Hi developers,

I’m Mishaal Rahman, and I manage community engagement for Android at Google!

To give users more control over how apps access their location info, we wanted to give you an early heads up about a new Android Photo Picker feature that addresses a common pain point: allowing apps to request location info from selected photos.

The Android Photo Picker automatically redacts location info from the photos users share with apps to protect user privacy. We recognize that some apps have a genuine need to access location info from these photos, though, so to balance those needs with user privacy, we're introducing a new API that lets apps get this info with explicit user consent.

How it works

To implement this, you will need to update your apps to use the new location metadata API. We are introducing a new intent extra, MediaStore.EXTRA_PICK_IMAGES_REQUEST_LOCATION_METADATA_ACCESS, which is supported for both the ACTION_PICK_IMAGES and ACTION_GET_CONTENT intents.

When your app sends this intent extra, users will be asked if they want to include location info with the photos they select via the Android Photo Picker.

  • If the user selects "include location," location info won’t be redacted from the EXIF metadata of the selected photos.
  • If the user selects "don't include," location info will be redacted.

https://preview.redd.it/0no03pmm2rkh1.png?width=1941&format=png&auto=webp&s=76d5f9f3717d80d594088a3deb6216a7e2a253d9

The system remembers the user's preference for your app, so if a user initially chooses to give your app access to location info from photos, they won't be prompted to do it again. However, users can later revoke access by tapping the location info button in the bottom right corner of the Android Photo Picker UI. Users can tap this same button to regrant access, giving them the ability to seamlessly decide when to share location info and when not to.

Availability

The location metadata API is available with the latest update to the Android Photo Picker. This update is rolling out to Android devices via the August 2026 Mainline update, so it is not widely available on your users’ devices just yet. However, we wanted to give developers who have been requesting this feature an early heads up so they can be ready.

Expect more details to come from the official developer documentation. Let us know if you have any questions or additional feedback about the Android Photo Picker!

submitted by /u/MishaalRahman
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