will vpn hide my location

Why Is My VPN Not Hiding My Real Location? (Reasons & Solutions)

Scrawled by Bram Jansen
Updated connected Nov 30, 2021

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There are a couple of reasons your VPN isn't concealment your sincere location, such as IP leaks, cookies, and browser fingerprinting.

Fortunately, there are also solutions.

And nowadays, I'm going to share the unexceeded solutions I've discovered while working in the VPN industry ended the days!

Let's develop started.

1. Problem: Your VPN Leaks Your IP Address

There are triad shipway a VPN can leak your IP address:

An IP leak happens when your VPN link is interrupted, exposing your literal IP address and locating.
DNS queries are how devices and servers communicate, translating site addresses into their Informatics addresses and vertebral column again. If your VPN ISN't right designed, it can divulge these DNS queries.
WebRTC is a browser-specific setting that allows you to communicate over the entanglement in real-time. You need to disable it in your browser to prevent WebRTC leaks.

Solution: Test for IP Leaks (and Solve Them)

If a internet site knows your real location even though you'Ra using a VPN, the first thing to do is a test for IP leaks.

I comparable to use BrowserLeaks.com , As it lets you test for IP leaks, DNS leaks, and WebRTC leaks – plus many others.

So, what if you get a leak?

Open your VPN app and micturate sure the pop switching is enabled. It's usually saved in the Settings tablet.
Install your VPN's browser extension service and use it together with the VPN app. The browser extension phone should be included in your VPN subscription and have a mise en scene that lets you disable WebRTC.
To block WebRTC consistently, employ the web browser extension uBlock Origin.

You might also need to consider upgrading to a better VPN – especially if you're currently using a spare one. NordVPN and Surfshark are two industry leaders I can confidently recommend!

2. Problem: Websites Use Tracking Cookies

No Information processing leaks? That's great!

IT also means the internet site credibly knows your historical location because of the tracking cookies they use. Unfortunately, symmetric the top-grade VPN can't help you hither.

This is because the website stored a tracking cookie connected your gimmick (or web browser) on a previous travel to. Indeed even though you're using a VPN to enshroud your IP address, the cookie operating room cookies are impressive them where you really are.

Solution: How to Cut Off Tracking Cookies

Luckily, this is another easy fix.

Logarithm out from the website, hyaloid your browser story (including cache and cookies), close the browser, so start again. You should ideally be doing this at the end of every web browser academic session.

Interpret Also: How to Handicap Cookies in Your Browser?

But if it sounds corresponding too often put to work, an level easier fix is to use a browser supplement like Cookie AutoDelete .

As the public figure implies, it automatically deletes all of the cookies installed by websites. By default, it does so every time you surrounding a browser tab. You can also set it to delay until you close your browser alternatively, just I prefer the default.

When you utilise Cookie AutoDelete, websites can't cut across you across the internet.

Now the only thing you need to commend is to use a different tab for each one time you open a new website!

3. Trouble: Your Browser Geolocation Is Used

Most browsers habit the W3C geolocation API , which lets them interpret your real location – even if you're exploitation a VPN.

To make a complex story simple, W3C doesn't reveal precisely how their API works. But we know it relies on any compounding of:

GPS
Available WiFi networks and their signal strength
GSM/CDMA prison cell IDs
IP savoir-faire

No IP leaks mean at least one of these methods is unsuccessful by your VPN!

But you still need to invalid the geolocation API connected your browser, as a VPN South Korean won't preclude information technology from using any of the other methods.

Result: How to Disable Geolocation on Your Browser

Ideally, you should be using Firefox, as it strikes the Sunday-go-to-meeting balance between user friendliness and online privacy aside default.

But just just in case you'atomic number 75 not ready to switch browsers, I'll walk you through how to disenable geolocation on the five most popular browsers.

Type about:config into your URL bar
Type enabled into the search bar
Double-click on the geo.enabled preference to disable Location-Aware Browsing

Open the Chrome Menu (the three dots in the toolbar, top-right)
Click on Settings to open it
Click on Later
Under Privacy and Security, open Site Settings
Click Location and change it from "Ask before accessing" to "Blocked"

Safari

Open the Apple Bill of fare and choose System Preferences
In the window that opens functioning, click Security & Privacy
Cluck Privacy
In the depress-leftover, you'll see a padlock icon. If information technology's locked, clack it and enter your Admin name to unlock information technology
Click Location Services
Uncheck Campaign

Opera

Typecast "about:config" into your URL block off
Expand the Geolocation section in the Preferences Editor program
Uncheck Enable geolocation

Make the Windows button on your keyboard and open Settings
In the Privacy tab, under Position, toggle it to Off

4. Bonus Resolution: Try a Different VPN Server

Sometimes, especially with flowing services the likes of Netflix, it isn't that your VPN International Relations and Security Network't hiding your concrete location. Instead, the website knows you'Re using a VPN.

There are a a few shipway they fundament do this, merely usually, it's American Samoa simple as recognizing the IP address you're using belongs to a VPN. I verbalize about this in more detail in my recent brand, Can You Equal Tracked With a VPN? (7 Privacy Tips).

One way to fix this problem is to connect to another VPN server in the same positioning. This might guide some trial-and-wrongdoing, though typically, it'll work by the time you've tried three servers. If not, you motivation a parvenue VPN.

It also only works if the VPN has enough servers to compensate for having some of their IP addresses blacklisted.

Another option is to use specialized servers, for case, those your VPN app marks as "Netflix Servers." If you can't attend anything like that, anticipate an obfuscation scene instead.

Luckily, NordVPN offers nearly 5,500 servers in 59 countries worldwide – and numerous are optimized for specific usance cases (like streaming), plus they have an obfuscation setting you posterior enable!

5. Fillip Solution: Change Your GPS Locating

This one is more for when you'Re using an app happening your smartphone that requires permission to access your localisation – for example, Google Maps or geological dating apps care Tinder.

These apps Don't manipulation your IP address, so a regular VPN won't assistant hide your location. Instead, they use GPS to lead you down.

As luck would have it, some VPNs include a feature in their mobile apps that will change your GPS location.

My personal favorite is Surfshark – though the feature is only available for Android users at the bit. They also happen to be ane of the best VPNs for privateness and even kick in NordVPN a run their money!

Read Also: Surfshark vs. NordVPN Comparison

6. Bonus Solution: Forever Use HTTPS

Other reason websites might catch your real location even when you're using a VPN is because HTTP connections can leak your IP handle.

I already covered the IP leaks issue, but IP leak tests use the more batten down HTTPS connection and aren't likely to hint you in if HTTP is to find fault for whatever leaks.

Luckily, this one has an regular easier fix – one you should be exploitation anyway because HTTPS is the strongly preferred, more secure selection.

Install the free HTTPS Everywhere browser add-along by the Natural philosophy Frontier Foundation (EFF). It forces your browser to only load HTTPS websites by redirecting to them from the HTTP version, throwing up a big error page if a webpage doesn't possess an HTTPS variation available.

How to Enshroud My Location With a VPN?

I dabbled all the ways a VPN might not be hiding your location and provided the best solutions. Now let's flip-flo that head on its head and verbalize (shortly) around how you can use a VPN to hide your fix.

As you've probably picked up by now, the virtually common style for websites to discover your location is through your IP address.

If you depend at the image preceding, you'll see the opening some digits of an IP address called the "meshing part." This identifies your network, including your body politic and ISP. The death department is the "host part," which identifies the device you're using.

Websites employ the network part to ascertain your location.

When you use a VPN, your IP address is replaced by the VPN server's IP. This means the network part reveals the VPN server's locating instead of yours.

Thusly, how do you use a VPN to vei your location?

Create an account with a reliable VPN, like NordVPN, and earnings for a subscription. You rump use this link to unlock a unscheduled price reduction!
Download and install the VPN app on your device.
Launch the app and lumber into your user account.
Make a point the wipe out switch boast is enabled in the settings check.
Use the Quick Connect button to automatically connect to the fastest server or choose your best-loved fix from the app's waiter list.

FAQ

Does a VPN Cover Your Telephone set Location?

Yes, a VPN hides your phone location while you're using your motile browse app. Any other apps use Global Positioning System to discover your location, though. Only a few VPNs, like Surfshark, can change your GPS locating.

How Does Google Know My Location When I'm Using a VPN?

Google knows your placement when you'rhenium using a VPN because they use tracking cookies and web browser fingerprinting.

You can get around this issue aside using the Firefox web browser and DuckDuckGo explore engine instead, together with extensions like Cookie AutoDelete and CanvasBlocker.

My VPN Is Viewing the Condemnable Location, What Should I Do?

If your VPN shows the wrong locating when you run an IP leaks test, close and reopen the VPN app. Make a point the bolt down switch sport is enabled in the app settings, then judge reconnecting and running another IP test. Contact your VPN provider if the job persists.

How Do I Hide My Location Without a VPN?

You force out obscure your location without a VPN by using proxy servers. Oxylabs is a premium residential proxy service provider, which works better and is more secure than free proxies like the Tor Web browser.

Final Thoughts

Your VPN can't always hide your emplacemen, as websites often use other methods that VPNs aren't typically equipped to combat.

Simply now you know what those methods and their solutions are!

Naturally, the first base step is always using a trustworthy VPN corresponding NordVPN.

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I'm Bram Cornelius Jansenius, a leading expert in the domain of cyberspace, ever since I was little, books like Neuromancer and The Foundation always mesmerised Maine, this fiction of a world that isn't simply based within the real world. Equally I started biological process upbound, I started gaining interest in how I could wangle this net that's available in the real world, so I picked a career that I knew was right for Pine Tree State.

will vpn hide my location

Source: https://vpnalert.com/guides/vpn-not-hiding-location/

Beth Wendone