iPhone iOS7: How can I fake my location for apps that use it?

October 10, 2013 10:02 PM

I have a security concern related to using app's such as Grindr that pull location data. I've had a couple people "stalk me" to my specific location in the past. I would like to meet people in my "area" on these kinds of apps - but I want to set my actual location to somewhere else in the city. I had this working on my old jailbroken 3GS. But now that I have a new phone (IOS7) it would seem I'm screwed. Any ideas?
posted by audio to Technology (9 answers total)

You can't, your only option is to turn off location services on a per app basis. Settings > Privacy > Location Services
posted by furtive at 10:06 PM on October 10, 2013

Response by poster: Sadly, that will render the app's useless then.
Kicking myself for not buying an android since it can easily do this.
Might have to figure out a way to use a local proxy.
posted by audio at 10:11 PM on October 10, 2013

A proxy or VPN won't defeat the GPS data, which are separate from network data and which locate you. Wait until a jailbreak is available or don't use Grindr. Alternatively, you may be able to return the iPhone if very new. Talk to an Apple Store staffer.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:25 PM on October 10, 2013

How do you fake location on an Android (Galaxy S4 - Jelly Bean)?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:28 PM on October 10, 2013

This will be possible, but you'll have to wait for the ios7 jailbreak to come out(see this link i recently replied to another ask with).

What i would try though, would be disabling location services for that app and then going back in to it. If it loads, does it just load a map of your state/broad general area or possibly the whole world? Can you manually tap to zoom into the area you're in slowly? this works in some transit apps when they either can't get a GPS signal or it's just disabled. I believe i've seen it work in a few other yelp type apps too, which seem to use the same "embed apple maps in the app and overlay tapable locations on it" API.
posted by emptythought at 11:11 PM on October 10, 2013

JohnnyGunn: "How do you fake location on an Android (Galaxy S4 - Jelly Bean)?"

Here's one method. You need to root if you don't want to use the mock location data setting that some apps can detect.

So far, there are no iOS 7 workarounds for spoofing location settings.
posted by fireoyster at 12:06 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

You're probably already aware of this, but as far as I remember Grindr (if not other similar apps) let's your turn off the ___ feet away part, so it still shows you people around you, but doesn't tell you their exact distance.
posted by kylej at 5:00 AM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

Alternately, you could turn on Airplane mode, turn on Wifi, and use your app.

Location services without cellular/GPS tries to use Wifi-based location tracking, which is most often less accurate than GPS.
posted by suedehead at 9:41 AM on October 11, 2013

Can you go to a specific location away from your home, refresh the location in Grindr, then go to Grindr's settings, hit General, and uncheck "Location Update"?

I think that will only last as long as you are logged in (when you log out and log in, I believe it retrieves your location again).
posted by lewedswiver at 12:45 PM on October 11, 2013