Guides / What is photo metadata

What's hidden in a photo? Metadata explained simply

Updated 3 November 2026 · By the FirstHour team

Short answerMetadata is information saved inside a picture file, next to the picture itself. On an iPhone it can include the date and time, the phone that took it and where you were. You can see it in Photos, and you can leave the location out when you share.

Think of the back of a printed photo

Imagine an old print with a note on the back: "Lola's birthday, March, at the lake house." The picture shows the cake. The note says when and where. Metadata is that note, only a phone writes it for you, and nobody has to turn the picture over to read it.

What an iPhone saves

The Info panel in Photos can show details such as:

Apple says that when Location Services is on for Camera, your iPhone embeds location coordinates in each photo and video, and that the people you share them with may be able to see where they were taken.

An example: you sell a bike and post a photo taken in your garage. If the location was saved and the app doesn't remove it, someone might be able to work out where you live.

How to see it on your iPhone

  1. Open the photo in Photos.
  2. Swipe up, or tap the Info button.
  3. Look at the device, date, camera details and location.

Photos with no location don't show one. To browse only photos that have a place saved, open Collections, then the Map collection.

How to leave details out

Removing a location in Photos changes your own library, not a copy someone already has.

What the picture itself can still give away

Removing metadata doesn't change what's visible. A house number, a street sign, a school uniform, a card on a table or the view from a window can show as much as a saved location. This is our advice: look at the picture as a stranger would before you send it. For private details like a number on a card or ID, covering them with a solid box is the safer way.

How FirstHour helps

Share and Black out make a new copy of a picture, so nothing from the original file comes along: no location and no camera details. Your original isn't changed. A picture you send from the Vault leaves out the location, but not the other details.

FirstHour doesn't show you a picture's metadata, and it can't remove metadata from pictures you share in other ways. It also can't take back a picture you already sent.

Questions

Do screenshots have a location?

We haven't confirmed this from Apple, so we won't guess. Check a screenshot in the Info panel the same way you would a photo.

Do chat apps remove the details?

It varies by app and can change, so it's safer to remove the location yourself before you send.

Is metadata always a bad thing?

No. It's why Photos can sort your pictures by date and show them on a map. It matters when a picture goes to someone you don't know well.

Sources

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