How to Check If a Photo Has Location Data

Short answer

Check a photo step by step

1. Use the original file. A screenshot, or a copy that was forwarded or downloaded from an app, may carry different metadata than the photo on your device. Check the exact file you plan to share.
2. Open the metadata viewer and drop the photo in, or paste a direct http or https link to it. One file at a time, up to 50 MB.
3. Look for the location banner. When GPS data is present, it sits at the top of the results and shows the coordinates in decimal degrees.
4. Open the map. Select “Open in OpenStreetMap” to see the spot on a map. This is what anyone with the original file can see.
5. See the raw tags. Type “GPS” into the “Search tags and values” box under All metadata to list every location tag in the file.

Your file is deleted right after the metadata is extracted. Read how files are handled.

Which tags hold the location

Photos store location in the EXIF GPS tags. Not every device writes all of them, so a file may show only a few of these.

How precise is it?

Coordinates with five decimal places can point to a spot about 1.1 metres wide. That is precise enough to identify a single house or the entrance of a building.

Real accuracy depends on the GPS fix the device had at that moment. Outdoors with a clear view of the sky, phones are usually close. Indoors or between tall buildings, the position can be off by tens of metres. If the file has a GPSHPositioningError tag, it gives the device's own estimate of that error.

Why a photo shows no location

• Location access was turned off for the camera app when the photo was taken.
• It is a screenshot. Screenshots normally do not record where they were made.
• The file was re-saved or exported by an editor that did not keep the GPS tags.
• It came from an app or website. Many apps remove metadata from the copy they publish or send, but the behavior differs between apps and settings. Check the exact file, not the app's reputation.

See also: Why don't some photos have GPS data?

Keep location out of photos you share

ExifMeta only reads metadata; it does not change or remove it. To share a photo without its location:

iPhone

In the Share sheet, tap Options at the top and turn off Location before sending.

Android

Most camera apps have a setting, usually named “Save location” or “Location tags”. Turning it off stops new photos from recording where they were taken.

Desktop, with ExifTool

ExifTool can remove the GPS group from a file. It keeps the original as a backup named photo.jpg_original.

exiftool -gps:all= photo.jpg

Location can also be stored in XMP metadata, so check the cleaned file with ExifMeta afterwards and confirm the location banner is gone.