Understand, find & edit your photos' locations

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 your Google Location History or landmarks detected in your photo.
    • Check if your Google Location History is turned on.

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.

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.

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

To help you easily find, explore, and reminisce about your photos by their location, Photos can estimate missing locations from your photos and location history.

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

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.

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 new shared albums you create, it won't include location details. Location sharing is turned off by default.

If you created a shared album on or before August 18, 2021, any photos that you add or previously added to that shared album will show their locations unless you previously turned off location sharing for your account.

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 Photos.
  2. Tap Sharing .
  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.

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

  • Tap the Search tab.
  • 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 More.
  2. Turn on or off Show your private 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 .
  • 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.

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