Photos with GPS coordinates on iPhone: capture, read and print them
Updated · 3 min read
Photos taken with the iPhone Camera carry GPS coordinates when the Camera is allowed to use location; they sit in the photo's hidden metadata (EXIF), and you can see the place by swiping up on the photo in Photos. If the recipient must see the coordinates even after the photo has gone through Zalo or email, print them on the image itself.
Coordinates are useful wherever an address is not: a power pole in a field, a stretch of canal, a plot without a house number, a survey point.
How do I make iPhone photos carry GPS coordinates?
- Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services: on.
- Scroll to Camera → While Using the App.
- Turn on Precise Location. Without it, the photo only gets an approximate area that can be kilometres off.
From then on, every Camera photo stores latitude, longitude and usually altitude.
Where can I see a photo's coordinates?
In Photos, open the photo and swipe up (or tap ⓘ). You get a small map with the place and its name. Photos does not show the numbers; for those, open the place in Maps and read the pin's coordinates, or use an EXIF viewer on a computer and read the GPS Latitude / GPS Longitude fields.
Photos received through messaging apps have usually lost their coordinates, so do not be surprised when there is no map.
What is the difference between decimal and degrees-minutes-seconds?
The same point can be written two ways:
- Decimal: 21.02881, 105.85212. Latitude first, then longitude. Paste it into Google Maps or Apple Maps and it lands on the spot.
- Degrees-minutes-seconds: 21°1'43.7"N 105°51'7.6"E. Common on drawings, survey records and handheld GPS units.
In Vietnam latitude is always North and longitude always East, so both decimal numbers are positive. A negative number usually means the two were swapped or mistyped.
Five decimal places already resolve to about a metre; more digits do not make the GPS any more accurate.
How accurate is phone GPS?
Under open sky, phone GPS is typically within a few metres. Indoors, under a metal roof, in a basement or between tall buildings, the error can reach tens of metres, and the first fix after opening the camera is usually the worst.
- Open the camera and wait a few seconds before shooting.
- When it matters, step into the open for the photo that records the coordinates.
- If the job is surveying, use proper survey equipment; coordinates on a phone photo locate a place, they do not measure a boundary.
Why print the coordinates on the photo?
Metadata is easily lost: the iPhone share sheet has a Location switch under Options, and many messaging apps strip coordinates when they recompress. Coordinates printed on the image survive, anyone can read them, and anyone can type them into a map.
Without an app, you can take the coordinates from Maps (touch and hold to drop a pin, swipe up to see them) and type them onto the photo with Markup. It is slow and one wrong digit moves you across town, but it works when you only need it now and then.
Should I worry about privacy?
Yes. Coordinates in a photo taken at home say exactly where you live. Before posting a photo publicly, turn off Location under Options in the share sheet. When you send a work photo to someone who needs to know where it was taken, do the opposite and keep the coordinates visible on the image.