How To Fake or Spoof Your Location in Google Maps

Google Maps is a fantastic app for navigation. You can even share your current location with your friends or family members using the app so that they know about your whereabouts. But there can be situations where you need to spoof your location on Maps. Maybe you want to trick your friends into thinking you’re somewhere other than where you are. So, how can you fake your location in Google Maps?

How Does Google Maps Determine Your Location?

Like many location-based apps, Google Maps uses a combination of tools to find out where you are. It will access the data from your phone’s GPS, Wi-Fi SSID, and cell tower geolocation to get surprisingly accurate data about your location.

Even if you have Wi-Fi and GPS turned off, Maps can triangulate the signal strength of surrounding cell towers to make an educated guess of your location. Finally, if it is connected to the Internet, your phone has an IP address which can indicate what part of the world you are in.

For Google Maps to be completely blind to your location, you must revoke its access to your location. 

Now that you know how Google Maps determines your location, you can fake the data it reads to spoof where you are. If spoofing your location from your PC, enable country lines in Google Maps if you are trying to fake your whereabouts to a specific place.

How To Fake or Spoof Your Location in Google Maps

Note that both methods mentioned below will only work for Android phones. It is not easy to spoof your location on an iPhone. Some third-party apps claim to enable this, but we won’t recommend using them. 

1. Using a Fake GPS App

You can fake your location on Android using one of the many GPS spoofing apps available on the Google Play Store. Some are more feature-rich than others, but they will all get the job done. In general, the higher-rated the app, the better it works. We recommend using Fake GPS Location as it is a popular app. 

For this to work, you need to enable the hidden Developer Mode on your Android phone. For this, open the Settings menu on your phone and navigate to About Phone > Software info. Tap the Build Number seven times. A message should appear saying, “You are now a developer.”

With Developer mode activated, you can use an app to fake your location. 

1. Launch the Settings app on your phone and tap System. 
   
2. Select Developer Options. 
   
3. Scroll down and tap on Select mock location app. 
   
4. Press the Fake GPS app. 
   
5. Open the Fake GPS app and move the map to wherever you want to appear. 
6. Hit the green Play button in the bottom right corner. 
   

Now, Google Maps will show your current location based on the Fake GPS app data. You can also use this method to fake your location on Snapchat Map. 

2. Using a VPN

Another way to fake your location in Google Maps is to use a VPN from a different region. Many good quality providers offer endpoint servers in different locations across the world. Find a provider with a server close to where you want to appear and go with that. This method also works if you want to spoof your Google Maps location from your PC.

This will take a little research, but the top-tier VPN providers have hundreds of endpoint servers in hundreds of cities worldwide. It shouldn’t be challenging to find one near you. Install the VPN app on your phone, and choose a server near where you want your location to appear. For better results, turn off the GPS on your phone.

As IP addresses are assigned by region and not by city, the two data points will correlate enough for Google Maps to be confident it knows where you are. You can also use this method to fake your location in Google Chrome.

Final Thoughts

Spoofing your location on Google Maps is easy to do. Whether you want to use it to prank your friends or have more serious reasons, by following the steps outlined in this article, you can convince Google that you are anywhere in the world. You can use the same trick to share your fake location on WhatsApp with your friends or family.

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