Some apps still tell me the app is not available in my region after I launch them on my phone, even though I used a fake GPS mock and VPN at the same time. Is there no way to break through that?
Your phone has a built in method of determining it’s location. This could be as simple as GPS (or similar system) or as complicated as comparing signal strength of Cellular, WiFi, and Bluetooth devices/networks to compare to a global database and determine you location. Once you phone has determined where it thinks it is based off some combination of the before mentioned systems it makes that location avaliable for apps that request location. Those apps now know roughly where the device is completely independent of the internet connection. So, you could try a mock GPS app, and enable dev options on your device to allow setting mock location and see if that works. It might work on some apps but will not on others (it’s also possible for some apps to disregard the mock location and still use the actual).
Multiple methods:
- They can simply measure latency. Example, If you are 150ms away, there’s a very high chance you are not within the country.
- They use 3rd party database which contains list VPN providers.
If you are using a phone it’s basically impossible to hide your location. Your WiFi will reveal your geo location data even if you are not connected to a network. Your cellphone / mobile data provider will also reveal your location.
The only way to protect you is to disable both your WiFi and mobile connections. But if you do you won’t be able to use your VPN.
With your computer you can use VPN to change your geo location provided you only use an Ethernet cord and make sure your WiFi is disabled.