How do I enable camera location metadata in iOS 27?

Question

How do I enable camera location metadata in iOS 27?

How do you turn camera location meta data back on, iOS27 disabled it.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Camera meta data

MacBook Air, macOS 27.0

Posted on Sep 26, 2026 2:01 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

PreCognition

Level 6

12,060 points

Sep 26, 2026 4:43 PM in response to Paul-In-Fort-Lupton

Check Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera and set it to While Using the App. I’d also leave Precise Location turned on if you want accurate location data saved with new photos.

Then take a new photo, open it in Photos, and swipe up or tap the Info button. You should see the location there.

Apple explains the location settings here: Control the location information you share on iPhone - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Sep 28, 2026 8:32 AM in response to Paul-In-Fort-Lupton

You indicate that you have MacAir, but what the model iPhone are you using?
What is your storage on this iPhone? At Settings>General>iPhone Storage, my phone says 50.5 GB of 128 GB used. What does yours say?
At Settings>Battery, what do Battery Health, Maximum Capacity, and Cycle Count say?

Do you use iCloud Photos? If so, can you see if the location shows on the pictures in the MacAir's Photos app?

Or, if you AirDrop a picture from your phone to your MacAir, can you open the pictures in Photos and see if the GPS data are there? Or, can you use something like ExifTool Reader to examine the metadata of the picture to see what's there?

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Answer 3

Sep 27, 2026 5:15 PM in response to PreCognition

Already checked and double checked that those setting are enabled, which they ALL are. I've even done a power off reboot and then checked all the settings. And taken new photos, no location. This is definitely a system / app level software problem. Oh, and when I check Maps it shows correct "accurate" current location. So, the phone does indeed know where its at.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

204,875 points

Sep 28, 2026 2:14 AM in response to Paul-In-Fort-Lupton

Is the location missing for all photos or only for some?

The screenshots will not be tagged with GPS. Or the GPS will be missing, if you are taking the photos in Flight Mode and the Camera cannot access Apple's location database.

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Answer 5

Sep 28, 2026 8:18 AM in response to léonie

Location meta data has been missing on every photo taken with the camera app since upgrading to iOS 27. The phone knows within a couple of feet where it is, as displayed by Maps.

All settings have been checked and double-checked. If Flight Mode were engaged, which it is not, other functions would also be disabled and be quite noticeable.

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

204,875 points

Sep 28, 2026 12:18 PM in response to Paul-In-Fort-Lupton

One more question - how is your iPhone collected to the internet when you are taking photos? Have you enabled cellular data for the Photos.app?

When I am taking new photos, my iPhone is also not showing the locations in the info, while I am having no Wi-Fi connection, but later, as soon as the iPhone can connect to Wi-Fi, the locations will appear.

I have disabled the cellular data for Photos on the iPhone, because I do not want to waste my cellular data on uploads to iCloud.

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Answer 7

Sep 28, 2026 5:55 PM in response to léonie

It doesn't matter whether the iPhone is connected to the internet or not while taking pictures. Up till now location data has always been accurate (within feet) even when there has been absolutely No Signal At All! Not even SOS.

We are obviously totally different cases, I live almost totally on cellular data and I have absolutely no problem using as much as needed to use iCloud to keep my devices synced up.

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