How to Change Chrome Location (Works on Any Browser)

You don’t want spies and paparazzi following you around everywhere. Why should it be any different for the apps you use? After all, with social media, remote work, online shopping, and e-schools, your digital life is now an extension of your real life. 

Unfortunately, your browser follows you around wherever you go. That can be useful when you need to find the fastest route through Google Maps or measure the miles you run in your fitness app. It’s less useful when websites use your data to impose geo-restrictions or display targeted ads.

If you disable your browser location, you may lose access to the website, so what’s the solution? Change your location on Google Chrome and surf the web without unnecessary tracking and geo-restrictions. Read on to find out how to change your location on Chrome, Safari, and Firefox! 

However, changing your browser location won’t hide your IP address, which can also give away your location. For that, you’ll have to resort to a premium VPN. Use CyberGhost VPN to truly mask your location in three simple steps.

Why Change Your Browser Location?

Your browser location plays a vital role in what you can or can’t access online. You may want to change your browser location to do the following:

1. Prevent browsers from tracking your location

How do you feel about Google tracking your movement every second of the day? It’s creepy and completely unnecessary. You should be the one deciding who knows where you are and what you’re up to.

Change your Chrome location to help prevent websites from monitoring your location. Unfortunately, know-it-all Google has other means of finding out where you are. Use CyberGhost VPN for first-class privacy.

2. Get localized search results for a different country

Perhaps you’re trying to access local news from your home country while abroad, or you’re a business owner trying to research another country’s market. You need to convince your web browser that you’re physically in the country to get localized search results. 

Change your Chrome location to get location-specific search results and access geo-restricted websites. You can bypass basic geo-blocks with this method, but many websites use your IP address to determine your location. If that’s the case, a good VPN is your best bet to mask your location. 

How Chrome, Firefox, and Safari Know Your Location

Your browser has multiple ways to detect and verify your current location. 

1. HTML5 Geolocation

The most common method of tracking your location is through HTML5 geolocation, which detects your longitude and latitude coordinates using your device’s GPS. If your device doesn’t have a GPS, HTML5 geolocation will use your device’s IP address, mobile signals, and the Wi-Fi network you connect to. It may even use active Bluetooth signals around your device to determine your location. These methods can give browsers a pretty accurate estimate of your location.

HTML5 geolocation needs your explicit consent to work. Unfortunately, browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari can determine your location even if you disable geolocation on your device. They often use your IP address to do this. 

2. IP Address

Your IP address is a unique set of digits that maps to the geographic location of the network you’re connected to. Put simply, it reveals your approximate location. Unfortunately, your internet requests must include an IP address so a website knows where to send the response to your query.

Your browser doesn’t need permission to locate you via your IP address, because your IP address maps to your approximate location and not exact longitude and latitude coordinates. That said, it’s possible to find your physical address from your IP address, especially if government authorities get involved. 

3. Browser or Device Settings

Your browser also uses data such as your language preferences, your device’s timezone settings, and other browser and operating system settings to identify you and your location. These methods may not be as accurate, but they’re harder to bypass with location spoofing techniques. 

Your browser probably knows your location with military precision, but you can escape their notice. Let’s find out how. 

How to Change Your Browser Location and Country

Change Your Chrome Location

Follow the steps below to override your HTML5 geolocation and change your location in Chrome:

1. Open Google Chrome on your desktop.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows) or Cmd+Option+I (macOS) to open Chrome Developer Tools. 

3. Click on the three dots on the top right corner of the Chrome Developer Tools window.

4. Hover over to More Tools and click on Sensors.

5. Pick any of the Override locations in the Location drop-down menu, or choose the Other… option to enter your own location.

1. For a custom location, enter the longitude and latitude of the override location of your choice. Here, I’ve entered the coordinates for Boston, MA, USA.

You can search for any longitude and latitude finder to find the GPS coordinates you need.

6. Close the Chrome Developers Tools window. Open Google Maps to check if you’ve successfully spoofed your location. The map should show the new location.

Note: Your Chrome location will reset to your actual GPS coordinates for new Chrome windows. Make sure you stay in the same window or follow the steps above for each new window you open. Hard work, I know!

Change Your Firefox Location

Follow the steps below to manually change your location in Firefox:

1. Open Firefox.
2. Enter about:config in the address bar.
3. Hit Accept the Risk and Continue on Mozilla’s warning.

4. Type geo.enabled in the search bar.
5. Ensure the value column reads true

6. Now type geo.provider.network.url in the search bar.
7. Click on the pencil icon.

8. Replace the value with this line of code data:application/json,{“location”: {“lat”: 42.360081, “lng”: -71.058884}, “accuracy”: 27000.0}, and click the save button.

This will change your Firefox location to somewhere in Boston. You can replace the lat and lng values with the latitude and longitude values of your desired location.

Don’t be surprised if this method doesn’t work for you. Firefox uses multiple mechanisms to detect your location. Close the remaining loopholes with Location Guard and CyberGhost VPN (detailed steps down below). That should do the trick!

Change Your Safari Location

Apple isn’t the privacy advocate it claims to be. Unsurprisingly, you can’t spoof your location in Safari with manual configurations. You’ll have to rely on jailbreak methods or third-party apps to spoof your device’s GPS location.

Consider using a VPN to unblock censored or geo-restricted content without putting your device at risk. Otherwise, here’s how to stop websites from asking for your device’s location:

1. Open Safari.
2. Click Safari in the menu bar.
3. Select Preferences from the drop-down menu. 
4. The Preferences window will open on the General tab. Choose the Privacy tab from the menu.
5. Change Website use of location services to Deny without prompting.

Use Location Guard

You can also use a browser extension like Location Guard. It spoofs your Mozilla and Chrome location, so you don’t need to go through the manual configuration process I outlined above.

Follow these steps to install and set up Location Guard:

1. Find and install the Location Guard extension from the Chrome Web Store.

2. Click Add Extension on the pop-up. This should open the Location Guard app in a new tab.

3. Click Options from the side menu.

4. Change Default Level to Use fixed Location.

5. Click Fixed Location from the side menu.
6.  Find your desired location from the search bar on the left side of the map. Hit Enter!

7. Zoom in on the map and click on the exact location where you want to place the pointer.

8. Check your location via Google Maps. It should be the fixed location you chose.

Location Guard is a great option for overriding HTML5 geolocation, but it won’t hide your IP address or prevent IP address-based geolocation. The extension recommends using a VPN to protect yourself from IP-based geolocation.

Keep in mind, Location Guard itself needs to access your location to spoof it. Use it only for location-specific search results, not digital privacy.

Change Your Location on Your Smartphone

You can’t manipulate your GPS coordinates on your mobile phone, as you can’t access developer tools directly. A VPN’s your safest bet if you want to change your location on your smartphone. You’ll also have to disable your phone’s geolocation so it doesn’t override the VPN. 

Here’s how you can obscure your location and get a new one on your mobile devices:

1. Open Settings on your device.
2. Scroll to find Location. This may be under the Privacy menu on your iPhone.

3. Turn off Location access, Emergency Location Service, Google Location Accuracy, Google Location History, and Google Location Sharing. 

4. Download and open the CyberGhost VPN app on your phone, and select a server location of your choice. 

Any websites you visit from here on will see the CyberGhost server’s location, not yours. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to access apps and services that need geolocation to work. The only way around that would be to use third-party GPS spoofing apps, which we don’t recommend because of their security and privacy risks.

Change Your Digital Location with a VPN

Most websites and services, including online banking sites and streaming platforms, detect your location through your IP address and not your browser location. If you change your GPS coordinates manually or through Location Guard, your IP address will still be visible.

If you want to do any of the following, you need an additional privacy tool, such as a VPN: 

1. Access Geo Restricted Websites

Since most websites and services use your IP address to determine geolocation, changing your browser location won’t unlock local web services or content libraries of streaming platforms.  At most, you’ll get to access localized search results, some static web pages, and regional news websites.

CyberGhost VPN gives you access to 116 server locations over 91 countries. Connect to any of these servers to get an IP address from the country of your choice.

Use CyberGhost VPN to work remotely while traveling abroad, explore location-specific discount deals, enjoy local web services, and watch shows on your favorite streaming platforms from anywhere, all with a single CyberGhost VPN subscription.

2. Prevent Websites from Seeing Your True Location 

Browser location gives websites your precise physical location, but websites need your express permission to access that information. Modern websites get around this requirement with IP-based geolocation. The best way to change your IP address is with a VPN. 

When you connect to CyberGhost VPN, all your internet traffic goes through our state-of-the-art servers. We replace your IP address with one from our server before forwarding your requests to the destination website. The websites you access and other third parties will see our server’s IP address and geolocation instead of your true location. 

3.  Secure Your Connection

The lines between the real and digital worlds are blurring, which means what happens in your digital life can and will have real-life ramifications for you. Cyberstalkers can find where you live, cybercriminals can empty your bank accounts, and so on. That’s even scarier than website tracking! 

CyberGhost VPN creates an invincible encrypted tunnel for your internet traffic even on unsecured public Wi-Fi networks. We protect your data with our uncrackable, military-grade 256-bit AES encryption. Cybersnoops and spies will only see encrypted gibberish if they manage to hack your connection.

4. Avoid  Manual Configurations

If you change your browser location manually, you have to configure your location for each browser across all your devices. Control your privacy easily with a VPN. A VPN will change your IP address for all your internet traffic, including browsers and desktop or mobile applications. 

CyberGhost VPN has user-friendly apps for all devices that support a browser. One subscription gives you up to 7 simultaneous connections, so you can easily protect all your devices. Just tap the power button on your CyberGhost app, and voilà! You’ve successfully changed your IP address and your location in the digital realm.

Bear in mind, when you change your location through CyberGhost VPN, your browser will still be able to detect your location through HTML5 geolocation. You can still access geo-restricted and censored content, but if your primary concern is browser tracking and privacy, disable HTML5 geolocation even when you connect to CyberGhost VPN.

Even better, ditch mainstream browsers that don’t regard your digital privacy in favor of a privacy-focused browser. 

Stay Safe Online

Maximize Your Privacy with a Private Browser

Unfortunately, data mongers like Google, ISPs, and third-party advertising networks have set up multi-layered traps to catch your trail and profit from your data. Think you can trick these data-starving behemoths with mere location spoofing configurations? Don’t be naive! 

Check out our list of the most secure and private browsers. Private browsers don’t collect or sell your data, and block ads and trackers that websites use to keep tabs on you. Third parties like Google can’t identify you or your location through your browser or device settings (a.k.a browser fingerprinting), and you won’t expose your location via WebRTC leaks – when websites manipulate the Web Real-Time Communication protocol to find your actual IP address and location.

Final Thoughts

You can change your browser location through manual configurations or with Location Guard (if you don’t mind installing a third-party extension). This will help you get localized search results and bypass very basic geo-blocks. For example, you can browse the restaurants near the apartment you’ve booked for your vacation, but you can’t explore the Netflix library available in that region. 

Don’t rely on changing your browser location to preserve your digital privacy. Your browser, most websites, and online trackers will still know your actual location from your IP address and browser fingerprint.

For maximum privacy, give up your data-grabbing mainstream browsers – use a private browser to disable trackers and avoid digital fingerprinting. Use CyberGhost VPN to hide your IP address and secure your data. 

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