Change the location on your phone
with Avast SecureLine VPN
- Security
- Privacy
- Performance
Location spoofing isn’t just for secret agents and other shady characters. Switching the location on your iPhone can increase your privacy, unblock restrictions, and let you browse the web freely. We’ll walk you through how to safely and easily change the location settings on your iPhone. Or, get a VPN to fake your location and mask your internet activity automatically.
Faking or changing the location on your phone has many benefits, including getting around location-based content restrictions, blocking ad targeting, and avoiding geographical pricing. Preventing your actual location from being identified can also protect you from hackers and snoops.
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Knowing your real location lets online trackers follow your every move and target you accordingly. Location tracking can also be used to limit your online experience through the use of geoblocking to enforce content restrictions on websites, apps, and streaming services.
Changing your current location lets you:
Access different versions of streaming services: Streaming services — like Netflix, HBO Max, and Hulu — offer different content from region to region, based on licensing laws and distribution rights. By changing your location, you can unblock YouTube videos and access content that may not be available in your current locale.
Access restricted services: Some sites and services are not available everywhere. Faking your location enables access to a wide variety of services from all over the world, which is especially helpful when watching TV online.
Change your IP address on apps: Apps often use your IP address to track you online or enable certain website functionality. Spoofing your location lets you change your IP address to hide from trackers or modify app functionalities.
Work remotely: By faking your digital location, you can connect securely to company networks, evade snoops spying on your online activity, and work safely from anywhere.
Access cheaper deals: Prices online often vary depending on where you are — a practice known as geographical pricing. Spoofing your location lets you shop around for the best deals on flights, hotels, or anything else.
Keep your location private: Apps and websites are increasingly tracking your location and other private information to target you with ads. Faking your location will keep this data out of their reach and help secure your online privacy.
Encrypt your online traffic: Using a VPN to change your location on an iPhone will also encrypt your online communications, protecting not just your location, but all your online activity from being seen by your internet service provider (ISP), governments, advertisers, and other prying eyes.
A VPN is the fastest and easiest way to change your location on an iPhone. VPNs hide your IP address by redirecting all your web traffic through a remote server and assigning you a virtual IP address.
But location spoofing is just one of many reasons why you should use a VPN. By encrypting all your internet data, all types of hackers and would-be snoops are completely shut out, making a VPN one of the best online security software tools available.
Here’s how to change your iPhone location with a VPN:
To use a VPN on an iPhone, install a reliable VPN for iOS from the Apple App Store, where all the best privacy and security apps for iPhone are available. Avoid apps that haven’t been vetted by Apple, because there could be compatibility issues or even malware threats.
Make sure your VPN has a range of server options, which is especially important for location spoofing. And enhanced features like a VPN kill switch ensure that if your VPN connection ever drops, you’re automatically disconnected from the internet, keeping your real IP address and web activity hidden.
Avast SecureLine VPN is Apple-approved to ensure optimal compatibility and performance. And it offers a powerful suite of premium features, including bank-grade encryption, unlimited bandwidth, and dozens of server locations spread all across the globe. Try it for free today.
Once the app is installed, you can set up your VPN by creating an account and signing in. As well as helping with authentication, this also allows you to automatically apply your VPN settings and preferences across other devices with the app.
Many of the best VPNs like Avast SecureLine VPN let you sign up with a free trial, so there’s no need to shell out on a subscription just to get your account set up.
The VPN app needs permission to alter your iPhone’s configurations and enable its own end-to-end encryption protocols. When prompted by iOS for permission to create new VPN configurations, tap Allow.
Connecting to a server location of your choice lets you enjoy all your favorite content even when you’re abroad. You can also server-hop to explore region-specific content in different countries — but beware that this may be against your content provider’s terms of service.
The ability to unblock websites with a VPN and access the internet freely and openly is vital for people living under censorship or in authoritarian political systems. VPNs are the safest and most direct way to fake your location on an iPhone, avoid content restrictions, and experience true digital freedom.
Before choosing a VPN service, be sure to check out their range of server options, and select one that offers multiple unique VPN servers in the US, UK, and all the best VPN server locations around the world.
Once you’ve selected a VPN server, it’s time to connect. This will re-route all your internet traffic through the server of your choice, hiding your real IP address and physical location, and making it appear as if you’re in the VPN server location. Plus your connection will be fully encrypted, masking your web traffic and data from advertisers, your ISP, the government, or anyone else trying to track you.
You can check to see if your VPN is working by looking up your IP address. A VPN connection always changes your IP address — so if your IP isn’t changing, the VPN isn’t working.
To check if your VPN works, first look up your original IP address using an IP address finder tool or simply Googling “What’s my IP?” Then, connect to a VPN server and re-check your IP address. If your IP address has changed, then your VPN is working.
Although using a VPN on your iPhone will boost your privacy and let you change your Netflix region, it can slow down your overall browsing speeds. If you experience a performance drop, there are steps you can take to speed up your VPN connection.
Although a VPN is an easy and reliable way to change the location on your iPhone, it doesn’t work in all situations. Here are a couple of examples when using a VPN isn’t enough to change your location, meaning you’ll need to try a different approach:
Changing your Apple Store region: The Apple App Store offers different selections of applications based on region. If you want to install an app that’s not available in your region, you’ll need to change your Apple ID country or region — or get a new iPhone entirely.
Spoofing your GPS data: Apps like Google Maps, Waze, and Pokémon Go use GPS data to determine your location, and even a VPN can’t hide or fake this information. It’s easy to turn off your iPhone’s GPS location services, but it’s much more difficult to spoof your GPS data.
Is a VPN not the right tool for the job? Depending on your specific needs, proxy servers and Tor browser can also be used to change or mask your location. It’s even possible to use certain combinations of VPNs, proxies, and Tor together for an ultra-secure browsing experience.
Apple uses one billing address for all app purchases and subscriptions, so if you move to a new country, or just want to explore different corners of the App Store, you’ll need to change the Apple ID region on your iPhone. Without changing your ID region after a move, you may get locked out of previous purchases.
Here’s how to change the Apple ID region on your iPhone:
Go to Settings and tap your name at the top.
Go to Media and Purchases, select View Account, and sign in with your Apple ID password.
Select Country/Region, and then tap Change Country/Region.
Select a new country or region from the list and review and agree to the terms and conditions.
Select a payment method and enter your payment information.
Keep in mind that you’ll need to make a few arrangements before changing your Apple ID region, including spending any remaining store credit and canceling your subscriptions. Afterward, you’ll also need to re-download all your apps, music, and movies.
Faking your iPhone GPS location is possible, but there isn’t a GPS spoofing app available in the App Store that will enable it. While there are workarounds, these methods require you to plug your iPhone into a desktop machine, and use paid software that may be unreliable or unsafe.
Another option is to jailbreak your iPhone to install unauthorized third-party apps, but this is not recommended due to the inherent security risks of venturing outside Apple’s “walled garden.” However, in exceptional circumstances there are legitimate reasons why whistleblowers, activists, or political dissidents might need to jailbreak an iPhone to fake their GPS location.
Although iPhones can’t get viruses, they are still vulnerable to other forms of malware, and many so-called fake location apps are really just Trojan malware disguised as legitimate software. Before installing any app from outside of the App Store, protect your device with mobile security for iOS and make sure you know how to spot a fake app.
The best way to hide your location and protect your privacy online is to use a premium VPN service. Avast SecureLine VPN encrypts all your web traffic, masks your IP address, and blocks your ISP from tracking your online activity.
With tons of server locations across 5 continents, dedicated streaming and P2P sharing servers, and unlimited bandwidth, Avast SecureLine VPN enables fully-optimized, lightning-fast connections from anywhere in the world. Get your free trial now.