How to disable the location request in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge or how to fake it.
This request to find the location of the PC is almost always displayed when you visit websites that want to customize the experience and the information provided based on where the user is, to better interact with some applications, with the maps, shopping sites, and social networks.Obviously, this option is by no means mandatory: for those who care about privacy or for any other reason, we can easily disable location tracking on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Safari or, as we will see in a dedicated chapter, we can also falsify the geolocation of browsers.
How to disable or fake browser location
When a website wants to know the place where we are, we will always see the warning window appear to provide access to the position or not: this function is therefore not activated automatically, but we will always choose who can access the geolocation. So even if the localization service is active on the browser, there is intrinsic protection that prevents it from being used immediately by all sites to spy on us (in fact an authorization request). Let’s see how this request works on various modern browsers.
How to disable geolocation
In Google Chrome you can disable the location request from the Chrome settings by pressing the button at the top right with the three dots, opening the menu Settings by clicking on Privacy and security, pressing on the item Site settings, and opening the menu Position.
In this window, we can see the requests for permissions already active for some sites, remove those for sites that we do not want to use geolocation, or turn it off completely, by pressing the switch next to the item Ask before signing in (recommended).
If we use it as a system browser Microsoft Edge based on Chromium technology, we can disable geolocation by pressing the three dots at the top right, opening the menu Settings, taking us to the menu Site permissions, and finally clicking on Position.
In the window that opens, simply remove the checkmark on the item Ask before signing in (recommended) to disable geolocation. To access this menu we can also use a specific path, to be entered in the address bar: edge: // settings/content/location.
In Mozilla Firefox geolocation can be deactivated by typing about: config in the address bar, so as to access the panel with hidden parameters.
In the new screen, we look for the parameter geo.enabled in the search bar at the top, and, as soon as the parameter is highlighted, double click on it to convert it to false and restart the browser for the changes to take effect.
To disable localization on the Safari browser on Mac let’s open the app System Preferences from the lower Dock (we can also find the same menu at the top left, on the icon of the bitten apple), press on the menu Security and Privacy, let’s get to the menu Location services, press the lock icon at the bottom left, enter the system password and remove the checkmark from the item Safari.
If we want to block only some sites or avoid blocking sites that use geolocation (such as Maps), open the Safari browser, press the top menu Safari, click on Preferences, we open the tab Web sites and finally let’s go to the menu Position.
In the window we will see all the sites that have already asked for the location of the Mac; we can remove them by selecting the individual items and pressing down on Remove and, if we wish to block requests for other sites, simply press on the drop-down menu at the bottom right (next to the items When I visit other websites) and select the item Reject.
How to fake geolocation
If instead of deactivating geolocation we won’t generate a false position and fooling some sites that track users will suffice to use a VPN service, able to generate a new geographical position of free choice and thus deceive any site to which we connect.
Alternatively, you can falsify the localization by installing the Change Geolocation extension on Mozilla Firefox.
From the menu Tools -> Geolocator -> Manage it is possible to add, by clicking on the +, a new geographical position to tell the browser a false location which can be anywhere in the world. When you access a website that wants to know the location, you can send this false information.
On Chrome you can use the same extension seen for Firefox, which is Change Geolocation: this extension can be downloaded from the site dedicated to Chrome extensions and allows you to choose from which part of the world to be located.
Alternatively, we can fake the location via a free VPN available as an extension for Google Chrome: uVPN.
By installing this extension we will be able to choose, with a simple click of the mouse, a new VPN server from which to connect to browse and provide, when requested, false geolocation based on the location of the chosen VPN server.
Conclusions
Geolocation does not concern the privacy of the internet connection: it is just an internet service for interacting with some online applications, so deactivate it or falsify it it does not mean that we are not tracked or that we can browse anonymously. The only way to hide geolocation and identity is to use a VPN, one of the methods seen above for faking the location.
If we want to get maximum privacy and surf anonymously, we invite you to read our guides Surf anonymously on the internet with proxy, VPN, and fake IP address is How to browse the internet privately.
If instead, we want to falsify the geolocation when we use an Android smartphone, we can act using one of the methods seen in our article How to fake GPS and location on Android to appear in a different place.