Location spoofing ?

Juvbm

Hello ! I hope you are all doing well.

I know this is a recurrent subject, but I would need to spoof my location ; I tried to use Mock My GPS on f-droid, but without success. Do any of you knows how I should proceed ? I use a Pixel 7 with the latest stable update. Thank you all for your help !

ryrona

Juvbm There is no support for this currently. It is not possible to do. But some kind of location spoofing is a planned feature.

Xtreix

Juvbm https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/4075

PaulDavis

I have used this on another phone and it works very well. You could be in the middle of the Atlantic if you wanted. You just drag the screen so that the arrow rests wherever you want to be. I am not vouching for privacy or security concerns, only that the app works.
Do heed the warning about making sure you reset your GPS before deleting the app, or you will be permanently lost.
I can vouch it works on P8P. I just jumped from Eastern Europe to the UK in 1 second
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/lexa/fake-gps-location/fake-gps-location-2-1-2-release/

rellhom

PaulDavis

does this method fool all installed apps as well?

PaulDavis

rellhom well it works on all the mapping apps, and they seem to be dependent on the fact, so I can only assume.
What apps are you using that require fooling?

rellhom

PaulDavis

Tiktok seemed to figure out my location even though I was using a VPN in a far away country

DeletedUser87

rellhom TikTok is the worst example. It's considered literal spyware by many. I can assure you that they exploit every possible tactic possible to get the data they need.

router99

DeletedUser87
I suspect Meta and G**gle do the same. I would never let TikTok touch my phone and have a Meta product installed in a separate profile to itself, along with always on VPN and bare minimum permissions, and even then I suspect some kind of data "triangulation" going on.

rellhom

DeletedUser87

that is why I used that as an example, I don't want to be complacent, so Tiktok can be the test case of privacy

MeganBrooks

Maybe you can try other apps like TunesKit Location Changer? I've used it for months, very smooth. The only pity is that it doesn't support mobile app versions. Hope it can be used directly on phone in the future.

testuser123

I mean TikTok uses the SIM card as well, so even if you use some kind of VPN, if you have the sim card on, it is able to detect your location that way.

DeletedUser622

testuser123 Remove SIM card, use airplane mode with WiFi instead.

testuser123

DeletedUser622 Yes, my main response for was for the OP but have you tried this? And does it work?

DeletedUser622

testuser123 I don't use TikTok, but without SIM card it will have no source to get your actual country from.

traveller

Sounds like a privacy concern. Shouldn't the app be unable to determine the location (even country-accurate) of the user without user's approval ? Does the app have access to the phone number as well then, or is it just the country that's exposed?

de0u

traveller Does the app have access to the phone number as well then, or is it just the country that's exposed?

Users with specific privacy concerns will find relevant information in FAQ questions such as:

I believe "network country code" includes a cellular operator's assigned country code. Wi-Fi access points also transmit country codes.

GrapheneOS is not an all-powerful privacy shield. Over time it leaks less (the FAQ indicates some plans, and others are in the issue tracker). But people with specific detailed privacy concerns may need to carefully analyze documentation and prepare a detailed threat model. And over time some app authors are more demanding of non-spoofable data to access services, so some people may need to decide whether or not to use certain services at all.

traveller

de0u wondering if there's any document of what web app vs native app privacy/security implications are? I've been told that using native apps is usually less secure than just using a browser page of the same service, but didn't find much evidences that this is true.

I personally don't have a specific threat model, but I do enjoy privacy and any invasion into private life makes me uncomfortable (as in giving out more information that's absolutely necessary for providing certain service).

de0u

traveller wondering if there's any document of what web app vs native app privacy/security implications are? I've been told that using native apps is usually less secure than just using a browser page of the same service, but didn't find much evidences that this is true.

There is a recent thread on this forum about exactly that. Apps have more access to find out information about your device than code running in a browser. But some people expressed concern that a web site could change its behavior or be compromised without the user having a way to know that the code running in the browser has changed.

adamgordan

PoKeep Location Changer is also a good choice to spoof location.