What your photos reveal about you
Every photo from a phone carries hidden EXIF metadata — often including the exact GPS coordinates and timestamp. Here is what is in there, who can read it, and how to remove it.
Updated 2026-08-03
A photograph is not just pixels. Nearly every image a phone or camera produces carries an EXIF block: a structured record of the device, the settings, the moment of capture and, by default on most phones, the precise location. It travels with the file. Anyone who receives the photo can read it with free software in seconds, and most people have no idea it is there.
What is actually recorded
| Field | Typical value | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| GPSLatitude / GPSLongitude | 51.5014, −0.1419 | Accurate to a few meters — usually a home or workplace |
| DateTimeOriginal | 2026-03-14 19:42:11 | Exactly when, to the second |
| Make / Model | Apple iPhone 15 Pro | Identifies the device, and links photos to each other |
| LensModel, FNumber, ISO | f/1.78, ISO 400 | Harmless, and useful to photographers |
| Software | Adobe Lightroom 14.2 | Reveals your workflow |
| Artist / Copyright / OwnerName | Your name | Set once in a camera, then present on everything |
Where it survives, and where it does not
This is the part that catches people out. Some platforms strip metadata on upload; others preserve it entirely. The answer changes, and the safe assumption is that it survives.
- Stripped on upload: Facebook, Instagram, X and most large social platforms remove EXIF when they re-encode your image — though they read it first.
- Preserved: email attachments, cloud storage links, messaging apps that send "as a file" rather than "as a photo", most forums, and anywhere you upload the original.
- Preserved by default: your own website or portfolio, if you upload straight from the camera roll.
How to remove it
Redrawing an image onto a blank canvas discards every piece of metadata, because a canvas holds nothing but pixel values. There is no EXIF block to carry forward. The visible image is unchanged; only the hidden record disappears.
A note on doing this online
There is an obvious irony in uploading a photo that contains your home address to a stranger's server in order to remove your home address from it. Any tool that processes the file on their machine has, by definition, received the location data you were trying to delete. Browser-based tools do not have that problem: the file is read by JavaScript on your own device and never transmitted.
Questions
How do I check whether a photo has GPS data?
Open it in the Image Metadata Viewer. If coordinates are present the tool flags them explicitly with the latitude and longitude. PNG and WEBP files rarely carry EXIF; JPEGs from phones and cameras almost always do.
Does taking a screenshot remove metadata?
Yes, largely — a screenshot is a fresh image captured from the display, so it carries no camera EXIF and no GPS. It does record the time and the device, and it obviously loses image quality, so it is a crude fix rather than a good one.
Can I turn location tagging off at the source?
Yes, and it is the better answer. On iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → Never. On Android: open the Camera app settings and turn off location tags. Existing photos keep their data; only new ones are affected.
Does removing EXIF change how my photo looks?
No. EXIF is separate from the image data. The one thing to be aware of is the orientation tag — a browser applies it before drawing, so the exported image is baked the right way up and no longer needs the tag.