Three places a location can come from
The file. EXIF GPS tags written by the camera app, sometimes copied into XMP. The post. A place sticker or Maps pin you attach in an app. The frame. Whatever the picture shows. A tool that clears the first does nothing for the other two.
The first is the one you can check mechanically. Drop the file into the photo location viewer: it prints the latitude and longitude if the file stores them.
When the file is the leak
Phone cameras write coordinates when location tagging is on. Apple's guide, for example, says the iPhone Camera works out coordinates from cellular, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth information and embeds them in each photo and video (Apple: Manage location metadata in Photos). The numbers are not a street address until someone looks them up on a map, which takes one click.
Turning the permission off affects new shots. Old shots keep their tags. See GPS metadata for the format, and what an iPhone photo's location reveals for the phone side.
What the viewer lists next to the coordinates
In our test runs a file with GPS tags printed latitude, longitude, altitude, camera maker and model, date taken, orientation and software. The same pixels saved without EXIF printed only width and height. The date and device fields appear in the same view, so check them too before you share the original.
When the pixels are the leak
A house number, a school uniform, a distinctive skyline, a reflection in a window. No EXIF tool helps. Cropping and attention help. This is the more common leak for people who already post compressed social JPEGs.
Screenshots and apps
A screenshot of a photo is usually a new file without the original GPS. The map still in the screenshot is still a map. Social uploads often recompress; “often” is not “always,” especially with original-quality or send-as-file.
Inspect the attachment you are about to send in the photo location viewer. If GPS is there, make a sharing copy with Metadata Cleaner or the remove location from photo page.
A location sticker is a post field
Tagging a café on Instagram or attaching a Maps place is not file GPS. Clearing EXIF will not remove that pin. The three leaks are independent: coordinates in the file, a pin you added, and whatever the frame still shows.
A location in a photo app is not always from the camera
Google Photos Help says a photo may have a location because the camera saved it or because someone added one, and that Google Photos also estimates locations from landmarks and your other photos; camera-added locations cannot be edited or removed there (Google Photos Help). Apple documents that Photos lets you adjust a location. So a place on screen is a statement from the library, and the file you send is what matters.