How to Remove GPS Location Metadata From Photos Safely

## The Hidden Privacy Risk of Smartphone Geotags Every modern smartphone with GPS enabled records precise latitude, longitude, and altitude in the EXIF tags of every photo you take. When shared online, this data can expose: - Your exact residential address. - Daily travel routes and routine locations. - Children's schools or sensitive work sites. --- ## How GPS Data Is Stored in Images In a standard JPEG image, GPS telemetry is encoded within the EXIF SubIFD under tag ID `0x8825`. It includes: - `GPSLatitude` and `GPSLatitudeRef` (Degrees, minutes, seconds and hemisphere N/S) - `GPSLongitude` and `GPSLongitudeRef` (Hemisphere E/W) - `GPSAltitude` (Meters above sea level) - `GPSTimeStamp` and `GPSDateStamp` (Atomic clock satellite synchronization) --- ## How to Clean GPS Coordinates Using MetaClean MetaClean provides an effortless, 100% private workflow for sanitizing geotags: 1. **Open MetaClean Cleaner:** Navigate to `/cleaner`. 2. **Select or Drop Your Photo:** The file is loaded into your browser memory. 3. **Inspect Geolocation:** The scanner flags GPS coordinates in a highlighted sensitive field. 4. **Choose 'Privacy Clean' or 'Remove GPS':** The tool strips the GPS SubIFD tags. 5. **Download the Cleaned Image:** The sanitized photo contains zero location records. Because all processing occurs in your browser sandbox, your sensitive photos and coordinates are never uploaded to any remote server.