10 Best ways to Remove Photo Metadata (Windows, Mac, Android, & iOS)

When you click an image, your phone does more than just take a picture of the subject. While shooting a picture, your smartphone records additional data like your phone’s model number, date and time of clicking the photograph, exact coordinates of the location, and your camera’s configuration (aperture, shutter speed, etc.) while taking the photo. This group of data about the image is collectively referred to as ‘EXIF data’ or ‘metadata’. While sharing an image online, you are also sharing its metadata along with it. If you’re not comfortable with that, you can easily remove the metadata from an image before sharing it. In this article, we bring you the 10 best ways to remove photo metadata on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

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How to remove Photo Metadata on Android

While there is no native way to remove the EXIF data of an image on Android, you can use a third-party app to carry out the task. There are also a few additional ways you can prevent the camera app from tagging your location in the pictures you shoot.

Use the Photo EXIF Editor app

Step 1: Download and install the Photo EXIF Editor app from the Google Play Store.

Step 2: Launch the app and select ‘Photos’.

Step 3: Select the picture from which you want to remove the metadata.

Step 4: Tap on the EXIF icon with a strikethrough across it. You will find it at the top right section of the screen.

Step 5: Select the information you want to remove from the metadata of the image. If you simply want to remove the location tag, tap the check box next to ‘Geolocation’. If you want to remove all metadata, tap the check box at the top.

Step 6: Tap on the save icon at the top right corner of the box to remove the photo metadata.

Remove location data before sharing an image

This is as close as it gets to a native way of removing photo metadata on your Android device. Before sharing an image with a contact, your Android smartphone gives you the option to remove the location tag from it. Here’s how you can share an image without the location data.

Step 1: Open the image gallery on your phone and select the image you want to share.

Step 2: Tap on the Share icon.

Step 3: Tap on ‘Options’ next to ‘Location data included’.

Step 4: Turn the toggle bar off for ‘Include location data’ and ‘Include all image and video data’.

Disable location tagging from the Camera app

Your Android phone may not let you remove the EXIF data from a photo, but if all you’re worried about is your location being recorded, you can easily disable location tagging from the camera app on your phone. Here’s how.

Step 1: Launch the Camera app on your phone.

Step 2: Open Settings. 

Step 3: Turn the toggle bar off for ‘Location tags’.

Remove the Camera app’s location permission

Removing the location permission from the Camera app is another way of preventing it from tagging your location on images. Here’s how you can do it.

Step 1: Go to Settings and select Apps.

Step 2: Select the Camera app and tap on ‘Permissions’.

Step 3: Tap on ‘Location’.

Step 4: Select ‘Don’t Allow’.

How to remove Photo Metadata on iOS

Like Android, iOS devices do not have a native way to remove photo metadata either. Here are some other ways to carry out the task.

Use the Exif Metadata app

Step 1: Download and install the Exif Metadata app on your iOS device.

Step 2: Give the app the necessary storage permissions.

Step 3: Select the image from which you want to remove the metadata.

Step 4: Tap on ‘Edit’ at the top right corner of the screen.

Step 5: Select ‘Remove Exif’ to clear all metadata from the image.

Remove location data before sharing an image

Step 1: Launch the Photos app and select the image you want to share.

Step 2: Select the ‘share’ option.

Step 3: In the following window, tap on ‘Options’ next to ‘Location included’.

Step 4: Disable the toggle bar for ‘Location’ and ‘All photos data’.

Remove location permission for the Camera app

Step 1: Go to Settings and select ‘Privacy & Security’.

Step 2: Tap on ‘Location Services’.

Step 3: Select Camera.

Step 4: Under the ‘Allow location access’ section, select ‘Never’.

How to remove Photo Metadata on Windows

Unlike Android and iOS, your Windows device offers an easy native way to remove metadata from your images. Here’s how you can go about it.

Step 1: Select the image from which you want to remove the metadata and right-click on it.

Step 2: Click on ‘Properties’.

Step 3: Go to the Details tab and click on ‘Remove Properties and Personal Information’ at the bottom of the box.

Step 4: You can choose to create a copy of the file without the metadata or simply remove the metadata from the original image.

Step 5: Click on the properties you want to remove the image. To clear all metadata, click on ‘Select All’.

Step 6: Click on ‘OK’. The metadata will be removed from the photo.

How to remove Image Metadata on Mac

Step 1: Open the image in Preview.

Step 2: Click on Tools and select Show Inspector.

Step 3: Click on the ‘i’ tab.

Step 4: Go to the GPS tab and select ‘Remove Location Info’.

Remove Image Metadata using ImageOptim

As you can probably guess by now, you cannot remove the entire metadata of an image on Mac. You can only strip the image of its location info. In order to remove the entire metadata, you will need to use a third-party tool like ImageOptim. 

Step 1: Download ImageOptim for Mac from its official website. 

Step 2: Once installed, go to the app’s preferences and select the option to strip PNG and JPEG metadata. 

Step 3: Now, simply drag the image to the ImageOptim tool to remove its metadata.

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Conclusion 

These are the 10 best ways to remove photo metadata on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. While you may want to remove the metadata from an image before sharing it online, sometimes the location info can come in quite handy. If you don’t remember where you took an image, all you need to do is look up the location info in the image details.

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