Android now blocks location sharing in photos

Services like OpenBenches have relied on reading geolocation (EXIF location data) embedded in photos to display them on maps, but recently on Android, that flow has been cut off through multiple paths.

• The web's <input type="file" accept="image/jpeg"> used to prompt photo selection as before, but Google later blocked this.
• The general file picker (<input type="file">) that was recommended as an alternative was also later blocked.
• The Progressive Web App (PWA) approach doesn't escape the same problem either.
• Location data isn't preserved even when passed via Bluetooth / Quick Share.
• Sharing directly via email also strips the location data.

As a result, the author says the only method left is copying to a PC via USB and then uploading through a desktop browser.

The presumed reason for the change is privacy protection. The reasoning cited is that users might unintentionally expose location-tagged photos publicly, and that social media services also typically strip location data by default upon upload.

The problem is that Google appears to have made this policy change without prior notice. As a result, site operators only learn about the disruption after receiving user inquiries.

The following possible solutions are being discussed:

• An explicit popup asking whether to allow location data access during upload
• A new standard/permission model that could preserve EXIF location data on the web
• Realistically, developing native Android/iOS apps

The author asks to be informed if there's a working method to preserve the full geolocation EXIF metadata of photos in Android web browsers, and adds a request to leave a +1 on the related HTML spec comment.