Yes. When you share a photo through a Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or iCloud Drive link, the person who downloads it gets your original file with all its metadata, including GPS coordinates, the phone or camera model and the exact capture time. Dedicated photo services are different: Google Photos does not include locations by default in new shared albums and links, and iCloud Shared Albums are widely reported to remove them.
The difference comes down to what the service is for. This guide explains both kinds, how to check what your own links give away, and a simple workflow for sharing photos from the cloud without leaking where they were taken.
File storage vs photo sharing: two different behaviors
Cloud services that store photos fall into two families, and they handle cloud storage photo metadata in opposite ways.
| Type | Examples | What a recipient downloads | Location controls |
|---|---|---|---|
| File storage and sync | Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud Drive | The exact file you uploaded | None. Metadata is part of the file. |
| Photo library services | Google Photos, iCloud Photos (Shared Albums, iCloud links) | A file prepared by the service, depending on settings | Per-album or per-share options |
A file storage service has one core promise: the file you get back is identical to the file you put in. That is why it cannot quietly strip EXIF data. Doing so would break backups, legal documents, checksums and professional photo workflows. Photo services, on the other hand, are built around viewing and sharing images, so they can afford to prepare a separate version for other people.
Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive links deliver the original file
When you create an "anyone with the link" share on Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, two things happen when someone opens it. First they see a preview, which the service generates from your photo and which may contain no metadata. Then, if they click Download, they get the original file, byte for byte. At the time of writing (2026), none of these three services documents any option to remove metadata from shared downloads.
A few consequences follow:
- Shared folders expose everything in them. Sharing a folder of holiday photos shares every file's coordinates, often enough to reconstruct a full itinerary, including where you slept.
- "Download all" keeps metadata too. When a recipient downloads a whole folder as a ZIP archive, the photos inside are the originals.
- Synced phone uploads are originals. If your phone backs up its camera roll to Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, the uploaded files carry the same metadata as on the phone. Sharing them later from the cloud shares that metadata.
- Edits in a cloud viewer may not change the file. Rotating or previewing a photo in a web viewer does not mean the stored file was rewritten without metadata.
iCloud Drive belongs in this group as well. A file shared from the Files app or from iCloud Drive on a Mac is a stored file like any other, and it is delivered as such.
A storage link can stay valid for a long time and can be forwarded to anyone. If a link to a folder of original photos escapes the group it was meant for, every new person who opens it gets the same GPS data. Review and revoke old links from time to time.
Google Photos: locations are off by default for new shares
Google Photos treats locations as a sharing setting rather than as part of the file. According to Google's help page on how Google Photos protects your location data, "new albums, links, conversations, and other items you share do not include location details by default." There are several details worth knowing:
- Per-album switch. For a shared album, you can turn "Share photo locations" on or off from the album's sharing options. The option also appears the first time you share a private album.
- Partner sharing is the exception. Google states that if you set up partner sharing, all photos you share include location details.
- Estimated locations are never shared. Locations that Google Photos estimated itself are not shared, even when you choose to share locations. Locations written by your camera are a different matter: when location sharing is on, those are shown.
- Older shares follow older rules. Google notes that conversations started before August 18, 2021 show photo locations.
- Downloads leave Google's controls behind. Google's photo location help page says these settings do not affect photos you share outside Google Photos, for example by downloading them and emailing them. In that case the location saved by your device goes with the file.
Google also states that a camera-added location cannot be removed or changed inside Google Photos. If you want a copy without GPS, you have to clean the file itself. And as Google points out, recipients may still guess a location from landmarks in the picture.
iCloud: Shared Albums, iCloud links and iCloud Drive
Apple offers three ways to share photos through iCloud, and each behaves differently.
Shared Albums
Shared Albums are designed for viewing rather than archiving. Answers on Apple's community forums report that photos added to a Shared Album are scaled down (to 2048 pixels on the long edge for photos) and that location data is removed. Apple does not present this as a guaranteed privacy feature in its main documentation, so treat it as current behavior that could change and test it if it matters to you.
iCloud links from the Photos app
In the iPhone share sheet, the Options screen offers an iCloud Link setting that creates a URL to view or download the photos. Apple's iPhone User Guide says these links are available for 30 days, and that the "All Photos Data" option, which sends the original file with edit history and metadata, is available with AirDrop and iCloud links. The same Options screen has a Location switch on recent iOS versions. Turn it off before creating the link if you do not want coordinates included. Our article on AirDrop and iMessage photo location walks through that screen in detail.
Shared Library and iCloud Drive
iCloud Shared Photo Library is meant for a small group, usually a family, and shares full-resolution photos with their metadata among participants. Files shared from iCloud Drive are stored files, so they arrive unchanged, as with Google Drive or Dropbox.
What else a shared link can reveal
Metadata inside the files is not the only thing a cloud link exposes. Before you share, consider these as well:
- Your name and account. Shared pages often display the owner's name, profile picture or email address.
- File names. Phone file names such as
IMG_20260412_183015.jpgorPXL_20260412_183015123.jpgencode the capture date and time even after the EXIF data is gone. Folder names can be even more revealing ("Flat viewing 12 Oak Street"). - Neighboring files. Sharing a folder instead of a single file can expose photos and documents you did not mean to include, including any added later.
- Videos. Phone videos carry their own location metadata. Our tool does not process video, so check video files separately.
How to check what your shared link gives away
Test your link exactly as a stranger would see it. It only takes a few minutes:
- Create the share link as you normally would.
- Open it in a private or incognito browser window, where you are not signed in.
- Click Download (not the preview) and save one photo.
- Inspect the downloaded file with an EXIF viewer or ExifTool:
exiftool -gps:all -make -model -datetimeoriginal photo.jpg. Our guide on checking that metadata was really removed explains what clean output looks like. - If GPS tags or device details appear, delete the link, clean the files and share again.
Run the test again when a service updates its sharing features. Photo services in particular have changed their location defaults before, as Google's August 2021 cutoff shows.
A safe workflow: clean first, then upload
The easiest way to stop worrying about each service's rules is to never upload originals to a place you share from.
- Keep your original photos in a private location, such as your phone library or an unshared backup folder.
- Create a separate "to share" folder for each recipient or project.
- Run the photos through our free online metadata remover before moving them into that folder. It processes up to 10 JPEG, PNG or WebP images at once and returns them as one ZIP. For larger sets, see our guide on removing metadata from multiple photos at once.
- Rename files if the names reveal dates, places or people.
- Upload the cleaned copies and share that folder only.
- Download one file from the link in a private window to confirm it is clean.
The default "Keep same format" mode does not re-encode the pixels, so the shared copies keep their full quality. It removes EXIF (GPS, device make, model and serial numbers, dates, software, embedded thumbnails), XMP, IPTC and C2PA data, keeping only the color profile and the orientation flag so the photos look the same.
HEIC photos from an iPhone need to be JPEG before you clean them with our tool. Exporting or sharing them as JPEG, or setting Settings > Camera > Formats to "Most Compatible", solves this.
Checklist for sharing photos from the cloud
- Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and iCloud Drive links share originals: clean before uploading.
- In Google Photos, check the "Share photo locations" switch on each shared album, and remember partner sharing includes locations.
- On iPhone, turn off Location in the share sheet Options before creating an iCloud link.
- Share single files or dedicated folders, never your whole camera upload folder.
- Check file names and folder names, not only the metadata.
- Test each new link from a private window, and revoke links you no longer need.