Remove EXIF data and GPS location from photos

What EXIF data can reveal

A photo taken on a phone usually carries more than the picture. Depending on the device and its settings, the file can include:

• The GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken. For a photo taken at home, that can point to your address.
• The date and exact time it was taken.
• The phone or camera model, and settings such as exposure and focal length.
• The software that last edited the file.

Many large social platforms remove some or all of this when you upload, but you cannot rely on that everywhere. Forums, marketplaces, email attachments and some messaging apps can pass the original file along untouched. Removing the details first is the safe habit. For a longer walkthrough see the guide to protecting your photo metadata.

How the tool removes it, and what that means

Instead of editing individual fields, the tool draws each image onto a blank canvas and saves that canvas as a new file. Only the pixels are carried over, so nothing else can come along with them. It is thorough, and it has consequences:

• Everything goes, including copyright, author and description fields.
• JPG and WebP copies are saved again at 95% quality by default. PNG copies are lossless.
• The original files are never changed. You download new copies.

How to check the details are gone

On Windows, right-click the clean file, choose Properties, then Details, and look for empty GPS and camera fields. On a Mac, open it in Preview and check the Inspector. Related tools: face blur for hiding people, and the image compressor for smaller files.