Hi everyone,
I'm new to GrapheneOS. I've installed reddit and made an account in a new profile using protonVPN with a kill switch. Reddit is sort of blocked in my country. How does reddit get to know my location even if I have VPN and location off. I've changed the timezone. Used a protonVPN app, then used the vanadium app to make an account and Login. From my understanding the profiles in GrapheneOS is like virtual box and is comepleted isolated so how is my location getting leaked? My account keeps getting shadow banned due to this.

Please explain how I can fix this or what I'm doing wrong.
Thank you

    NewGrapher77 How does reddit get to know my location even if I have VPN and location off.

    Please explain what you are seeing – what exactly makes you think that Reddit knows where you are located?

        fid02 so in the reddit avatar builder section. I can see my countries flag pop up on its own. Only people from specific region are available to it. So how does mine show up? Can sim carrier give out the data to the app or something?

        I've been trying to figure this out but I can't understand from where is it happening

        • de0u replied to this.

            de0u so would it help if I put my phone in airplane mode or would I have to remove the sim entirely?

            • de0u replied to this.

                NewGrapher77 so would it help if I put my phone in airplane mode or would I have to remove the sim entirely?

                Sorry -- I don't know.

                Honestly, I am not a giant Reddit user, so I wouldn't install their app. Trying to evade bans by large online web communities is a game of cat and mouse, and they have a lot of resources.

                    Spoofing country code is a planned feature but not available yet. There's no leak happening, this is simply how things work and part of the reason it works that way is to comply with regulations. Apps can't comply with regulations without knowing the regulation region which is a major part of why this exists. As an example, many Camera apps use it to force sounds in certain regions which isn't something we do in our own Camera app. There are multiple ways it's provided to apps and we have to identify all of them before we can even begin making a feature to support spoofing it.

                      GrapheneOS Thank you for the helpful explanation.

                      If a SIM/eSIM card is not currently on the phone, can apps see the country of the last used SIM/eSIM card?

                      If no SIM/eSIM card was ever inserted/installed on the phone, can apps see any country, e.g. where a phone was purchased?

                          DeletedUser115 I'm brain storming too. Do you think apps have the access to the phones IMEI number? I'll keep this forum updated if I find a way

                          • de0u replied to this.

                              GrapheneOS does having the same app on the Main profile and the other profile are some of connected? I'm new to all this and assume most of the questions have already been answered. Where can I go and read about this?

                              • de0u replied to this.

                                  de0u they just have a really bad spam filter and I can't do anything about it

                                    de0u is this also standard in ios? The only way to stop this is to not insert a sim card on the phone correct or always remain in airplane mode? What happens if you turn airplane mode on and off? Does your country code remain available to apps when airplane mode is turned back on?

                                    • de0u replied to this.

                                        locked is this also standard in ios?

                                        I don't know.

                                        locked The only way to stop this is to not insert a sim card on the phone correct or always remain in airplane mode?

                                        Again, I don't know. I don't have a use case for concealing my physical country location or characteristics of my SIM card from privacy-invasive apps on my phone because I don't have privacy-invasive apps on my phone. The question of whether SIM characteristics are available in airplane mode is interesting, but I don't know.

                                            I did a few tests:

                                            Phone that never had a SIM/eSIM: country not detected

                                            Phone that had a SIM before but now doesn't have one: country not detected

                                            Phone with a SIM card, airplane mode on: country detected

                                            Phone with a SIM card, airplane mode off: country detected

                                            So it looks like only the current SIM is used and airplane mode doesn't have any effect on country detection.

                                              There is a shizuku plugin that lets you change the country code. Don't remember the name but if you google how to unlock pixel temperature unlock in any country it should come up

                                              NewGrapher77

                                                  redfoxjumper
                                                  Use of shizuku is not recommended. Enabling any adb connection opens up a big security hole. Providing apps on a device access to adb has further troubling security implications.
                                                  Theres numerous things that can be changed via adb which have a huge impact. Its also possible to break the OS in unexpected ways which can then be difficult to debug.