How to remove metadata from photos on iPhone (not just the location)
Short answer: the iPhone has no built-in switch that removes all metadata from photos. The share sheet's Options can drop location and the extra "All Photos Data", but the capture date, iPhone model and lens settings still go with the file. To remove the rest, make a new copy: either with a Shortcuts Convert Image action with Preserve Metadata off, or by rebuilding the image from pixels in Safari. Then check the copy you send.
Most guides for this query stop at the location toggle and then recommend an app. The location toggle is worth using, but it doesn't do what the query asks. And you don't need to install anything to do the rest.
What an iPhone photo carries
Open any photo in Photos and swipe up, and you see a small part of it. The file itself usually holds:
- EXIF from the camera: date and time to the second, the iPhone model, lens, focal length, exposure, ISO, the iOS version, and GPS coordinates if Camera has location access.
- Apple's maker notes: a block of Apple-specific camera data inside the EXIF.
- Edits and extras: edit history, Portrait depth data, and for a Live Photo, a separate short video with its own location tag.
- An embedded thumbnail: a small preview image inside the EXIF block.
Location is the field people worry about most, but the rest isn't harmless. A timestamp plus a phone model can link photos to one person, and it can show when someone was somewhere even when the GPS is gone.
What the built-in options remove
| Option | Where | What it removes | What still goes with the file |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location toggle | Share → Options | GPS, for that one share | Date, time, iPhone model, lens and exposure settings |
| All Photos Data toggle | Share → Options | Edit history and the original-file extras, when left off | The ordinary EXIF fields above |
| Adjust → No Location | Photo info panel | Location as Photos shows it | Everything else, and iOS keeps the original so you can revert |
| Camera location set to Never | Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera | GPS on new photos only | Everything else, and old photos are untouched |
Apple's Photos privacy page puts it in so many words: the share sheet lets you control whether metadata "like the Live Photos video, edit history, or location information" goes with the photo. That's the full list. Apple doesn't document any option that removes the date, the device model or the camera settings.
The iPhone user guide describes All Photos Data as sending the original file with its edit history and metadata, over AirDrop and iCloud links only. Leaving it off is the right default. But turning it off is not the same as stripping the file.
The location steps are covered in detail, including the Live Photo gap, in how to remove location from photos on iPhone. The rest of this page covers the fields those steps leave behind.
Method 1: a Shortcut with Preserve Metadata off
Shortcuts is built into iOS, and its image conversion action has a metadata switch. Privacy Guides, a non-profit privacy site, recommends exactly this as the no-app method on iOS.
- Open Shortcuts and tap + to make a new shortcut.
- Add the Convert Image action. Set the format to JPEG (or PNG).
- Expand the action's options and turn Preserve Metadata off.
- Add a Save File or Share action after it, so you get the converted copy.
- In the shortcut's details, turn on Show in Share Sheet, so you can run it on a photo straight from Photos.
Menu wording shifts a little between iOS versions, but the switch you need is always Preserve Metadata.
Things to know before you rely on it:
- It makes a new date. Privacy Guides notes that the image's creation date becomes the time you ran the shortcut. Usually that's what you want, but it isn't "no date".
- "Removes metadata" isn't a published list. Privacy Guides says it removes location, device model, lens model and other camera information. Apple doesn't document exactly which fields survive, and at least one tester on a privacy forum reported some Apple-related fields remaining. Check the output once (see below).
- It converts. Choosing JPEG also turns a HEIC into a JPEG, which helps if the place you're sending it can't open HEIC.
Method 2: rebuild the photo from pixels in Safari
The most thorough approach doesn't try to delete fields one by one. It decodes the photo to plain pixels and saves a new file from those pixels. A grid of pixels has nowhere to hold EXIF, XMP, IPTC or a C2PA record, so none of it makes it into the new file. That includes the embedded thumbnail.
Our metadata cleaner and remove GPS from photo tool do this in Safari on the iPhone. The photo is drawn to a canvas and re-encoded in the browser. Nothing is uploaded, and the file never leaves the phone while it's cleaned.
What to know about it:
- HEIC isn't accepted. The tools take JPEG, PNG and WebP. For new photos, Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible makes the camera shoot JPEG. For existing HEIC photos, convert them first, for example with the Shortcut above. Converting alone isn't cleaning, because most converters copy the metadata across, so do both steps.
- JPEGs are re-encoded. The output is saved at quality 0.95. That's hard to see in a photo you're sending, but it isn't bit-identical to the original. Keep the original in your library and send the clean copy.
- Live Photos are two files. The pixel rebuild cleans the still. If you send the motion as well, the video half needs the video metadata cleaner, or send the photo with Live turned off.
Which method to use
| Share sheet Options | Shortcut, Preserve Metadata off | Pixel rebuild in Safari | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Removes location | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Removes date, iPhone model, lens | No | Mostly. Check the output | Yes, every block |
| Takes HEIC | Yes | Yes | No, convert first |
| Image quality | Unchanged | Re-encoded | Re-encoded (JPEG at 0.95) |
| Needs setup | No | Once | No |
For a quick send where only location matters, the share sheet is enough. When the date and device matter too, use one of the two copy methods. And whatever you use, check the file.
Check the file you actually send
The info panel in Photos shows the library's record, not what's inside the copy that leaves the phone. To see what the recipient gets:
- Produce the copy the way you really will: run the shortcut, save from the cleaner, or AirDrop it to a computer.
- Open it in the image metadata viewer. It reads JPEG, PNG and WebP in the browser, flags GPS, AI tags, C2PA and an embedded thumbnail, and lists the remaining fields. On a computer, ExifTool shows everything:
exiftool -a -G1 -s photo.jpg
Run the same check once on an original you know has GPS and a camera model. A checker that finds nothing in a tagged photo proves nothing.
What this doesn't protect against
- What's in the picture. A street sign, a reflection or a view from a window can give away a location with no metadata at all.
- Copies that already left. iCloud, backups and any app you've already shared with got the original. Cleaning your copy now doesn't change theirs.
- The account. Clean metadata doesn't make you anonymous. The platform still knows which account posted, when, and from which connection.
- The app's own handling. Some platforms strip metadata from the public copy and some don't, and stripping it from what others see doesn't tell you what the platform received. Which platforms strip EXIF covers what's known. Clean the file before it goes, rather than counting on the platform.
Related: how to remove metadata from an image on any device, and why iPhone photos still have location with GPS off.