Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (2024)

You can use your photos' locations to organize, search, and explore your photos based on where they were taken.

Your photo may have a location if:

  • Your device's camera saves your location with the photo.
  • You add a location.
  • Google Photos estimates your location from information such as landmarks detected in your photo and locations in your other photos.

Manage your photos' location

To manage your photo or video location information, you can either add a location to a photo that doesn't have one or edit or remove an estimated location Photos has added.

Add a location

Important: To add a location on a photo or video, you must back it up first.

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open Google Photos Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (1).
  2. Open the photo or video.
  3. Tap More Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (2) Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (3) Add a location Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (4).
    • Add or select a location from your recent locations.

Edit or remove an estimated location from a photo

Important: You can only update or remove estimated locations. If the location of a photo or video was automatically added by your camera, you can't edit or remove the location.

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open Google Photos Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (5).
  2. Open the photo or video.
  3. Tap MoreUnderstand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (6)Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (7)EditUnderstand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (8).
    • Add or select alocation from your recentlocations.
    • To remove the estimated location, tap Remove location.

You can also edit the location of multiple photos:

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open Google Photos Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (9).
  2. Select the photos whose location you want to edit.
  3. Tap More Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (10) Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (11) Edit location.
    • Add or select the location.
    • To remove the location, tap Remove location.

Tip: When you select multiple photos or videos, you may be informed that Google Photos can't edit location information added by your camera. To proceed, deselect those photos or videos.

Estimate missing locations

Important: If you turn off location estimates, the previously estimated locations aren’t removed, but you can edit or delete them.

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open Google Photos Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (12).
  2. At the top, tap your account profile photo or initial Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (13) Photos settings Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (14).
  3. TapPrivacyUnderstand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (15) Location options.
  4. Turn Estimate missing locations on or off.

Find previously estimated locations

When you turn off estimated locations, Photos won’t estimate locations for new photos. You can manage estimated locations and use previously estimated locations for your new photos.

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open Google Photos Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (16).
  2. At the top, tap your account profile photo or initial Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (17) Photos settings Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (18).
  3. Tap Privacy Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (19) Location options Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (20) View and manage estimated locations.

Share a photo with a location

If you share a photo with Google Photos, the location of your photo may be shared if you added it, changed it, or if it was provided by your camera.

You can control if your location is shared in each shared album, link, or conversation you create or join. If you set up partner sharing, all photos you share will include location details.

The following situations happen if you choose to share the location of your photos:

  • If you add a location or edit an estimated location of a photo, and then share it with someone on Google Photos, you also share the location.
  • If your camera adds a location and you share that photo on Google Photos, the photo shows the location provided by the camera.
  • If you share a photo with a location estimated by Google Photos, the location won't be shared.

This doesn't affect photos or videos you share outside of Google Photos, such as when you download and email them to someone. In this case, the original location your device saved shows without any edits you made in Google Photos.

Even if you hide your photos' locations from people, they can guess the location based on landmarks in your photo.

When you add photos to shared albums, you can control if the location details of your photos are shared in each album.

  1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (21).
  2. Tap Sharing Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (22).
  3. Select the shared album.
  4. At the top, tap More Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (23) Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (24) Options.
  5. Turn on or off Share photo location.

You can also control if the location details of your photo are shared when you create a new shared album.

  1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (25).
  2. Tap Sharing Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (26) Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (27) Create shared album.
  3. Add a title and photos to the new shared album.
  4. At the top, tap Share Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (28) Album options.
  5. Turn on or off Share photo location.

Tip: This option also appears when you share a private album for the first time.

When you add photos to a new conversation you create, it won’t include location details. Location sharing is turned off by default.

If you started a conversation before August 18 2021, any photos that you add or previously added to that conversation will show their locations unless you previously turned off location sharing for that conversation.

To share location details for the photos that you add, or have added, to a specific conversation:

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open Google Photos Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (29).
  2. At the top, tap Sharing Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (30).
    • Important: For some users, Sharing Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (31) can be found at the bottom.
  3. Tap the conversation.
  4. In the conversation, tap your account profile picture or initial.
  5. Turn on Share photo location.

Important: If you set up partner sharing, all photos you share have location details. If you set up partner sharing before August 18 2021, your photos’ location information will be shared unless you previously disabled this.

To check if you are sharing location details in partner sharing:

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open Google Photos Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (32).
  2. At the top, tap Sharing Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (33).
    • Important: For some users, Sharing Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (34) can be found at the bottom.
  3. Tap on your partner's name.
  4. At the top, Tap MoreUnderstand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (35) Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (36)Settings.
  5. From “Your partner can access,” you can check if you share location details.

Tip: If you aren't sharing location details, but would like to, remove your partner and invite them again.

Find your photos on a map

You can find the location of your photos and videos on an interactive map.

Find the map view

  • At the bottom, tapSearchUnderstand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (37).
  • Tap the map in a photo's info section.
  • Tap place names in the main photo grid's date headers.

Use the map view

The grid contains the photos in your library that are in the visible map area, including shared photos you've saved.

  • To change the area of focus: Pinch and zoom the map.
  • To find photos you took in the visible map area: Scroll the grid or tap the heatmap.

Tip: Black dots on the map are photos you took on the same day.

View your Timeline

You can use the Timeline in your map to check out your photo history. When you scroll through photos in the grid, the path will update to reflect your Timeline for the day in focus.

This feature is only available if you have Location History data. Learn how to turn Location History on or off.

To turn the Timeline on or off:

  1. In map view, tap More Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (38).
  2. Turn on or off Show your personal Timeline.

Tips:

  • You can choose Default, Satellite, or Terrain for your map view.
  • To find the entire Timeline path for a certain day, tap Zoom out Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (39).
  • When you hide the Timeline from your map view, Photos doesn't remove your Location History data. Learn how to delete your Location History.

Control whether your camera adds location information

  1. On your Android device, open the Camera app's settings.
  2. Turn the location setting on or off.

Important: This setting varies by manufacturer. Learn how tochange your location settings on your device.

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Understand, find & edit your photos' locations - Android (2024)

FAQs

Where is the location of photos in Android phone? ›

On your Android device, open the Google Photos app . At the bottom, tap Library. Find the folder under Photos on device. If available, open your device folders to find your missing item.

How do I find location data from photos on Android? ›

You can find the location of your photos and videos on an interactive map. At the bottom, tap Search . Tap the map in a photo's info section. Tap place names in the main photo grid's date headers.

How to find a location by a photo? ›

Check Location Data on an Android Phone

In general, you should be looking for a three-dot menu and a "Details" option. Then scroll down a bit. You'll see a ton of metadata about the image, including the location data.

How does Google Photos estimate location? ›

Your photo may have a location if: Your device's camera saves your location with the photo. You add a location. Google Photos estimates your location from information such as landmarks detected in your photo and locations in your other photos.

Where are photos located on Samsung? ›

Navigate to and open the Gallery app, and then tap the Pictures tab. To search for a specific picture or video, tap the Search icon in the upper right corner.

How do I turn off location on photos? ›

On Android, here's how to wipe a single photo:
  1. Open your gallery, select the photo,
  2. Go to Details (it may be a three-dot menu)and click Remove location data.
May 7, 2023

Does Android have a location finder? ›

Android phones with OS 6 and above can use the Find My Device app. You can also access the app in a web browser on laptops and tablets.

How do I access location data on Android? ›

If you have Location History turned on, your precise device location is regularly saved to your devices and Google's servers, even when Google apps aren't being used. You can always review your Location History, or change how long you keep it, by visiting activity.google.com or your Timeline.

What is location data in Android? ›

The location data available to an Android device includes the current location of the device — pinpointed using a combination of technologies — the direction and method of movement, and whether the device has moved across a predefined geographical boundary, or geofence.

Can you find out where someone lives from a picture? ›

A geotagged picture can locate where you were when the picture was taken, but unless the picture shows your house, no, they can't get your address from a picture.

How to check if a photo is geotagged? ›

To easily check for geotags in a PNG, WebP, or JPG image, use an online tool like Geoimgr (tool.geoimgr.com). Upload the image to the tool, and if geotags are present, the longitude and latitude fields will be filled in.

Can you find out when a picture was taken? ›

However, all modern cameras and smartphones save the current date, and often the current GPS coordinates in the photo metadata - in special fields within the file itself when shooting. Photo management applications can read this metadata and help you find photos from the right period in no time.

Should I keep or delete estimated photo locations? ›

Google's alert also notes, “Choosing 'Keep' means that you can use existing estimated locations to organise and find photos." If users choose to disable the feature, they will receive a message that says, "Deleting estimated photo locations based on Location History may result in permanent loss of those estimated ...

Can a photo location be tracked? ›

The Latitude and Longitude coordinate metadata are kept in the properties of the image and will help to trace the location of the image. These embedded GPS coordinates help to find out the location where a photo was taken.

Why is Google Photos no longer using location? ›

Instead, the company is focusing more on its work on Google Lens, Maps Live View, and more. For this change, Google is now allowing users to remove all estimated photo locations. This includes the ones derived from Location History and landmarks.

Where are mobile photos stored? ›

Your photos will be in one of two areas: The Pictures folder or the DCIM folder. Photos you took with your phone will likely be in your DCIM folder, while other photos or images (like screenshots) you keep on your phone will likely be in the Pictures folder.

Where is the DCIM folder on Android? ›

On Android, DCIM folder is located in the internal memory of the smartphone while on camera it is usually saved in the camera SD card. You can also set your Android to save all the recorded pictures and videos of DCIM in the SD card, SDXC, microSD etc., used in the device.

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