Guide · 5 min read

How to remove metadata (EXIF) from a photo

Every photo your phone takes carries hidden data: where it was taken, when, and on what device. Here's what's in there, and how to strip it before you share a picture.

When a camera or phone saves a photo, it tucks a block of metadata inside the file, called EXIF. It's invisible when you look at the picture, but anyone with the file can read it.

What EXIF can reveal

GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken, often to within a few metres. On a photo taken at home, that's your address.
Date and time it was taken.
Device make and model, and sometimes a serial number.
Camera settings, orientation, and occasionally a name or copyright field.

This matters most for photos of documents, items you're selling, or anything shot at home or work. Selling something online and shooting it in your living room can broadcast your address in the listing photo's metadata.

Where it does and doesn't travel

Big social platforms usually strip EXIF when you upload (they re-process the image), so a photo posted to most networks is generally clean. But EXIF stays intact when you share the original file: over email, messaging apps that send "as file", AirDrop, cloud links, or a website upload form. Those are exactly the cases where you're handing someone the file itself, so that's where to strip it. Note that screenshots generally don't carry GPS the way camera photos do, it's original photos you need to watch.

Stripping it on each platform

iPhone: in Photos, tap Share, then Options at the top, and turn off Location (and choose to send as a smaller size if you like) before sharing.
Android: in Google Photos, open the photo, tap the info panel, and use Remove location; or share via an app that offers "remove location".
Windows: right-click the file, Properties, Details, then Remove Properties and Personal Information.
Mac: re-export or use a tool, Preview can remove GPS via the Inspector for some formats; exporting a fresh copy is the reliable route.

The reliable rule: re-save the pixels

EXIF lives in the file's metadata, not in the pixels. So any step that rebuilds the image from its pixels, exporting a fresh copy, produces a file with no original metadata. That's why "re-save as a new image" reliably drops EXIF regardless of platform.

This is also why Private Redaction removes it as a side effect. When you redact a photo, the tool draws the image (plus your black boxes) and exports a brand-new flat image. EXIF isn't part of the pixels, so it isn't in the download: the copy you share has no location, timestamp or device data from the original. It isn't a dedicated metadata cleaner, but if you redact a photo, or even just run one through and download it, you get a clean, metadata-free copy. It runs on your device, so the photo is never uploaded to strip it.

One more: PDFs and documents have metadata too

It isn't only photos. PDFs carry author, software and timestamp fields, and Office files can hold tracked changes, comments and hidden text. If you're sharing a document rather than a picture, see how to redact a Word document, which covers the hidden-data side.

Private Redaction redacts an image and hands you back a fresh, flattened copy with no EXIF, all on your device, nothing uploaded. Use the Chrome extension for images, or the web app for documents.

Takeaways

Photos carry EXIF: GPS, timestamp and device, invisible but readable by anyone with the file.
Platforms usually strip it on upload; sending the original file (email, messaging, AirDrop) does not.
Re-saving the image from its pixels drops the metadata; redacting a photo does this for you.
Documents have metadata too, not just photos.