How to Remove EXIF Data on Android

To remove EXIF data on Android, you have two kinds of tools: built-in options that remove only the location (Samsung Gallery's "Remove location data" share option, or editing the location in your gallery app), and full cleaners that remove every field, such as an online metadata remover opened in Chrome. Google Photos cannot delete a location your camera recorded, and no Android version has a system-wide "remove all metadata" button.

This guide explains what each option really removes, why the way you share a file matters as much as the cleaning itself, and how to confirm the result. Android menus differ between manufacturers and versions, so the labels below are the current ones at the time of writing (2026) and may vary slightly on your phone.

What EXIF data an Android photo contains

Every phone camera app writes metadata into the JPEG it saves. The exact fields depend on the manufacturer, but you can expect:

• Location, if the camera's location setting is on: GPSLatitude, GPSLongitude, GPSAltitude and a GPS timestamp.
• Device identity: Make (for example Google or samsung) and Model, which names your exact phone.
• Time: DateTimeOriginal, often with sub-second precision and a time zone offset.
• Camera settings: exposure time, ISO, focal length and which lens was used.
• Manufacturer data: maker notes and XMP blocks. Motion photos and some portrait modes store extra information in XMP.

To see it, open a photo in Google Photos and swipe up, or in Samsung Gallery swipe up or tap the More menu and choose Details. Those panels show the highlights, not every field. Our guide on how to view EXIF data covers tools that show everything.

Your options at a glance

Samsung Gallery: remove location when sharing

Samsung added a location toggle to the Gallery share panel with One UI 3, and it is the quickest built-in option on a Galaxy phone. Samsung describes it on its support page about removing location data from photos in the Gallery.

1. Open Gallery and select one or more photos.
2. Tap Share.
3. At the top of the share panel, turn on Remove location data.
4. Choose the app or contact to share with.

The copy that is sent leaves out GPS coordinates, while the photo in your gallery keeps them. The option targets location only, so your phone model and capture time still travel with the file.

To remove the location from the photo itself, open it, swipe up or tap Details, tap Edit, and remove the location entry (shown with a minus icon on many versions). Then save.

Google Photos: what it can and cannot remove

Google Photos is installed on almost every Android phone, so it is natural to look there first. Its capabilities are narrower than many people assume. According to the Google Photos help page on locations:

• You can remove estimated locations (locations Google guessed from landmarks or your Location History) and locations you added manually. Open the photo, tap More, then Edit, and choose Remove location. For several photos, select them, tap More, then Edit location.
• You cannot edit or remove a location that your camera saved with the photo. For those, the GPS data stays in the file.
• For shared albums, you can turn off Share photo locations in the album's sharing options. Conversations have a similar switch.
• Photos shared outside Google Photos, for example by email or through another app, keep the original location saved by your device.

In other words, Google Photos settings control what Google Photos shows to people you share with inside the service. They do not clean the file you send through WhatsApp, Gmail or any other app.

Remove all EXIF data in Chrome, without an app

When you want a file that carries no location, no phone model and no timestamps, the simplest route on any Android phone is to clean it in the browser. Our free metadata remover needs no account and adds no watermark.

1. Open the tool in Chrome (or any browser) and tap the upload area.
2. Pick up to 10 photos from your gallery or file manager. JPEG, PNG and WebP are accepted, up to 25 MB each.
3. Leave Keep same format selected. The metadata is removed without re-encoding, so quality does not change.
4. Download the result. One photo downloads as an image; several arrive as a single ZIP.
5. Open your file manager (for example Files by Google or My Files on Samsung), go to Downloads, and extract the ZIP if there is one. The cleaned images usually also appear in the Download folder of your gallery app.
6. Share the cleaned copies, not the originals in your camera folder.

A report lists what was removed, such as GPS coordinates, the phone model, the capture date and XMP blocks. Only the color profile and orientation flag are kept, so colors and rotation stay correct. Uploaded files are deleted from the server automatically 10 minutes after processing.

How the way you share decides what metadata leaves your phone

Why sharing "as a file" sends all your metadata

On Android, how a photo leaves your phone decides how much metadata goes with it. Two patterns are worth knowing:

• File-based sharing sends the original bytes. Sharing from a file manager, attaching a photo to an email, uploading it to cloud storage, or sending it "as a document" in a messaging app all deliver the exact file from your phone, metadata included.
• Photo-mode sharing in messaging apps often re-compresses. Apps that compress images for chat usually rebuild the file, which tends to drop most metadata. But this is each app's choice, not an Android guarantee, and "HD" or "original quality" options may keep more. See how WhatsApp handles metadata for one example.

The safe habit is to clean first, then share the cleaned copy by whatever method you like. That way the channel no longer matters.

Android's built-in location protection for apps, and its limits

Since Android 10, apps that read photos from shared storage do not automatically see their GPS coordinates. Android's developer documentation explains that the system hides location information by default, and an app must request the ACCESS_MEDIA_LOCATION permission, granted by the user, to read unredacted location data. That is why some apps receive your photos without coordinates even though the file in your gallery has them.

Do not treat this as a cleaning feature:

• It only limits what an app can read through the media library. The file on your phone still contains the GPS data.
• An app that has been granted the permission can read location normally.
• It does nothing for the camera model, timestamps or other EXIF fields.
• When you explicitly share a file, the receiving person or service may get the original.

Stop new photos from being geotagged

Removing EXIF data from existing photos is only half the fix. To stop the camera from recording location in the first place:

• Pixel Camera: open the camera, go to its settings, and turn off Save location.
• Samsung Camera: open the camera, tap the settings gear, and turn off Location tags.
• Other brands: look for "Location", "GPS tag" or "Save location" in the camera app's settings, or revoke the Camera app's location permission in Settings > Apps.

Labels differ between manufacturers; our Android camera location guide covers the main ones. Remember that this only applies to new photos.

How to check that the EXIF data was removed

1. Pick a test photo that shows a location in Google Photos or Samsung Gallery.
2. Clean it with the method you chose.
3. Open the cleaned copy's details. There should be no map or location line, and with a full cleaner, no camera model or exposure settings either.
4. For certainty, upload the cleaned copy to the online tool again. A clean file has nothing sensitive left to report.

Keep in mind that Google Photos may display an estimated location on a photo that has no GPS data in the file, based on your account's other information. That displayed location is not inside the file you share. For a deeper check, see how to check that metadata was really removed.

The quick routine

• Turn off location in your camera app if you do not need it.
• For a quick share on a Galaxy phone, turn on Remove location data in the share panel.
• For anything public, sold online or sent to strangers, remove all metadata in the browser and share the cleaned copy.
• Never send originals "as a file" or as an email attachment without cleaning them first.
• For photo-by-photo location removal across devices, see how to remove GPS location from photos.