How does browser know location

The Geolocation API is accessed via a call to navigator. If they accept, then the browser will use the best available functionality on the device to access this information for example, GPS. The main class of this API — contains methods to retrieve the user's current position, watch for changes in their position, and clear a previously-set watch.

Represents the position of a user. A GeolocationPosition instance is returned by a successful call to one of the methods contained inside Geolocation , inside a success callback, and contains a timestamp plus a GeolocationCoordinates object instance. Represents the coordinates of a user's position; a GeolocationCoordinates instance contains latitude, longitude, and other important related information. A GeolocationPositionError is returned by an unsuccessful call to one of the methods contained inside Geolocation , inside an error callback, and contains an error code and message.

The entry point into the API. Learn more. How does my browser know my location when I am on VPN? Ask Question. Asked 3 years, 9 months ago. Active 3 years, 9 months ago. Viewed 2k times. Improve this question. Your browser knows your location because your location isn't determined based on information about IP Address in most cases. Window and most mobile devices use your access points around you to determine your location. The other possibility is the VPN is configured to leak your information.

How do you test if the browser really knows your geolocation? Some websites guess your country from your language setting. Add a comment.

Active Oldest Votes. Using a VPN is not enough to be secure on a standard operating system. This means that this data can no longer be gathered and used on your mobile device either.

The latter means that you always need to take care of which data about yourself you share while online. Below we will discuss IP addresses, Wi-Fi access points, Bluetooth, and how they give away your location in a bit more detail.

Firstly, your IP address is one of the network characteristics your browser can use to identify your location. Your IP address shares the location of your network with websites and other online entities. In other words, if someone has your IP address, they can find out your location as well. This location can be as accurate as your street and house number, so a website could see you are at number 15, Park Avenue in New York, for instance.

After all, your IP address is how your devices communicate with the internet. Absolutely not. In the meantime, if you want to know what your IP address currently says about you, check out our IP address tool.

These companies tend to be tech giants, such as Google , Apple, and Microsoft. The information they gather can also reveal where you are, and so this is another tool used in HTML5 geolocation. The Wi-Fi networks you come into contact with say a lot about location. Big companies like Google can combine information about Wi-Fi networks with GPS information, to find out more about your location.

Even the strength of a Wi-Fi signal can say something about your distance to a certain Wi-Fi network. This information can then be compared to the same data of devices of other people who do have their GPS activated. Scary, right? As soon as enable GPS, your location data, including active Bluetooth signals in your environment, are transmitted to Google and Apple.

The databases in which all of this information ends up are huge. This way, these companies — as well as your browser — can identify your location when your GPS is turned off. If you give Google Chrome permission to share your location with a website, that browser sends local network information to Google Location Services. This way, the browser can estimate your location. That estimation is then shared with the website. Your browser can subsequently make a more accurate estimation by combining Wi-Fi access points, GPS, local router s , and your IP address.

This way, you disable the most accurate technique used by browsers to recognize your location. In other words: users of the API must protect the privacy of their visitors and make sure that no location information will be made available through the API without the visitor having given express permission.

Or does it suffice to include the use of the API in the privacy statement? In addition, the fact remains that even without using HTML5 geolocation, there are other ways to identify your location — like tracking your IP address.

From reviews and the privacy policy associated with each app, these should be good choices. This should be largely the same on the above applications, but generally speaking:. You should now see a small map showing your location as the area that you chose in the app! Getting any custom apps or pieces of code to run dodgy software on iOS is nigh-on impossible.

To fully understand the risks of jailbreaking your iPhone , do check out our complete guide on the process before you go any further. That said, there is a way to fake your location on your iPhone without jailbreaking. You can test this with other location based apps, including dating apps. A VPN encrypts all your internet traffic, making it more difficult for cybercriminals to obtain your data. This is a very safe and trustworthy provider, which also offers simple and user-friendly software.

There is another way for websites to guess the country in which you are located: they might check your language preferences.