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Does VPNs even work against Big Brother apps? Using one really protects our privacy? (masking our location)
(lemmy.world)
I am currently using Proton VPN (free tier) which is set to Always-ON and Block Connections on disable.
Today while I am going through my Gmail security option, on the devices/sessions I found my real location mentioned over there. Even when I use desktop I always connect to VPN.
On this issue I got couple of doubts:
- Is this because I am using a free tier VPN? so it's not functioning properly etc...
- Else google fixed my location based on my previous location history? I used my google applications without VPN for many years, I am just learning & following privacy tips recently.
If you're signed in to a Google account on an Android device with Google Play Services installed, a VPN will not hide your location from Google because the device has several ways to determine your location other than your IP address. You might be able to disable Google's location services permissions on the device, and if you're just going for a casual privacy upgrade, that should give you one.
If you really don't want Google knowing where you are, you probably can't use a phone with Google Play Services on it, as it integrates itself fairly deeply into the OS and can't necessarily be trusted to follow the permissions model in the future, even if it can be shown to do so today. Avoiding that means installing a third-party Android build on your phone. Note that a lot of third-party apps rely on Google services, and while an open source substitute exists, it's not always a smooth experience.
Thank you.