Did Strip just clean my whole Camera Roll?

No. Only the JPEG you chose, inspected, stripped, and downloaded. iCloud Photos still holds the original until you delete or replace it in the Photos app.

I turned Location Services off. Are old shots safe?

Off stops new tags. It does not rewind files already written. Drop a six-month-old JPEG on Strip and inspect. If GPS is there, strip a copy before you share it.

Live Photo — is the video cleaned too?

No. Strip processes the still you pick. The paired .MOV is a different container. If you share the Live Photo as a Live Photo, the motion file can still travel. Share the stripped still instead.

Safari saved nothing. Did the strip fail?

Often the blob never landed in Files. Use Share → Save to Files or Save Image, then re-drop that saved file on Strip. Empty GPS on that file is the check, not a green tick that vanished.

iPhone: Strip cleans the download, not the album

Updated 6 September 2026

The ceiling on iPhone is not Safari’s blob dialog. It is this: Camera Roll, iCloud Photos, Shared Albums and the Live Photo movie are other objects. Strip never reaches them. If you keep sending the album original, the pin is still in the file.

Three copies of the same sunset

You shoot a still. iOS writes a file in Photos. iCloud Photos (when it is on) holds a cloud copy of that same original. A Shared Album or a Family Sharing library may hold a third. Strip does not open any of those stores. It reads the bytes you picked in this tab, writes a new file, and offers that new file as a download. The album does not update. iCloud does not “sync the strip.” Optimize iPhone Storage can even throw the local original away and fetch it again later from iCloud — GPS tags included.

People tap Strip, see a preview, and believe the phone is clean. Then they AirDrop from Photos, attach from Camera Roll in Mail, or pick the live album in a desktop uploader. Those paths send the original. The cleaned object is only the file that landed in Files or Downloads. If that file never landed, you still have zero clean copies.

What this page is not

This is not a Safari-download troubleshooting note for a compressor, and it is not the field-list of GPS tags. For the tag names, read what GPS actually stores. For numbered buttons on any device, use the how-to. For chat recodes, go to WhatsApp. For listing CDNs, go to marketplace. Here the only job is: iPhone album versus the file you saved.

Location Services off is not a time machine

Turning off Location Services for Camera stops new GPS IFDs. It does not walk through last summer’s JPEGs. Files already written keep their tags until something rewrites the container. iOS does not strip EXIF when you toggle the switch. If you share an old still, inspect it. If GPS is there, strip a copy.

“Most Compatible” (JPEG in Camera) only changes the container going forward. It is not a cleaner. A JPEG from Camera can still carry GPSLatitude. HEIC is worse for this tool because Strip v1 rejects the container — convert, then inspect the JPEG, because conversion often copies the IFD.

Live Photo is two files

A Live Photo is a still plus a short .MOV. Strip processes the still you select. It does not open the motion file. If you share “as Live Photo,” the movie can travel with whatever the system packed. Share the stripped still as a still. Do not assume the movie is mute on location; treat it as out of scope and do not send it when the still is the thing you cleaned.

Files picker versus Photos picker

On iPhone Safari, Choose files is the reliable control. The Photos picker can hand the tab a still that looks right and still be the album original in every other app. After Strip, save into Files with an obvious name (`sunset-clean.jpg`). Next time a share sheet asks “which photo,” pick that Files object, not the thumbnail in Recents. Recents is the dirty set.

AirDrop defaults to the original. Mail photo attach often defaults to the original. Image capture to a Mac copies the original. A Windows WhatsApp or a Lightroom publish from a synced folder copies the original. The cleaned download is easy to lose in that noise unless you keep it in a folder you actually pick from.

iCloud is a backup of the wrong file

iCloud Photos is working as designed: it preserves the camera original. That is useful for your map and bad for a public post. Strip cannot log into iCloud and rewrite objects. Shared Albums publish what you added to the album — if you added the original, the original is what subscribers get. Adding the cleaned Files copy is a different add. Replacing is a Photos action. We will not pretend a browser tab can do it.

Steps that actually change the file you send

If the shot is HEIC, export JPEG first. Conversion is not a strip. Inspect the JPEG here.
Open the Strip tool in Safari. Not an in-app browser inside a messenger.
Choose one outdoor JPEG. Confirm the GPS badge. Then batch.
Run Auto (Fast on typical JPEG, Deep on PNG/WebP). Download.
If Files is empty, Share → Save to Files. Do not screenshot the preview. A screenshot is a new picture of a picture; it is not a verified container.
Drop the saved file back on Strip. Empty GPS. That file is what you attach, AirDrop, or upload.
Leave the album original until you delete it on purpose. Turning off iCloud does not delete the pin from a file that already exists.

What looks like a bug and is not

Preview in Safari, nothing in Files — save via Share. Then verify that save.
iCloud still shows the old still — expected. Cloud copy was never this tab’s job.
Shared Album still has GPS — you published the original. Add the Files copy instead.
Desktop uploader leaked again — it read Pictures / DCIM, not Downloads. Point it at the verified file.
Colors shifted — that is Deep re-encode, not iCloud. Prefer Fast on a print-critical JPEG if Fast already cleared tags.

Honesty limits on iPhone

Strip does not blur a house, a school gate, or a license plate. It does not wipe MakerNotes we cannot parse. It does not edit the Live Photo movie. It does not disable Location Services for you. Empty GPS on the file you hold in Files is the success criterion. If you still pick Recents in the next share sheet, you undid the work.