# Turn on photo location now, thank yourself later > A photo with GPS can be found on a map years later. When to turn location on in your phone's camera, when to leave it off, and how to share photos without it. Source: https://firelet.media/blog/turn-on-photo-location Published: 2026-10-27 · Updated: 2026-10-27 Applies to: Windows, Android Turn on location for photos in your phone's camera settings, and every picture quietly records where it was taken. Years later that's what lets firelet.media Gallery put your photos on a map, filter them by place and draw the route of a trip, all on your own PC. Keep location on for your library, and strip it from the copies you share. It costs nothing at the moment you press the shutter, and it's the one detail you can't easily remember later. Here's what it gives you, how to switch it on, and how to stay private. ## What GPS in a photo gives you With location on, the camera writes the coordinates into each photo file, next to the date and the camera settings. firelet.media Gallery reads them from photos and videos when it scans your folders, and from then on: - **The map** (**Map** on the toolbar) plots every photo that has a location. **Cluster** groups nearby pins, **Heatmap** shows where you take the most photos, and **Trail** joins the photos in date order, so a trip draws its own route. - **Select area** on the map lets you drag a rectangle round a place and filter the grid to what's inside it: every photo from a town, a park, a stretch of coast. - **Filters** → **Location** shows only the photos that have a location, or only those that don't. - **The viewer** shows a location link under each photo, which opens that spot on Google Maps in your browser when you click it. Right-click the picture for **Open in OpenStreetMap** instead. A photo without GPS can still be dated and described, but it can't do any of the above. That's the whole case for switching it on. ## How to turn on location for photos in your camera app The setting lives in two places on most phones: 1. **Your phone's location** must be switched on, and the camera app must be allowed to use it. On Android this is in the phone's settings, under location and app permissions. 2. **The camera app's own setting**, usually in its settings menu, with a name such as "Location tags" or "Save location". The wording differs from one phone maker to another. To check it's working, take a photo, copy it to your PC and open it in firelet.media Gallery. Press [[I]] in the viewer: the **Place** line in the info panel shows where it was taken. Many dedicated cameras have no GPS at all. That's fine: see "Adding locations to old photos" below for a quick way to borrow the location from your phone's photos of the same day. When the free Android companion is available (it's coming soon), its **Places** tab will show your phone's photos on a map too, and its share options include **Share without location**. ## Privacy: share without it The location in a photo is only a privacy question when the file leaves your hands. In your own library it's yours, and firelet.media Gallery never uploads your photos. When you share, send copies without the coordinates: 1. Select the photos in the grid and press [[Ctrl]]+[[E]]. 2. Choose the **Web — 1080 px JPEG, no location** preset, or tick **Remove the location before sharing** with **Format** set to **JPEG**. 3. Choose a **Folder** and press **Export**. The copies carry no GPS; the originals are only read, never changed, so your map keeps working. [How to remove location data from photos before you share them](https://firelet.media/blog/remove-location-from-photos-before-sharing) covers the details, including the cases (videos and **Original files, unchanged**) where the location stays. > [!NOTE] > There are good reasons to leave location off sometimes: photos you'll post publicly straight from the phone, or pictures taken at home that you share often. Location is a switch, not a lifetime decision. ## Adding locations to old photos For photos taken with location off, or on a camera without GPS, you can add a location afterwards. First find them: **Filters** ([[Alt]]+[[2]]) → **Location** → **No location**. 1. Select the photos taken in one place. 2. Press [[Ctrl]]+[[Shift]]+[[L]] to open **Location**. 3. Type coordinates, such as `41.9028, 12.4964`, or paste a link copied from Google Maps or OpenStreetMap. 4. Press **Set**. There's an even quicker way when your phone was with you. Right-click one of the phone's photos from that day and choose **Date, place and copyright** → **Copy location**, then select the camera's photos and choose **Paste location**. The location you add is stored in the gallery's library; the files themselves aren't changed. It's written into XMP sidecars only if you ask for XMP, and **Back to the file's** in the Location window undoes it. [How to add or change a photo's location](https://firelet.media/help/add-or-change-photo-location) has the full steps. ## Finding photos by place later With locations in place, finding "everything from that weekend in the mountains" is a map job. 1. Press **Map** on the toolbar. Your photos appear as pins. 2. Press **Fit** to zoom to everything plotted. 3. Press **Select area** and drag a rectangle round the place. The grid now shows only what's inside it. ![The map with clustered photo pins, the Trail, Cluster and Heatmap options, and the No map tiles configured box](https://firelet.media/help/media/shot-map-no-tiles.webp "Your photos are plotted on your PC; the background map needs a tile provider") The first time you open the map you'll see your pins on a plain background and a note saying "No map tiles configured". That's deliberate: map tile services restrict use by apps like this, and most need an account and a key, so you choose one with **Tile provider…**. [Map says "No map tiles configured"](https://firelet.media/help/map-no-tiles-configured) walks through it, and [how to see your photos on a map](https://firelet.media/help/see-photos-on-a-map) covers the rest of the map. City and country names work the same way. There's no built-in place-name database, so set up a service under **Filters** → **Location** → **Service…**, then press **Look up places**. Your photos' coordinates, rounded to about 1 km, are sent to the service you chose, only when you press the button; the names are then stored in your library, and typing "Lisbon" in the search box finds every photo taken there. > [!TIP] > [How to find all your photos of a place](https://firelet.media/blog/find-photos-of-a-place) combines the map, place names and AI search, for the photos that never had GPS in the first place. ## Questions ### Is it safe to keep location on? Keeping locations in your own library is fine: firelet.media Gallery keeps them on your PC. Remove them from the copies you share, with Remove the location before sharing in the Export window. ### Can I add a location later? Yes. Select the photos, press Ctrl+Shift+L and type coordinates or paste a map link, or copy the location of another photo and paste it onto them.