apple ID credit balance should be zero. As long as you have credits, you cannot change your country or region.
- We recommend making a backup your iPhone and the data from other Apple devices in order to prevent possible errors and loss of data while changing your Apple ID account.
- Prepare information related to your new billing address and payment method. Note that the new payment method should be acceptable in your future country or region.
After you have completed all the steps listed above, you can simply change your location on your iPhone. For this, complete the next steps: Go to Settings → tap on your name → iTunes & App Store → tap on your Apple ID → select View Apple ID → Country/Region → tap Change Country or Region → select your new location → Agree with the Terms & Conditions → enter your new payment method and billing address, then tap Next.
Note that this new information will be automatically updated on all your Apple devices.
In the case you have any problems, contact Apple Support and carefully follow their instructions.
Temporarily Change Your Location on an iPhone
The Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking is a built-in feature within iPhones, which cannot be disabled. It serves to allow you correctly using programs that require your current location. In the case that you want to trick a location-based app and need to change your location, you can try one of these four methods:
- There are several applications in the App Store, which you can easily find using the search phrase “spoof location iPhone”. Mostly, these apps are used for fun and allow you to share your fake location to friends, for instance.
- Some users who want to use plenty of free applications on their device, prefer to jailbreak their iPhones. On your jailbroken iPhone, in collaboration with the Cydia app, you can find a number of Cydia tweaks that may also change your location.
- You can change the iPhone’s location without jailbreak via a special program on your Mac, like iTools. Just connect your iPhone to the Mac via a USB cable, and within this program make changes to your location data and use a virtual location for your purposes.
- The last and the least preferred way to change GPS location is to edit a .plist file of the Maps app. This is possible thanks to the 3uTools program for Mac. Within this program, backup your iPhone, then find and carefully edit the com.apple.Maps.plist file. Restore the new data on your iPhone. Open the Maps application on your smartphone, enter a random location, tap to get info about this place, and you will see a new option: Simulate Location. Use it to change your current position.
Conclusion
Now you know that you can change your location, either when you are going to move to another country or region or when you want to have fun with friends. Note that some Pokemon Go users warn that this game should be fair, so you should be prepared that you may be banned for cheating with location changing. However, you may try one of the ways we have shared with you for other apps.
We do hope that we helped you and we invite you to visit our blog, where you will find more useful articles about iOS and macOS devices.