How to Remove Metadata from Photos on Any Device

To remove metadata from photos, use a tool that deletes the EXIF, XMP and IPTC blocks stored inside the file, then share the cleaned copy instead of the original. Phones and computers have built-in options, but most of them remove only the location or only some fields; a dedicated metadata remover or ExifTool removes everything in one step. Below is each method, device by device, with exactly what it removes and what it leaves behind.

What removing metadata should cover

A photo file can hold three kinds of hidden information: EXIF (camera, settings, dates, GPS), XMP (editing history and anything apps add) and IPTC (captions, names, copyright). Inside those blocks there may also be an embedded thumbnail and a manufacturer "maker notes" section. A complete cleaning removes all of it. A partial one, such as "remove location", leaves the device model, serial number and timestamps in place.

Two technical items are worth keeping: the ICC color profile, which stops colors from shifting, and the orientation flag, which stops the photo from appearing sideways. Neither identifies you.

Here is how the main methods compare:

Method 1: Use an online metadata remover (any device)

This is the fastest option if you want everything gone and you are on a phone, a borrowed computer or any machine where you cannot install software.

1. Open our free metadata remover in any browser, on mobile or desktop.
2. Add your photos: JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 10 at a time and up to 25 MB each.
3. Leave the default "Keep same format" setting if you want a lossless result. The pixels are not re-encoded, so quality is identical.
4. Download the cleaned photo, or a single ZIP file if you processed several.
5. Read the report, which lists what was found and removed, for example GPS coordinates, camera model, capture date, software, serial number and XMP or IPTC blocks.

The tool removes EXIF (including GPS, make and model, serial numbers, dates, software, maker notes and the embedded thumbnail), XMP, IPTC, comments, text chunks and C2PA data. It keeps only the color profile and orientation flag. No account is needed and there is no watermark. Files are processed on the server and deleted automatically and permanently 10 minutes after processing, with no copies or image logs kept.

How to remove metadata on iPhone

iOS has no "remove all metadata" button, but it gives you three useful controls:

1. Remove location from one share. In Photos, select the photo(s), tap Share, then tap Options at the top of the share sheet. Turn off Location (and leave All Photos Data off). Apple documents this in its guide to sharing photos. The setting applies to that share only.
2. Remove location from the photo in your library. Open the photo, tap the info button (or swipe up), tap Adjust next to the location, then choose No Location.
3. Stop tagging new photos. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera and choose Never. Existing photos keep their coordinates.

None of these removes the device model, lens, capture time or other EXIF fields. For a complete clean, open the online tool in Safari and pick the photos from your library. Labels can differ slightly between iOS versions. The full walkthrough, including Shortcuts, is in how to remove EXIF data on iPhone.

How to remove metadata on Android

Android options depend on the phone maker and the gallery app.

• Samsung Gallery: select the photos, tap Share, and tick Remove location data before choosing the app (available since One UI 3). This removes the location only.
• Google Photos: you can remove estimated locations or ones you added by hand (open the photo, tap More > Edit, then Remove location). According to Google's help page, a location added automatically by your camera cannot be removed in Google Photos.
• Stop tagging new photos: turn off the location option in your camera app's settings. It is called something like "Save location" or "Location tags" depending on the manufacturer.

To remove all metadata, open the online tool in Chrome and choose the images from your gallery or Files app. More options, including apps and manufacturer-specific settings, are covered in how to remove EXIF data on Android.

How to remove metadata on Windows

Windows 10 and 11 can remove metadata from File Explorer:

1. Select one or more photos, right-click and choose Properties.
2. Open the Details tab and click Remove Properties and Personal Information at the bottom.
3. Choose Create a copy with all possible properties removed (safer: the original is kept and a copy is created next to it), or Remove the following properties from this file, then Select All.
4. Click OK.

The limit is in the wording: "all possible properties" means the properties Windows knows how to handle. Independent tests have found that some values can remain in JPEG files, and the tool does not handle every block other software writes. Always verify the result. Details and workarounds are in how to remove metadata on Windows 10 and 11.

How to remove metadata on a Mac

macOS has two built-in routes, both focused on location:

• Preview: open the photo, choose Tools > Show Inspector, select the More Info (i) tab, then the GPS tab, and click Remove Location Info. Recent versions also have Tools > Show Location Info. The GPS tab only appears if the photo has a location.
• Photos: select the photos, choose File > Export > Export Photos, and untick Location Information (you can also untick title, keywords and caption). Do not use "Export Unmodified Original", which exports the original file with its metadata.

Both leave the camera model, dates and other EXIF fields. For a full clean on a Mac, use the online tool or ExifTool. See how to remove metadata on a Mac for the details.

How to remove metadata on Linux or with ExifTool

ExifTool is the reference tool for reading and writing image metadata, free and available for Windows, macOS and Linux. Install it with brew install exiftool on a Mac, sudo apt install libimage-exiftool-perl on Debian or Ubuntu, or download the Windows build from its website. Then:

# Remove all metadata (keeps a backup named photo.jpg_original)
exiftool -all= photo.jpg

# Remove all metadata but keep the ICC color profile
exiftool -all= --icc_profile:all photo.jpg

# Same, and restore the orientation flag so the photo is not shown sideways
exiftool -all= --icc_profile:all -tagsfromfile @ -orientation photo.jpg

# Clean every JPEG, PNG and WebP in a folder and its subfolders, without backups
exiftool -all= -r -ext jpg -ext png -ext webp -overwrite_original ./photos

ExifTool removes metadata without recompressing the image. Only use -overwrite_original when you have separate backups. On Linux, mat2 photo.jpg is another option; it writes a cleaned copy named photo.cleaned.jpg. Avoid ImageMagick's -strip for JPEGs if quality matters, because ImageMagick decodes and re-encodes the image. A full command reference is in the ExifTool cheat sheet, and other Linux tools are covered in how to remove EXIF data on Linux.

Which method to use, and how to check the result

• You want everything gone, quickly, on any device: the online tool.
• You only care about location for a quick share from your phone: the iPhone share sheet or Samsung Gallery option.
• You need to clean hundreds of files or keep specific tags: ExifTool.
• You are on a work computer where you cannot install anything: Windows Properties, followed by a check.

Never assume a method worked: open the cleaned copy (not the original) in a metadata viewer. On a phone, check the info panel for a map or camera name; on a computer, look at the Details tab or Inspector; with ExifTool, run exiftool -a -G1 photo.jpg and confirm that only basic file and image-size information remains. If you upload to a platform, download your own post afterwards and inspect that file too, because some services keep the original and some strip it, and this can change over time.