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iPhone Why do only some images received via iMessage have GPS data?

Fazzl

Fazzl

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2007
580
4
I've noticed that only some of the images I receive from a friend of mine (who also has an iPhone 5) have GPS data. (I test this by saving the picture and using a photo app to read the metadata.)

I can't figure out why some do and others don't. My friend is not changing his settings or doing anything weird. This is all through iMessage.

Thoughts?
 
dhlizard said:
Are all the images sent to you taken with friend's camera ?
Or are some of those images from others and then passed on to you by your friend.
Click to expand...

Taken with friend's camera. I'm thinking the photos edited on iOS may strip GPS data?
 
Fazzl said:
I've noticed that only some of the images I receive from a friend of mine (who also has an iPhone 5) have GPS data. (I test this by saving the picture and using a photo app to read the metadata.)

I can't figure out why some do and others don't. My friend is not changing his settings or doing anything weird. This is all through iMessage.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity, what app are you using to read the metadata?
 
Fazzl said:
I've noticed that only some of the images I receive from a friend of mine (who also has an iPhone 5) have GPS data. (I test this by saving the picture and using a photo app to read the metadata.)

I can't figure out why some do and others don't. My friend is not changing his settings or doing anything weird. This is all through iMessage.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

It depends on the original source taking the photos, if they're all photos he took on his iPhone then they should all be one way or another.

Photos he's forwarding from someone else, or iCloud...depends on the original source.

Location services has to be on for the app b4 taking the photo for GPS data to be there. Some people prefer to have this off so GPS info is not there for privacy. Also, if he didn't take the photo, most photos taken with a camera and not a phone will not have GPS data, as most cameras do not have GPS.

Also, if a photo has GPS data, but edited, the app may drop GPS info, so the edited photo will not have it. This is true for ios apps and computer apps.
 
benji888 said:
It depends on the original source taking the photos, if they're all photos he took on his iPhone then they should all be one way or another.

Photos he's forwarding from someone else, or iCloud...depends on the original source.

Location services has to be on for the app b4 taking the photo for GPS data to be there. Some people prefer to have this off so GPS info is not there for privacy. Also, if he didn't take the photo, most photos taken with a camera and not a phone will not have GPS data, as most cameras do not have GPS.

Also, if a photo has GPS data, but edited on a computer, the app may drop GPS info, so the edited photo will not have it.
Click to expand...

Hmm, there is no toggling of location services since this is my dad and he has no idea what that does. I'm thinking it's an iOS 6 to iOS 7 bug since I'm running iOS 7 and he's running iOS 6.
 
Fazzl said:
Hmm, there is no toggling of location services since this is my dad and he has no idea what that does. I'm thinking it's an iOS 6 to iOS 7 bug since I'm running iOS 7 and he's running iOS 6.
Click to expand...

It's not a bug.

Go to Settings>Privacy>Location Services>Camera

You can toggle location services on or off for the camera and other apps.

The first time you use the app it will ask if you want it on
 
There are other possibilities such as having location services off until he used Maps for the first time.

But, in any case, if these are photos taken on the same day, then, I have to ask, did they all come through as iMessages? If iMessages is down (like it was just a few days ago) or it otherwise comes as an MMS instead, sending as MMS will drop GPS data as well.

----------
Fazzl said:
Taken with friend's camera. I'm thinking the photos edited on iOS may strip GPS data?
Click to expand...

Yes. It depends on the app. For some, you may be able to keep GPS info if you can turn on location services for that app Settings>Privacy>Location Services and find the app
 
If you also edit with Pixelmator on your Mac it will drop GPS info as well. And if going from aperture to Pixelmator there are two ways to edit, one way loses EXIF/meta data entered on aperture.
 
Fazzl said:
I've noticed that only some of the images I receive from a friend of mine (who also has an iPhone 5) have GPS data. (I test this by saving the picture and using a photo app to read the metadata.)

I can't figure out why some do and others don't. My friend is not changing his settings or doing anything weird. This is all through iMessage.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Your buddy probably has location services turned on for his iPhone for the camera app. Every picture he takes is getting tagged with geo location.
 
Armen said:
Your buddy probably has location services turned on for his iPhone for the camera app. Every picture he takes is getting tagged with geo location.
Click to expand...
It sounds like the question is why some photos from that friend/phone have location data and others don't (I guess short of the friend, perhaps randomly, enabling and disabling location services for the camera).
 
C DM said:
It sounds like the question is why some photos from that friend/phone have location data and others don't (I guess short of the friend, perhaps randomly, enabling and disabling location services for the camera).
Click to expand...

It has to be enabling/disabling the geo-locaiton on the camera app. There is no other explanation.
 
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