Among all the features available in the modern phones, GPS location tracking has become the most useful for a daily user. It uses the device’s GPS for various reasons, be it for navigation or to share your real-time location with friends and family members.
However, this feature can also become a curse for many people as there are situations when you don’t want other people or an app to access your current location. In this case, you can mock GPS locationand hide your whereabouts by tricking your device into believing you are at a different spot.
There can be different reasons to mock GPS signals on your device. For instance, some people use it to hide their location from family members while others use it to promote their brand by checking-into popular destinations. Also, there are many people who only mock their GPS location to play games such as Pokemon GO or watch content on Netflix.
Whatever the reasons are, the following guide will help you understand the effective ways to mock GPS signals on your device so that you can hide your whereabouts from everyone.
Part 1: Can a VPN work to mock GPS location?
VPN or Virtual Private Network is a dedicated software that is usually used to hide the IP address of a device. The software connects your public network to the VPN server and as a result, the client (app or website) cannot know your true location.
However, this only worked in the earlier days when systems only used IP addresses to check the location. Today, every app/website is configured with the geo-location API to get an accurate location. Apart from the IP address, the system will also track GPS, signal strengths, Wi-Fi, etc. to find the most accurate location of a device.
It means that a VPN is not the right tool to mock GPS location and hide it from others. That’s why it’s important to look for effective techniques that actually manipulate the GPS signals instead of tweaking the IP addresses.
Part 2: Android Emulator vs. Mock Location App
When it comes to Android GPS mocking, there are two approaches you can utilize to hide your location.
- Use an Android Emulator
- Use a Mock Location App
An Android emulator is a tool that simulates an Android device and helps you run Android applications on your computer. Using an emulator like Bluestacks, you can directly mock your GPS location without installing a third-party application.
Bluestacks has an in-built location provider that allows you to set or change the GPS location of your device. Android emulators are often used by gamers to tweak their locations to play specific games such as Pokemon Go on the PC. All you have to do is use the built-in location provider, manipulate your GPS location, and collect all the Pokemons without going outside at all.
On the other hand, a mock location app is installed on an Android device, which lets you change your location to anywhere in the world. You can use a mock GPS location app to trick apps such as Tinder and different family locators into believing that you are at a different location.
Let’s discuss each of these methods in detail so that you can choose the appropriate one as per your requirements.
Part 3: How to mock Android GPS location with Android Emulator
Here’s how you can use Bluestacks, one of the most popular Android emulators, to mock GPS location.
Step 1: Go to the official Bluestacks website and download the installer on your computer.
Step 2: Open the installer and follow the instructions to download Bluestacks on your PC.
Step 3: Open any app for which you want to change the location and tap the “set location” button in the right menu bar.
Step 4: Make sure that the “Mock Location” feature is enabled. Now, tap any location on the map and tap the “Set” button to select the location. You can also search for a specific location by tapping the “Search” button.
That’s it your current location will now be changed to the specified location. To turn it off, simply disable the Mock Location feature again.
Part 4: How to mock Android GPS location with mock GPS app
Using an Android emulator is only useful for people who want to run the Android apps on their PC. As we mentioned earlier, most gamers use an emulator to mock GPS location. In the majority of the cases, you would want to mock GPS location on Android devices.
To do so, you’ll need to install a mock GPS app on your Android device and use it to manipulate your GPS location. GPS Joystick is one of the best mock GPS appsfor Android users.
Follow these steps to use GPS Joystick to manipulate your GPS Location.
Step 1: Go to Play Store and install the “GPS Joystick” app.
Step 2: Before using any app to mock GPS location, it is important to set it as the default “mock location app” for your device. So, once the app gets installed, open the “Settings” window and scroll down to the “Developer Options”.
Note: To turn on “Developer Options”, simply get to the “Settings” > “About Phone” > “Build Number”. Tap on it 7 times and you will become the developer. This will enable “Developer Options”.
Step 3: Tap the “Developer Options” button and select “Select mock location app”.
Step 4: You’ll see GPS Joystick listed here. Tap the option to make it the default mock GPS location app on your device.
Step 5: Go back to the “home screen” and open GPS Joystick. Select the “Set Location” option. Now, you can either enter the GPS coordinates to the fake location or choose it on the map.
Step 6: If you decide to select the location on the map, move the pin around to select a particular location. Once the pin is set at the right position, tap the “START” button. Your device’s GPS location will now be changed to the new location. You can turn it off anytime by tapping the Stop button.
This is how you can use a mock GPS app on your Android device to change its location.
Final Verdict
Everyone has their own reason to hide their device’s GPS location from apps and people. Whether you are a teenager who doesn’t want his parents to know where you are or want to use Tinder to connect with people in other countries, the above-mentioned tricks will help you mock GPS location on your Android device. Apart from this, it can really be fun to prank your friends to believe about the wrong location. We hope that you find this information interesting. Tell us what method you tries to mock GPS on Android. Thank you!
