{"id":157041,"date":"2021-01-18T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T06:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-devices-use-wi-fi-to-determine-your-physical-location\/"},"modified":"2021-01-18T09:40:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T06:40:00","slug":"how-devices-use-wi-fi-to-determine-your-physical-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-devices-use-wi-fi-to-determine-your-physical-location\/","title":{"rendered":"#How Devices Use Wi-Fi to Determine Your Physical Location"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a295ab7e1fb1\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a295ab7e1fb1\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-devices-use-wi-fi-to-determine-your-physical-location\/#%E2%80%9CLocation_Services%E2%80%9D_Is_More_Than_GPS\" >\u201cLocation Services\u201d Is More Than GPS<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-devices-use-wi-fi-to-determine-your-physical-location\/#Your_IP_Address_Only_Gives_Away_a_General_Location\" >Your IP Address Only Gives Away a General Location<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-devices-use-wi-fi-to-determine-your-physical-location\/#How_Wi-Fi_Gives_Away_Your_Location\" >How Wi-Fi Gives Away Your Location<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-devices-use-wi-fi-to-determine-your-physical-location\/#But_Where_Does_the_Wi-Fi_Database_Come_From\" >But Where Does the Wi-Fi Database Come From?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-devices-use-wi-fi-to-determine-your-physical-location\/#What_About_Privacy\" >What About Privacy?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-devices-use-wi-fi-to-determine-your-physical-location\/#What_If_You_Dont_Want_Your_Wi-Fi_in_the_Databases\" >What If You Don\u2019t Want Your Wi-Fi in the Databases?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><strong>&#8220;#How Devices Use Wi-Fi to Determine Your Physical Location&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<!-- UNCACHED CONTENT --><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_708530\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-708530 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/europe-from-space-at-night.jpg\" alt=\"Europe viewed from space at night.\" width=\"650\" height=\"300\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/europe-night-viewed-space-city-lights-1072726052\" data-credittext=\"NicoElNino\/Shutterstock.com\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/europe-night-viewed-space-city-lights-1072726052\">NicoElNino\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Did you know that laptops and other devices without GPS hardware can determine your precise physical location\u2014with just a Wi-Fi radio? Here\u2019s how this often-overlooked feature of modern \u201cLocation Services\u201d works.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CLocation_Services%E2%80%9D_Is_More_Than_GPS\"><\/span>\u201cLocation Services\u201d Is More Than GPS<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Modern operating systems\u2014including iOS, iPadOS, Android, Windows 10, macOS, and Chrome OS\u2014have their own \u201cLocation Services\u201d systems built in.<\/p>\n<p>When an <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>\u2014like a map or navigation app, for example\u2014wants to request your location, it doesn\u2019t just access your device\u2019s GPS radio directly. Instead, it asks your operating system\u2019s \u201cLocation Services\u201d where you are.<\/p>\n<p>Modern Location Services systems use a variety of techniques to find your location. GPS is one of those techniques. But, when a GPS signal or GPS hardware is unavailable\u2014or just too slow\u2014Location Services has other tricks up its sleeve.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if your device has a cellular signal, it may triangulate your location based on signals from cellular towers. Based on the relative signal strength from three different cellular towers nearby, they may be able to guess your location pretty closely.<\/p>\n<p>However, there\u2019s one other technique that they can take advantage of: scanning nearby Wi-Fi access points.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Your_IP_Address_Only_Gives_Away_a_General_Location\"><\/span>Your IP Address Only Gives Away a General Location<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-708532 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/google-maps-asking-for-location.png\" alt=\"Google Maps asking for physical location access in Google Chrome on Windows 10.\" width=\"650\" height=\"375\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a good chance that you\u2019ve seen this in action. Let\u2019s say that you\u2019re sitting at your laptop using a web browser, and a website asks for your location in your web browser. You give it access and\u2014great, the website now has your precise location. It\u2019s often good enough to guess your address, although it might be off by a building or two.<\/p>\n<p>But your laptop probably doesn\u2019t have GPS built in, so how did that website pin down your physical address so precisely?<\/p>\n<p>No, it\u2019s not via your IP address. If you give a website access to your location while you\u2019re using a desktop without Wi-Fi (or a laptop with an Ethernet connection and Wi-Fi disabled),\u00a0you\u2019ll just see a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> estimate of your location. For example, you may see city, state, and country, but nothing down to the precise street level you get with GPS.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <strong><em>Can Websites See Your Physical Location?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Wi-Fi_Gives_Away_Your_Location\"><\/span>How Wi-Fi Gives Away Your Location<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Here\u2019s how the \u201cWi-Fi positioning system\u201d works: Your device scans nearby Wi-Fi access points and creates a list of them as well as their relative signal strength in your current location. It then contacts online servers that, essentially, contain a list of Wi-Fi access points around the world and their geographical locations.<\/p>\n<p>The database doesn\u2019t just include a list of Wi-FI access point names (SSIDs). The database includes the unique MAC addresses (BSSIDs) of those access points, which normally do not change\u2014even if the Wi-Fi network\u2019s visible name changes.<\/p>\n<p>By comparing this list of Wi-Fi networks near you to a known list of access points and their locations, Location Services can guess at your relevant location. And, by comparing the relative signal strengths of the various Wi-Fi networks, Location Services can triangulate your location and, often, precisely determine your location, just as if you were using GPS.<\/p>\n<p>Devices might also download and cache some of this data. For example, if they know that you\u2019re in a particular town, they might download and store Wi-Fi information in and around that town so that they can more easily find your location, even if you don\u2019t have a network connection to check the database.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"But_Where_Does_the_Wi-Fi_Database_Come_From\"><\/span>But Where Does the Wi-Fi Database Come From?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-708531 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/iphone-location-services.png\" alt=\"The Location Services setting and disclaimer in the Settings app on an iPhone.\" width=\"650\" height=\"375\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Over a decade ago, Google was <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/google-explains-why-street-view-cars-record-wi-fi-data\/\">gathering data about Wi-Fi networks<\/a> using its Street View cars. While those cars were driving around and capturing photos of storefronts, houses, and roads, they were also scanning for nearby Wi-Fi networks and saving the Wi-Fi data for use with Location Services.<\/p>\n<p>But this applies to more than just Google\u2014Apple, Microsoft, and other companies have their own Location Services systems.<\/p>\n<p>Also, it\u2019s not about Street View cars anymore. Google\u2019s Street View cars <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/how-google-and-everyone-else-gets-wi-fi-location-data\/\">no longer drive around scanning everyone\u2019s Wi-Fi<\/a> to keep its databases up to date.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the Location Services software built into your devices continually sends data that keeps these databases up to date. For example, let\u2019s say that you open Google Maps on an Android phone. You have a strong GPS signal\u2014great, your phone knows where you are via GPS. Now, your phone scans your nearby wireless networks and uploads a list of them to Google\u2019s Location Services database along with your current location.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone using Location Services is continually updating the database with more current data. Of course, companies promise that this data is anonymous and not connected to any individual.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Apple\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/HT207056\">Location Services &amp; Privacy policy<\/a>\u00a0describes it in this way on an iPhone:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIf Location Services is on, your iPhone will periodically send the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers (where supported by a device) in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple, to be used for augmenting this crowd-sourced data of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower locations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_About_Privacy\"><\/span>What About Privacy?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A Wi-Fi access point\u2019s name and address is public by definition. Your wireless router is constantly broadcasting this information to any device that cares to listen nearby.<\/p>\n<p>Again, the databases just get a list of nearby networks, their unique identifiers, and their physical locations. They don\u2019t get any information about who is using these networks or what data is being transferred over WI-Fi. They don\u2019t get any passphrases people need to connect to these networks.<\/p>\n<p>Modern operating systems prevent apps and websites from accessing this data unless you give them permission. A website or an app can\u2019t just view the list of nearby Wi-Fi networks and do this calculation on its own. It has to ask your browser or operating system for access to your location, and you can turn down the request. You remain in control.<\/p>\n<p>(Of course, desktop software that has full access to your operating system\u2014traditional Windows desktop applications, for example\u2014could access the Wi-Fi data directly. Websites, mobile apps, and apps written using Windows 10\u2019s UWP framework are restricted from accessing this information.)<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_If_You_Dont_Want_Your_Wi-Fi_in_the_Databases\"><\/span>What If You Don\u2019t Want Your Wi-Fi in the Databases?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To prevent your own devices from uploading information about their nearby Wi-Fi networks, you\u2019d have to disable Location Services. However, other people near you are almost certainly using Location Services on their phones, and their devices would upload this data.<\/p>\n<p>You can prevent your own wireless access point from being captured in some Location Services databases if you like. To <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/maps\/answer\/1725632\">opt out of Google\u2019s Location Services database<\/a>, Google asks you to add \u201c_nomap\u201d to the end of your wireless network\u2019s name, or SSID. For example, if your network is currently \u201cMy Network,\u201d you could change it to \u201cMy Network_nomap\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, Google notes that this will only affect Google\u2019s own Location Services database\u2014other providers may not work in the same way. You\u2019ll have to do some research into this if you care to remove it from other Location Services databases, too.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessary, but you do have the option.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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Here\u2019s how this often-overlooked feature of modern \u201cLocation Services\u201d works. \u201cLocation Services\u201d Is More Than GPS Modern operating systems\u2014including iOS, iPadOS, Android, Windows 10,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/europe-from-space-at-night.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}