No. A location-sharing setting inside Google Photos does not automatically clear the original location information from a photo you download and email elsewhere.
The useful question is what the recipient will actually receive: a view inside Google Photos, a link or a downloaded file. Those routes can expose different information.
A map label and a photo file are different
A photo can carry coordinates recorded by its camera. Google Photos can also use locations that you add or that it estimates.
Google lets you change or remove manually added and estimated locations through its location controls. Camera-recorded locations cannot be removed through those same editing controls.
That means changing a location displayed in your library is not proof that an exported attachment has changed too. Your private library view and your recipient’s file are separate things to check.
Shared albums have their own setting
On the Google Photos website, the documented shared-album route is Collections > Albums, then the album and Share. Beside Sharing photo locations, choose Album options, turn Share photo locations off, then Done.
Check the actual album you are using. A setting in one album does not establish the settings in another conversation or in partner sharing.
This controls sharing within that context. Google warns that a downloaded photo shared outside Photos can retain the original device location without your changes from Photos.
The picture can still identify a place
A street sign, campsite entrance, school badge or letter can reveal a location without coordinates. Your caption can supply the missing connection: “outside our house this morning” says more than the picture alone.
For a fictional example, suppose a travel photo shows a campsite sign. Hiding its location field leaves the sign visible. Choosing another image and sharing after the visit may better match your intention for a public post.
Look at reflections and edges too. Removing a map label cannot change the words printed on a document in the picture.
Check the route you intend to use
Use a harmless sample before sending sensitive material through an unfamiliar method. Inspect the received attachment or the recipient’s view of the link. Checking your own original does not establish what arrived.
If the destination is a downloaded file, use a trusted local viewer that exposes location information. Record exactly what you checked. “No location shown in this viewer” is more accurate than claiming every identifying detail is impossible to recover.
If you cannot determine what will be exposed, choose a less revealing picture. An unfamiliar online “metadata remover” may require uploading the very image you wanted to keep private.
Keep your private record useful
Your own accurate location history may help identify a family outing years later. Preserve it with the original and prepare a separate sharing version where needed.
Review the outgoing filename and message as well as the image. Do not put a home address into the sharing filename and then expect a location switch to hide it.
A small file, a JPEG conversion or a private-group label is not a complete answer. Recipients may save or forward what they receive, and different attachment or link options may behave differently.
A sensible stopping point
You should be able to name the audience, explain whether they receive a file or link and identify the visible details you are comfortable sharing. That is a useful routine for ordinary photographs, without pretending it guarantees anonymity.
Next step
Review the iPhone Photos sharing route if you send your pictures from that app.
Sources and scope
Source checked 9 September 2026: Google’s location and sharing guidance. This explanation includes an editorial checking method and fictional example. No recipient-app privacy test is claimed.