Straight out of the iPhone camera roll. This is an illustration — no real file, name or location is used.
Before — what you would be sending
IMG_0947.HEICHEIC
Exact location51.503364, -0.119543
Image unique ID8C2F1A55E9D04B71
Camera ownerA. Whitfield
Camera serial numberF2LX9K3QW1
Apple · iPhone 15 Pro · 14 Aug 2026, 19:42
After cleaning
IMG_0947-clean.HEICHEIC
Exact locationremoved
Image unique IDremoved
Camera ownerremoved
Camera serial numberremoved
Every pixel identical. Nothing is re-compressed, so there is no quality loss.
HEIC, not JPEG
iPhones save in HEIC unless told otherwise. It is a modern container format that stores the metadata as numbered items rather than as a simple block, which is why many older tools quietly fail to read or strip it. This page reads HEIC properly.
What is in there
GPS latitude, longitude and altitude; the exact capture time including time zone; the camera make and model; which of the several rear lenses was used; the iOS version; and a unique image identifier. Portrait and Live Photos add depth information and a short video segment alongside.
Sharing from the Photos app
iOS lets you remove location at the point of sharing, under the options at the top of the share sheet. It works, but it is per-share, it defaults back, and it only covers location — not the device details or timestamps. It also does nothing if you send the file some other way.
Converting to JPEG is not cleaning
Most converters copy the EXIF block across to preserve the capture information. You end up with the same metadata in a different container. Check the output rather than assuming the conversion dropped anything.
In practice
What Live Photos add
A Live Photo is not one file. It is a still image plus roughly three seconds of video, and the video half carries its own metadata: its own timestamps, its own device information, and audio recorded before and after the moment you thought you were capturing. When a Live Photo is shared as a file rather than through the Photos app, both halves travel. Converting a Live Photo to a still before sharing removes the video entirely, which is usually what people assumed was happening anyway.
The conversion trap in detail
Converting HEIC to JPEG feels like it should clean the file, and it is the most common piece of bad advice on this subject. Most converters treat metadata preservation as a feature, because photographers want capture information to survive. The output is a JPEG containing the same coordinates, the same device details and the same timestamps, now in a format more tools can read. If you convert, check the result rather than assuming.
Shared albums and iCloud links behave differently
Sending a photograph through a shared album or an iCloud link generally strips location, because Apple processes the image server-side. Sending the same photograph as a file attachment in Mail, or through a messaging app's document picker, delivers the original. The difference is invisible at the moment of sending, which is why the habit of checking the file matters more than remembering which route does what.
Common questions
Do iPhone photos contain GPS?
Yes, if location access is enabled for the camera, which is the default. Coordinates are recorded to a few metres.
How do I remove location from an iPhone photo?
For a single share, use Options in the share sheet. For the file itself, drop it into the tool above and clean it.
Can this page read HEIC files?
Yes. It parses the HEIC container directly and finds the EXIF and XMP items inside.