How to remove location from a photo on iPhone
Updated · By THEORIST LLC, the company that makes Hushtrove
To share a photo without its location, open it in Photos, tap Share, tap Options at the top of the share sheet and turn off Location; "Location Not Included" then appears above Options S1. To remove the location from the photo itself, open it, swipe up, tap Adjust Info, then Adjust Location, then No Location. To stop new photos recording where they were taken, set Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Camera to Never S1.
Why it matters
When Location Services is on for the Camera, every photo and video stores the coordinates where it was taken. Apple's Personal Safety guide warns that when you share such photos, "the people you share them with may be able to access the location metadata and learn where it was taken" S1. A photo taken at home, sent to someone you met online or posted to a marketplace, can carry your address with it.
Location is not the only detail. Apple's iPhone User Guide notes that sharing a photo "includes sharing its associated metadata, such as date and time, location, device, and captions" S2.
Method 1: turn off Location while sharing
- Open the photo in Photos (or select several with Select).
- Tap the Share button.
- Tap Options at the top of the share sheet.
- Turn off Location. "Location Not Included" now shows above the Options button.
- Share as usual: Messages, Mail, AirDrop or another app.
This is the method in Apple's Personal Safety guide (published September 2026) and in the iOS 26 iPhone User Guide S1 S3. The iOS 27 version of the user guide lists the share Options as Keywords, file format and All Photos Data, without mentioning Location S2. If you don't see a Location switch on your iPhone, use Method 2 before you share.
While you're in Options, leave All Photos Data off. Turned on, it sends "the original file with edit history and metadata" (AirDrop only) S2.
Method 2: remove the location from the photo
- Open the photo, then swipe up or tap the Info button.
- Tap Adjust Info, then Adjust Location.
- Tap No Location.
This changes the photo in your library, so any later share leaves the location out too S1. You can do several photos at once: tap Select, pick the thumbnails, then follow the same steps. Revert restores the original location S4.
Method 3: stop recording location in new photos
Go to Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Camera and choose Never. Apple: "Location metadata in photos and videos can be collected only if your Camera app has access to Location Services" S1. You lose the Map view and place search for new photos, which is the trade-off.
How to check a photo
- Swipe up on the photo. If a map or place name appears, the location is still there S4.
- In Photos, the Map collection includes only photos and videos that have location data embedded S1. It's a quick way to see how many of yours carry it.
- Remember that the "Location Not Included" switch only covers location. Date, time and the device model still travel with the file unless the app you share to removes them.
How Hushtrove handles location
Hushtrove, our photo vault, removes these details itself, so you don't have to remember the switch:
- When you add photos and videos. The default, Remove All Metadata, strips location, camera and device details as items enter the vault. You can choose Remove Location or Keep Everything instead, in Settings › Location & Metadata. Documents, PDFs and audio files keep their metadata.
- When you share or save a copy. Remove When Sharing is on by default: copies you share or save to Photos leave without location or other metadata.
- Without losing quality. Photos keep their full resolution and most are cleaned without re-encoding; a Live Photo's still image, or a photo that can't be cleaned losslessly, is saved again at the highest quality. Videos aren't re-encoded. The original date is still used to sort your vault.
Hushtrove runs everything on the iPhone; we run no servers of our own, so no photo, with or without metadata, ever reaches us.