Popular HTML5 compliant browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge, have built-in geo-location services that enable websites to detect your exact location. However, you could easily spoof your geo-location information in your browser if you’d rather not reveal your location to third-party sites and services. While enabling geo-location in your browser helps you use mapping services and get relevant search results, it is also used for serving targeted ads and could be a serious privacy concern. So today, we will show you how to fake (spoof) geo-location in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.
All methods described below use the HTML5 geo-location API, which gives websites access to a high-level interface that allows them to query physical location information such as latitude and longitude. Access to info at such a granular level breaks the user’s anonymity online and could be a major privacy concern depending on how the information is used by these websites. So to help you maintain your online privacy, here’s our tutorial on how to fake your location in your web browser (Chrome, Firefox and Edge).
- Spoofing Location in Chrome by Manually Inserting Coordinates
- Spoofing Location in Chrome Using an Extension
- Spoofing Location in Firefox Manually
- Spoofing Location in Firefox Using an Add-on
- Spoofing Location in Microsoft Edge
- Frequently Asked Questions
Note: Faking geo-location in browsers is temporary as it reverts to your original location once you close your browser window. All methods use the HTML5 Geo-location API.
Method 1: Manually Entering Location Coordinates
First ensure that the browser asks for your permission every time a website wants to access your location. For that, open Chrome and click on the ‘Menu’ button (three dots) at the top-right corner. Now click on ‘Settings’.
Under the ‘Permissions’ section, you will see the ‘Location’ entry, which should say ‘Ask before accessing’. If it says ‘Blocked’, click on it and switch on the toggle.
You can also spoof your IP using Chrome extensions from the web store. The one that we recommend is Location Guard (free). It will let you hide your exact location, but will still inform websites about your general location. This will help you get the best of both worlds – you will be able to enjoy local search results without giving out your exact address. You will also be able to spoof your location entirely (like we did manually) if you don’t worry about search result accuracy, etc. Either way, here’s how you do it:
- You can now drag and drop the blue pin on the map to anywhere on the planet and your browser will spoof that location.
Method 1: Manual
To change your location in Mozilla Firefox, first type-in about:config in your browser address bar and press Enter. If you get a warning, dismiss it to access advanced options.
Now search for geo.enabled in the about:config search bar. The value should be ‘True’ if you want to spoof your location. However, if you want location access to be turned-off entirely, change it to ‘False’ by clicking on the two-way arrow.
The Location Guard Firefox Add-on is also available for Firefox, and it works much the same way as it does in Chrome. You can download it (free) from the Mozilla add-ons repository and change your location in Firefox easily. Once installed, you can access it from Menu (three parallel lines at the top-right) > Add-ons from any open Firefox window.
Microsoft Edge
Like Chrome and Firefox, Microsoft Edge Chromium also offers you the option to spoof your location using advanced developer tools. The method is almost identical to how you do it in Google Chrome. Here’s how you can override your actual geo-location in Microsoft Edge Chromium using DevTools:
1.What is the HTML5 Geo-location API?
The HTML5 geo-location API helps websites identify your current location. It uses GPS, Wi-Fi and cell tower triangulation to access the location of your device. While this is helpful in many cases, like getting results tailored specifically for your location, it can also compromise your privacy and security.
2. Will Faking Your Geo-location Work With Every Site?
Websites determine your location based on a lot of factors, including your internet connection, Wi-Fi networks in your area, GPS sensors in your device (where applicable) and more. Your IP address alone can pinpoint your location down to your city, and often even to your neighborhood. Using mobile connections is even worse, as it can identify you to an accuracy of a few meters using GPS and cell towers.
Yes, there is. You can use a VPN browser extension to spoof your location. They are more lightweight than the full-fledged apps and work on just about all websites. They are also often free-to-use, although, sometimes with some caveats and usage limits. There are a whole host of them available, but the two that I would recommend are CyberGhost (download for Chrome / download for Firefox) and Express VPN (download for Chrome / download for Firefox).
As mentioned already, the only feasible way to unblock and watch geo-locked content in Netflix and other streaming sites is through a VPN. However, even that doesn’t work sometimes because many such services actively enforce their geo-locks by barring access via proxy sites of any descriptions. Many premium VPNs try to get around that by changing their IP addresses frequently, so try and subscribe to one of those.
IP address, or Internet Protocol address, is the ID attached to every single device connected to the internet. In case of Dynamic IP, it is temporary and is reset every time you switch off your router. An IP address serves two principal functions. It identifies the host’s network interface and provides its location info so as to establish a path to that host. There are two IP versions in use today – IPV4 and IPV6. Generally, the only way to spoof your IP is to use a route your connection through a proxy server or a VPN.
Fake Your Geo-location in Chrome, Firefox and Edge to Improve Online Privacy
You can always prevent websites from knowing your IP address and location by declining any location request. However, that might break some websites that need your geo-location to serve their content. This is exactly where you can fake your geo-location in the browser so that websites won’t know your IP address and location, but you’ll still be able to access their content. So go ahead, get yourself a fake location in your browser (Chrome, Firefox or edge) and let us know why you wanted to spoof your geo-location the first place.
