I can test a few scenarios re: SIM card country code and report back...
Location gets leaked on reddit on completely different profile.
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
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.
DeletedUser115 thank you for doing the test. I tried doing it on my laptop in an virutal box using a Tor browser and it still detected my country. I have no clue how this is happening. I'm using an VPN then Tor browser. Is it my VPN? But if I used Tor shouldn't that exclude all possibilities?
DeletedUser115 where were you texting the country detected thing?
redfoxjumper I don't want to put all this effort for a reddit account but I'm just puzzled to how and where is reddit getting info from?
NewGrapher77 If you created an account in Reddit app on your phone with a SIM card the app can know the country from the SIM card.
If you later use this same account on a desktop over Tor, the country is already associated with that account.
NewGrapher77 I tested using WhatsApp on Pixel phones with GOS.
I don't use it myself. OP wanted a fix, I provided one
O
DeletedUser115 did you use a VPN too? I'll update with a reply if I ever find a solution for this
NewGrapher77 Yes, in all tests I used a VPN with a server in a country not matching the country of SIM card or the country where the phone was purchased.
a month later
DeletedUser115 Thank you for the test results.
GrapheneOS allows for a physical SIM and eSIM to be toggled off even while the SIM is still installed. Does anyone know if the country code is still accessible when a SIM is toggled off and airplane mode is on?
a month later
I use an eSIM from a different country. When creating a secondary user, I see that the language is set by default to the language where my eSIM is from. This occurs even in airplane mode if the eSIM is still enabled, which matches the testing above in DeletedUser115.
I tested what happens in airplane mode when the eSIM is disabled. The default language for the new user is no longer the one associated with my eSIM.
It seems this leak can be temporarily mitigated by disabling the SIM (an eSIM in my testing).