Why GPS in a JPEG is a real leak
A photo of a front door, a kid’s team, or a home office can carry the exact latitude and longitude of the shot. Marketplaces, dating apps, and “send me a pic of the product” chats are common ways that file leaves your phone. Stripping GPS from a photo is the small step that stops the file from advertising your address.
Camera roll vs the file you send
ScrubFiles does not edit the original in your library. That is intentional: you keep the geotagged master if you want it. What you send is the download. If you need the camera-roll copy cleaned too, save the download back into the album and use that going forward.
Screenshots and HEIC
Screenshots often have little or no GPS. Live Photos and HEIC from iPhone are not a supported type on this tool — share or export as JPEG, then strip GPS from that JPEG. PNG and WEBP exports are fine when they actually contain EXIF/GPS.
How to strip GPS from a photo
01
Drop the geotagged photo
Use a JPEG, PNG, or WEBP from your camera roll. The homepage tool does not upload it.
02
Confirm the coordinates
If GPS is present, ScrubFiles shows the values. You are not trusting a generic “location removed” banner.
03
Share the rewritten file
Download the clean copy and post or email that file. The original in Photos/Google Photos still has GPS until you replace it.
Questions
How do I remove location from an iPhone photo?
Export or share the image as JPEG, drop it on ScrubFiles, check that GPS appears in the report, and download the rewritten file. HEIC is not accepted yet.
Does turning off Location Services stop GPS in old photos?
No. Photos already taken still have the tags. You have to strip GPS from each file you send, or re-export from a tool that removes geotags.
Can someone still guess where I am from the picture?
Yes. Landmarks, reflections, and uniforms are in the pixels. GPS removal only stops the machine-readable coordinates in the file.