How to remove metadata from photos on a Mac
Photos can hide a location, Preview can show or remove one, and neither touches the rest of the metadata. Here is what each does and how to strip a photo for sure.
The Photos app: Hide Location
In Photos, select the pictures, choose Image, Location, then Hide Location. Apple's Photos guide lists Hide Location and Revert to Original Location in that menu, and Revert brings it back, so the location is hidden from view rather than erased from your library.
This only concerns location, not the date or the camera. Apple's guide also does not say what the file contains after you export or share it, so treat an exported photo as unchecked until you have looked at it (see below).
Preview: see the location, or remove it
Open a photo in Preview and choose Tools, Show Location Info, then click the More Info inspector button and the GPS tab. Apple's Preview guide documents this as a way to see where a photo was taken on a map. The command is dimmed when the photo has no location, which makes it a quick test for whether a photo carries GPS data. In that same Inspector section Preview also has a Remove Location Info button (next to Change Location Info). Apple's Preview guide describes only viewing, so treat the button as a location-only fix: it does not touch the date, the camera model or the other EXIF fields, and it is worth checking the saved file afterwards with the EXIF viewer.
In the Terminal with ExifTool
ExifTool is a free, open-source command-line program (not part of macOS). Once installed, exiftool -all= photo.jpg deletes all the metadata it can from that file and keeps the original as photo.jpg_original. Its FAQ recommends keeping the colour information when you do this, because removing it can change how an image displays. This is powerful and fine for scripts. For a handful of photos it is more setup than most people want.
The point-and-click way that checks itself
Open the EXIF remover in Safari or any browser and drag the photos in from Finder. The page lists what each photo carries, whether it has GPS coordinates, the camera and the date, before it changes anything. Click Remove metadata and download the cleaned copies, or all of them in one zip.
In a JPG it removes the EXIF block (GPS position, date and time, camera and phone model, settings and the embedded thumbnail), XMP, IPTC, comments and the other application metadata segments. In PNG and WebP it removes the EXIF, text and XMP chunks. The colour profile is kept by default because it holds no personal data and removing it can shift colours.
The cleaned copy is not re-compressed: the picture data is copied byte for byte and only the metadata blocks are cut out. One exception: with "Apply orientation to sideways photos" ticked (the default), a photo stored sideways with a rotation tag is re-encoded so it still displays upright, and its colour profile is dropped in that case. Untick the box and every photo is copied unchanged, though a sideways one may then display sideways.
Photos from an iPhone or a recent camera may be HEIC. In Photos you can export them as JPEG (File, Export, Export Photos, then choose JPEG under Photo Kind) and drop the JPEGs on the remover, or use the HEIC to JPG converter. Everything happens inside your browser tab, so the photos never leave your device.
Check the result
Drop a cleaned photo back on the remover: it should report "No removable metadata found" and "GPS location: no". Keep the originals in Photos, and share the stripped copies. The guide to viewing photo metadata explains how to inspect a photo in each Apple app, and what EXIF data is lists the fields.
Questions
Does Hide Location in Photos remove the GPS data from the file?
Apple describes it as hiding the location in Photos, and Revert to Original Location restores it, so the original file still has it. Apple does not say what an exported or shared copy contains. Run the copy through the EXIF remover to be sure.
Can Preview remove location data?
Yes, location only: Preview's Inspector has a Remove Location Info button. Apple's Preview guide documents viewing the location (Tools, Show Location Info), not the button, and the date and camera details stay. Use the EXIF remover to remove everything, and check the result with the EXIF viewer.
Will removing EXIF data change how the photo looks?
Not for a JPG, PNG or WebP cleaned with the EXIF remover: the picture data is copied unchanged. The only exception is a sideways photo with the orientation option ticked, which is re-encoded.
Do I need to install anything on my Mac?
Not for the browser tool, and you can install it as an app from the browser menu to use it offline after one visit and a short wait. ExifTool is a separate install.