After you unhide the “Developer Options” in Android, one selection that you will find there is “Select Mock Location App”. It just dawned on me today that I could simply download a mock location app from the Play Store to enhance my privacy. So that is what I did. Of anywhere on earth that I could have picked to be, anyone who looks at my location now will find me in the ocean, roughly half way between California and Hawaii. I can temporarily disable that app any time I need to use the real GPS for myself. Meanwhile, anyone who snoops on me will think I am on my way to Hawaii. At least that is what the apps claim. This is different than turning the GPS off. When you turn the GPS off, it’s only off to you while your trail of spies continues to follow you everywhere you go. If you turn off your data and wifi, your location data is still sent to them the next time you connect to the internet. Setting up the mock location app was as easy as installing a Play Store app and making a selection in my phone.
But I do still have a few questions about this feature of Android. These questions came up as I read the user agreements of the various different mock location apps that I considered. The most extreme agreement said that I agreed to allow cookies to be installed and to let my real location information be used for various purposes according to the user agreement of the app. The most lax agreement told me that I had to click “ok” to promise not to use my anonymous location spoofing to do anything illegall. So does anyone know if anyone anywhere really tracks my location still, using my own GPS in my phone when the mock application is running? I am an extremely honest and law abiding person. But if I robbed a bank and the cell site didn’t triangulate my phone, could anyone find out who was there using GPS data alone? Can Advertisers circumvent my mock location app to see and record where I really am as that one app seemed to imply would be okay for them to do if I would have agreed to their terms?
