GPS coordinates of photos received by Messages on Mac

[zqbobs]

Is it possible to extract GPS coordinates from photos received by Messages on a Mac? I see some contradictory statements online. So far, I'm not able to see any way to do it.

I understand the privacy concern - is location always stripped by Messages for that reason? Can it be overridden by settings at the sender's end, e.g. on an iPhone?

What about photos as attachments in Mail on Mac?

 

[arw]

Just make sure "Location" is enabled on the sender side.
Then on the receiving Mac you can see the location where the picture has been taken (I used Preview.app to check it).

 

[iStorm]

Yes, it's possible to see the GPS info if the photo was sent via iMessage and the sender opted to include it. Open the photo using Preview, then go to Tools -> Show Inspector. Or add it to your Photos library and look at the info there. (Note: I'm using Ventura in case things are different in High Sierra.)

As for other things like regular text messages and email, it's usually up to the service provider. Some may strip out that info, others may not.

 

[Brian33]

Can it be overridden by settings at the sender's end, e.g. on an iPhone?

On a Mac, there is a setting within Photos.app-->Preferences-->General-->Sharing to include (or not) location information. Not sure what the default is, though.

Oddly, I can't find an equivalent setting in iOS! (I'm on iOS 15 still.)
EDIT: Oops, found it in Privacy-->Location Services-Messages.
EDIT again: No, that setting seems to be for Messages app to get your current (not a photo) location. Hmm.