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Privacy

How to remove photo metadata and location on Android

How to strip EXIF, camera info and GPS coordinates from photos on Samsung and Google Pixel phones before sharing.

Updated

Android devices embed EXIF data into camera captures, including GPS coordinates, camera sensor specifications, exposure settings, and device hardware IDs.

Depending on whether you use a Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, or another Android phone, here are the fastest ways to remove photo metadata before sharing.

Method 1: Remove location when sharing on Samsung Galaxy

Samsung’s One UI includes a native privacy feature:

  1. Open the Gallery app on your Samsung phone.
  2. Select the photo you wish to send and tap the Share button.
  3. Look directly above the app selection row for Remove location data.
  4. Tap to enable it before sending to a messaging app or cloud service.

You can also open the image, swipe up to view the details card, tap Edit, and tap the red minus (-) button next to the location pin.

Method 2: Google Photos location removal (Pixel & Stock Android)

If you use Google Photos:

  1. Open the photo in Google Photos.
  2. Swipe up to reveal the metadata sheet (camera details, map, timestamp).
  3. Under the map preview, tap the pencil icon next to the location coordinates.
  4. Select No location.

Keep in mind that while Google Photos removes the location record linked to your Google account, sharing the raw file directly (via Bluetooth, USB, or file transfer) can still carry embedded EXIF tags unless stripped from the file itself.

Method 3: Disable camera geotagging on Android

To stop embedding location in all new photos:

  1. Open your Camera app.
  2. Tap the Settings (gear) icon in the viewfinder corner.
  3. Look for Save location, Location tags, or Geotagging.
  4. Toggle it off.

Your camera will no longer query GPS coordinates when you snap photos.

Method 4: Clean all metadata in your Android browser

Neither Samsung Gallery nor Google Photos strips camera model numbers, lens settings, timestamps, or embedded thumbnails.

To strip all metadata losslessly without installing suspicious third-party cleaner apps from the Play Store:

  1. Open Chrome or Firefox on your Android device and visit Metadata Remover AI or the dedicated EXIF remover.
  2. Tap to select photos from your device storage or camera roll.
  3. The file is processed entirely within your browser’s local JavaScript engine — your photos are never sent to a remote server.
  4. Tap Remove metadata to strip EXIF, GPS, and device serial numbers while keeping your original pixels byte-identical.
  5. Download your clean photo, or clean whole batches at once with our bulk image metadata remover.

For standard camera photos, see our format guide on JPG / JPEG metadata removal.

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