When you use the best camera phones to take a photo, it also captures pertinent information related to that photo. The captured data includes the lens information, the camera mode, shutter speed, ISO, focal length, geolocation, and other information. Your smartphone saves this information in standard EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) files.

Your phone does this to help you edit and organize your photos. You can use the EXIF data to filter similar photos, apply batch editing, and more. One example of good use of EXIF data is the Google Photos or Apple Photos app when those apps create memories based on the time and place of captured photos.

However, the EXIF or metadata of photos can become a concern when you share your photos online. Someone can easily view the location data of your photos to find out your location. That’s why removing the metadata before sharing the photo is a good idea. Here’s how to remove or change photo metadata on your phone.

Your smartphone captures several personally identifiable information with your photos, with GPS coordinates being one of them. If you share your photos on the internet but don’t remove your photos’ metadata, someone can track your location.

While most popular social media websites remove the EXIF data, we recommend you remove the EXIF data from your images because it’s better to be safe than sorry. Also, the image metadata isn’t deleted when you share photos via chats, emails, or cloud storage providers. So, it’s best to remove the EXIF data before sharing your photos.

Another reason for changing photo metadata is for better organization. Sometimes, when you import photos on your smartphone, the EXIF data can become corrupt. Editing the EXIF files to enter the correct metadata can help catalog your photos.

While it’s easier to bulk edit photo metadata on a desktop system like macOS or Windows, you can remove or change photo metadata on your phone. The steps for editing and removing photo metadata are different for Android and iOS smartphones. We created separate sections for both of these operating systems.

You can view the photo metadata on your phone using the phone’s default gallery app. However, we use a third-party app to edit the metadata, as most default gallery apps don’t support this feature.

How to view photo metadata on Android

To keep things consistent across devices, we’ll use the Google Photos app that comes preinstalled on most Android phones and offers awesome editing features. If your phone comes with a different default gallery app, you’ll find that the steps are similar. Doing a simple Google Search with your device model can show you the exact steps.

If you can’t find it, install the Google Photos app from the Play Store and use the steps below to view the EXIF data of your photos.

1. Launch the Google Photos app on your smartphone and tap the photo for which you want to see the EXIF data.

2. To see the photo metadata, tap the three-dot button at the top or swipe up on the photo.
3. The photo’s EXIF data includes the date and time, camera model, aperture, ISO, and more.

How to remove or change photo metadata on Android

We’ll use a third-party app to remove or change the EXIF data of a photo on Android devices. Several apps on the Play Store let you edit and delete photo metadata. We recommend the Photo Exif Editor. Click the link to install the app on your phone before proceeding with the steps.

1. Launch the Photo Exif Editor app and grant it permission to access your photos.

2. Tap the Photos icon and choose a photo.

3. You’ll see the EXIF details associated with the photo. Tap any field to edit the EXIF details. Tap the OK button to save changes.

4. Tap the Save icon in the upper-right corner to save the changes.

5. To remove all EXIF data from the photo, tap the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner and choose the Remove EXIF option.

6. Tap the metadata you want to delete.
7. Tap the Save icon to save your changes.

Like on Android, you can use the default Photos app on your iPhone to view the EXIF details. We also love that the iPhone allows you to remove the EXIF details when sharing photos. However, if you want to delete the EXIF data of photos on your iPhone, you must use a third-party app.

How to view EXIF data of photos on iPhone

Due to the ubiquity of the Photos app across platforms, you can use the same steps to view the EXIF data of photos on your iPad and Mac.

1. Launch the Photos app.
2. Tap a photo to open it.

3. Tap the (i) button or swipe up on the photo to display the EXIF data.

How to remove photo metadata while sharing photos on iPhone

One of the best things about iOS is that it allows you to remove metadata while sharing photos. Here’s how you do it.

1. Tap the Share button to share a photo.
2. Tap Options at the top.

3. Turn off the toggle for Location to remove location data from photos.
4. Scroll to the bottom and turn off the toggle for All Photos data to remove other photo metadata like edit history, depth information, captions, and more.

5. Tap the Done button at the top to save your changes.

The setting is persistent, so the next time you share a photo, your iPhone automatically removes the metadata before sharing the photo.

How to edit or delete photo metadata on iPhone

If you want to edit incorrect photo metadata or delete it altogether, you’ll use a third-party app. We recommend the Exif Metadata app, which is free to install on your iPhone, with in-app purchases to remove ads. You can use the link to install the app from the App Store.

1. Launch the Exif Metadata app on your iPhone and grant it the necessary permission to access your photos.
2. Tap the plus (+) sign and navigate to select a photo.

3. You’ll see all the photo metadata. To edit metadata, tap the Edit button in the upper-right corner.

4. Tap any field to edit it. You can enter missing metadata information or edit any existing metadata.
5. Tap the Done button to get out of editing mode.

6. Once you’ve made all the edits, tap the Save button to save your changes.

7. To remove the location information, tap the Edit Location button and choose the Remove Location button to delete it.

8. To remove all metadata, tap the Remove Exif button.
9. After deleting the EXIF data, it asks whether you want to keep or delete the original copy. Choose Yes to delete and No to keep.

10. You’ll see that the EXIF metadata app removed the photo metadata.

We hope this guide helped you view, edit, and delete your photo metadata. We love that all modern smartphones allow you to view the EXIF details of your photos in the default gallery app. We would love it if Android and iOS systems allowed us to delete or remove EXIF details. That way, we wouldn’t have to rely on third-party apps.

Before you go, if you are a budding photographer, don’t forget to read our guide on the best Android apps for photographers. It will help you take your photography game to the next level.