No. A VPN changes your IP address, not the position your phone works out from GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks. Switch off location access for the app instead.
What solves it instead
- Switch off location access for that app in the settings of your phone.
- On Android, switching off the location setting for the whole device stops apps and services from getting its location.
The facts
| About | Word for word from the source | Source, checked on |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone and iPad, when GPS satellites are out of sight | When this happens, your device uses Wi-Fi or cellular networks to determine your position until the GPS satellites are visible again. | support.apple.com, |
| Android, with the location setting off | When the location setting is off for your device, apps and services can't get your device's location. | support.google.com, |
| What services can still use | You can still get local results and ads based on your IP address. | support.google.com, |
What a VPN does change
With location switched off, services can still estimate roughly where you are from your IP address. That is the part a VPN changes: sites and apps then see the address of the VPN server instead of yours. Check when a VPN is worth paying for
Without a VPN
- Your devicehas a private address that only exists inside your home network
- Your routershares one public address between all devices behind it
- The website
Sees: that public address, and with it your internet provider and roughly where you are.
With a VPN
- Your devicehas a private address that only exists inside your home network
- Your routershares one public address between all devices behind itEncrypted tunnel
- VPN serverrun by the VPN provider
- The website
Sees: the address of the VPN server and the country registered for it, not yours.
What we did not check
2
- How precisely an IP address places you: that differs per internet provider and region, and we have not measured it.
- Apps that combine other signals, such as the account you are logged in to, your language or your time zone.
Sources
2
Next step
- Switch off location access for that app in the settings of your phone.
- What is my IP address?