How to Remove Location and EXIF data from your Photos.
While most social media sites and apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram remove metadata (EXIF) when you share photos with friends and family, there is no guarantee that major tech giants don’t store your EXIF ​​data to create the best profile for you. In addition to this, when you send an image as an email attachment or cloud storage, it retains all metadata, including geotags, making you vulnerable to identity theft. But you have nothing to worry about, here’s how to remove location and Exif data from your photos on iOS and Android.
Read How to Hide Photos on Android and Why They’re Insecure
1. Photo metadata remover
Remove location and EXIF ​​data from your photos
Android and iOS don’t have an efficient way to remove metadata natively. The best and easiest way is to use a third party application like Photo Metadata Remover, which allows you to instantly delete data. This app removes all metadata, including your location, camera settings, and even information about the app that was used to process the photo. The best part is that the app has a minimalistic interface with all the essential features right on the home screen.
First, the application allows you to remove EXIF ​​data from one photo, and also gives you the ability to select multiple images at once. In case you have different folders, for example, photos, selfies, family photos, etc. You can select the entire folder at once and process these images in batch. A faster way to remove EXIF ​​data is to take a snapshot using the app. This way, you don’t have to select the image and delete it manually.
The app is free and very easy to use. It does show ads, but I don’t find it intrusive. There is currently no option to remove ads or the premium version option.
Overview
- Batch remove metadata
- Capture images without metadata
- Save source file with details
- Android only
Get Image Scrubber for Android and iOS
The original method for Android
While Android doesn’t let you erase metadata per se, other than using the third-party app I mentioned above, it does give you some flexibility by blocking the camera from accessing your location every time you click on a photo. To do this, go to the section “Application management” in the phone settings. Just select the Camera app, switch to location, and turn off location access. Thus, when you click on a picture, the phone does not record your location.
The native method for iOS
Unfortunately, iOS also cannot erase EXIF ​​data natively. But it has the same method as on Android. To disable the Camera app from detecting your location, go to Settings and select Privacy. Now click on Local Services, Camera and select Never in the Allow Location Access tab. Voila, now geodata will not be embedded in your images.
You might want to keep location access so you know and group your photos according to location. Fortunately, with iOS 13, you have the option to turn off location data transmission when you share an image with others. Just select an image from your albums and click Share. You will notice Options on the top bar along with location information. Click on Options and disable Location.
You can also turn off all photo data, which will restrict any transfer of metadata when the image is published.
Completion
So now you know what metadata is and how to remove it. Try it for yourself and maybe hide all the details before uploading the next picture on social media. While most social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter remove this EXIF ​​data on upload, if you share it via cloud services or via email, the data remains intact. So these were the easy ways to remove location and Exif data from your photos on iOS and Android. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment below.
Also read the best photo editing apps for iOS and Android