Being able to see where a photo was taken can come in handy on multiple occasions. Though, under certain circumstances, one could also prefer to hide this information from public view.
In this tutorial, we are going to be showing you how to access and hide a photo’s location information on both mobile and desktop.
How to see/hide a photo’s location on Windows and Mac
The process is quite simple. On Windows:
- Import the photo from your phone
- Right click on the image file, then click on properties
- Click on Details and scroll down until you find GPS
- There you will find the photo’s GPS coordinates, which are stored as metadata embedded in the photo file
On Mac:
- Right-click the image file
- Click on ‘Get Info’
- GPS coordinates will be available under the ‘More Info’ section
To hide the GPS coordinates, you can click on the ‘Remove Properties and Personal Information’ option, and from there select specific personal information about the photo which you wish to keep private.
How to disable location-tracking on your phone’s camera: Android and iOS
On Android:
- Open the Settings app
- Open the Permission tab
- Open the ‘Location’ tab
- Find the Camera app and toggle it off
On iOS:
- Open the Settings app
- Select the Privacy tab
- Tap on the ‘Location Services’ tab
- Open the Camera section
- Select ‘Never’ for the ‘Allow Location Access’ option
Check out the photo’s GPS coordinates on Google Maps
As we mentioned at the beginning of this tutorial, one could actually make use of the GPS metadata.
Head up to Google Maps and type in the coordinates in the search bar. Google has a quite comprehensive post explaining the proper syntax for coordinates.
It is worth noting here, that sometimes the GPS metadata embedded in the photo file can be stunningly inaccurate. For instance, for a photo that I recently snapped, the GPS coordinates embedded in it point to a place in Turkey, while the photo was actually taken in Greece. Just something to have in mind.
If you encounter any problems while trying out the above or have a recommendation to make, feel free to shoot a comment down below.