How to remove location and other metadata from a phone video
A clip filmed on your phone can tell anyone who opens the file where you stood, when, and with which phone. Here is how to see that data, which ways of removing it actually work, and how to strip it without touching the picture.
Photo location gets most of the attention, but video carries the same information and people check it far less often. A clip of your kids in the garden, a walkthrough of a flat you are subletting or a recording made at work can all hold coordinates precise enough to find the building.
This guide shows what a phone video records, how to check a file, which removal methods work for videos you have already shot, and the things no metadata tool can hide for you.
What does a phone video record about where and when?
MP4 and MOV files are containers: the compressed video and audio sit inside, and a set of tags describes them. When location access is on for the camera, an iPhone writes something like this into a MOV:
com.apple.quicktime.location.ISO6709 : +40.6892-074.0445+010.000/
com.apple.quicktime.make : Apple
com.apple.quicktime.model : iPhone 15 Pro
com.apple.quicktime.software : 17.5
com.apple.quicktime.creationdate : 2025-06-01T14:03:22-0400
creation_time : 2025-06-01T18:03:22.000000ZThe first line is the location in ISO 6709 format: latitude, longitude and altitude in one string, here 40.6892° N, 74.0445° W at 10 meters. Android phones typically store the same kind of string in a ©xyz tag. The creation date carries your local time zone offset, and the make, model and software lines say which phone you own and which version of its system it runs.
Action cameras go further. A GoPro with GPS turned on records a separate telemetry track alongside the video and audio, logging position, speed and motion sensor readings through the whole clip. That is a route, not just a point.
How do you check a video for location data?
Drop the file into the metadata viewer. The Location group decodes the ISO 6709 string into plain coordinates, Device shows make and model, Software & dates shows the recording time and software, and Other lists chapters and data tracks such as GoPro telemetry. If the video was made by an AI tool, the AI & provenance group shows its Content Credentials. On the phone itself, swiping up on a video in the gallery usually shows the location on a map.
Which ways of removing location actually work?
| Method | Fixes videos you already have? | What it removes | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turn off location for the camera | No, only future recordings | Location | Device, software and time are still written |
| iPhone share sheet: Options → Location off | Yes, for that one share | Location | Only when sharing from Photos; other tags stay |
| Post to a social network | Only the platform’s copy | Often most tags | The platform re-encodes, and your file is unchanged |
| Re-export in a video editor | Yes | Varies by app | Re-encodes the video, and some apps copy tags across |
| Stream-copy remux | Yes | All tags, chapters and data tracks | Browsers can rewrite files up to about 1.8 GB |
Turning off camera location is the best prevention: on an iPhone it is under Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera, and Android camera apps have a location tag setting whose name varies by maker. For clips you already have, a remux is the only option on the list that removes everything from the file itself without re-encoding it.
How do you strip location from a video without re-encoding?
- Open the video metadata remover and drop in an MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM, MKV or AVI file, or a batch. A roughly 10 MB engine downloads the first time and is cached.
- Check what the inspector found in Location, Device and Other.
- Keep Everything mode selected and start the removal. The container is rebuilt without global and stream tags, chapters, data tracks and non-font attachments.
- Read the second inspection of the cleaned file. The Location group should be gone, and Kept on purpose lists the rotation if the clip was filmed upright.
- Download the clean copy, or all of them as a ZIP.
Why is there no quality loss?
A stream copy takes the compressed video and audio packets out of the old container and writes them into a new one exactly as they were. Nothing is decoded, so the codec, resolution, bitrate and frame rate are identical, and the job runs far faster than any export. Portrait videos are usually stored as landscape frames plus a rotation instruction, and that instruction is carried across deliberately, so the clean copy opens upright. Subtitle tracks are kept too.
For a GoPro clip, dropping the telemetry track means apps that draw speed or map overlays from it can no longer do so, so keep the original if you plan to make one. For files over the browser’s roughly 1.8 GB limit, cut the part you need with trim video first, then clean the trimmed copy.
Does sending a video strip its location?
Sometimes, and you rarely know which. Many social networks re-encode uploads and drop most tags from the public copy. A video sent as a file is a different matter: email attachments, cloud links, AirDrop and the send-as-file or document options in chat apps usually deliver the original, tags and all. If the recipient gets the file itself, clean it first.
Frequently asked questions
Can I remove the location but keep the recording date?
Not with Toolvy’s modes. Everything removes all tags, dates included, and AI & provenance only removes AI and Content Credentials data and leaves location in place. Gallery apps that sort by recording date will typically fall back to the file’s own date for the cleaned copy.
Does it work on GoPro footage?
Yes. The GPS and sensor telemetry and the timecode are separate data tracks, and the cleaned file is rebuilt without them while the video and audio are copied untouched.
What about the audio I recorded on the same day?
Voice memos and field recordings carry their own tags, sometimes including a place name in the title. The audio metadata remover cleans MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, OGG and Opus files the same lossless way.
Is my video uploaded?
No. The file is read and remuxed in your browser tab by ffmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. DevTools → Network will show the one-time engine download and nothing of yours going out.