Geolocation API

The Geolocation API is an interface built into the browser through which a site can ask for your location. When a site calls it, the browser shows a permission prompt. Without your consent no coordinates are shared, and the feature works only on pages served over HTTPS.

The browser gets the coordinates from the device's location service. On a phone this is mainly GPS, plus nearby Wi-Fi networks and cell towers. On a computer it is usually nearby Wi-Fi networks, with the IP address only as a fallback. So the accuracy can range from a few meters to several kilometers.

This is a different mechanism from IP geolocation. A site determines IP geolocation on its own, without any permission: it takes your IP and looks it up in an address database. The result is approximate - country, region and sometimes city. You can see what such a database shows for your current IP on the my IP page.

A proxy changes the IP, so IP geolocation will show the proxy's country. But a proxy does not change the Geolocation API answer in a normal browser: the coordinates come from the Wi-Fi or GPS of your device. If you allow a site to access your location, it may get Kyiv even though the IP belongs to, say, Poland.

That is why antidetect browsers offer a geolocation setting "based on IP". The program takes the proxy IP, works out approximate coordinates from it and gives them to the site instead of the real ones. The time zone and language are often adjusted the same way, so that all profile data is consistent.

Sites rarely rely on just one of these methods. They often compare the IP country, the system time zone, the browser language and, if you gave permission, the coordinates from the Geolocation API. When everything matches, the profile looks consistent. When the IP points to Germany while the time zone and coordinates point to Ukraine, the site sees a contradiction and may, for example, show an extra check. If you do not want to share your location, the simplest option is not to give the browser permission.

In a profile you can usually also choose how the prompt behaves: ask every time, allow or block. An example of this setting is described in the Dolphin Anty guide. In Prokso you choose the country or city of the IP, and matching the browser location to it is a job for the profile settings.