How to remove the location and EXIF data from a photo on Mac

A photo from a phone carries more than the picture. Its EXIF metadata usually holds the camera and lens, the exact date and time, and often the GPS coordinates of where you stood. Post a photo taken at home with that left in, and anyone who downloads the file can see where you live.

On a Mac you can take the location out for free with Preview. Removing everything else, the camera, the date and the rest, takes a tool that shows all of it. Koi's Shift wheel has one. We make Koi, so read that part with this in mind. Apple's steps were checked October 21, 2026, against its guides and Preview on macOS 27.

Apple's Preview guide shows where a photo was taken:

1. Open the photo in Preview.
2. Choose Tools, then Show Location Info. If it's greyed out, the photo has no location in it.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the GPS section to see the pin on a map, or click Show in Maps.

Keep this in mind: it's also the quickest way to check that a copy you cleaned really is clean.

1. Make a copy of the photo first (in Finder, File, Duplicate), and open the copy in Preview.
2. Choose Tools, then Show Location Info.
3. Click Remove Location Info.
4. Choose File, Save. Close the photo and open it again: Show Location Info should now be greyed out.

The button is in the location window in Preview on current macOS, though Apple's guide doesn't list it, so check after saving. It removes the location only. The camera, the lens, the date and time stay in the file. For those, you need a tool that edits all the metadata.

In the Photos app, select the photos and choose Image, Location, Hide Location, as Apple's personal safety guide shows. Apple doesn't say whether that strips the coordinates from the file or only hides them in your library, so don't treat it as removal. Export a copy and check it in Preview.

On an iPhone, the same guide shows a cleaner route for sharing: select the photos, tap the Share button, tap Options, and turn off Location. “Location Not Included” shows above Options. To stop new photos being tagged, turn off location access for the Camera app in Location Services.

One more Mac trick: Finder's Convert Image quick action has a checkbox to keep the original's metadata, as MacRumors shows. Untick it and convert to JPEG for a copy without it, then check that copy in Preview before you share it.

1. Start dragging the photo, in Finder or on your desktop.
2. While you're still holding it, press and hold Shift. A wheel opens round your pointer.
3. Drop the photo on Metadata. A window opens: the picture and its file details on the left, and on the right everything it says about itself in cards: Camera, Exif, Location, IPTC and Apple.
4. To remove everything, click Remove all. It clears the camera, the date and where it was taken.
5. Or remove just one thing: point at a value and click the minus that shows. Click a value to change it, like a wrong date.
6. Click Save copy. “Photo edited.jpg” lands beside the original and shows in Finder.

• The search at the top filters every card as you type, so typing GPS or Date finds it fast.
• The Location card has Show in Maps, so you see exactly what you're about to share.
• The picture itself is copied as it is, not saved again, so there's no loss in quality. It stays the right way up.
• Your original is never touched. When its folder can't be written to, the copy goes to Downloads.
• It runs on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded, which is the point when the file is private.

Videos carry the same kind of data. Drag a video with Shift held, drop it on More, then click Metadata to see where, when and on what it was made, and save a clean copy without it. More on the Shift wheel.

• Photos library duplicates. People on Apple's forums report a cleaned photo still showing its old place in Photos, because Photos treated it as a duplicate of the original. Check the file itself in Preview, not your library.
• The original is still around. Cleaning a copy doesn't clean the one in iCloud or on your phone. Share the copy.
• The picture can show the place too. A street sign or a house number in the picture gives away as much as GPS. Cover it with a redaction.
• Videos have metadata too. Clean them before posting.
• Settings first. If you don't want location in new photos at all, switch it off for the Camera app on the phone.

The duplicate issue is from this Apple Community thread. For covering things inside the picture, see how to blur faces and text in a photo.

• Only the location, and you're fine checking it after: Preview, Remove Location Info.
• Sharing from an iPhone: turn off Location in the share sheet's Options.
• A clean copy of a batch: Finder's Convert Image with metadata unticked, then check one in Preview.
• You want to see everything a photo says and remove all of it or one line: Koi's Metadata. The same wheel compresses and converts HEIC to JPG.

The Shift wheel comes with Koi on every plan. Pro is $20 a month, or $192 a year, after a 3-day free trial that needs a card. Lifetime is paid once, from $59. See the plans, or how to use the Shift wheel.