Location Guard

Hide your geographic location from websites. Report a fake location with the addition of random noise in order to protect your privacy. Per site settings with three configurable levels of accuracy or even the possibility to use a fixed location.
What is Location Guard?
"Location Guard" is a Firefox extension that allows users to protect their privacy by hiding their actual geographic location from websites. It adds a random 'noise' to your real location before reporting it to websites to prevent accurate location detection. The plug-in offers three distinct privacy levels that users can set based on their preferences and the site they are visiting. There is also an option for a fixed location, offering maximum privacy protection.

Add-on stats

Rating: 3.73 (143)
Version: 2.5.0 (Last updated: 2022-03-18)
Creation date: 2014-03-21
Weekly download count: 537
Firefox on Android: Yes
Risk impact: Moderate risk impact
Risk likelihood: Low risk likelihood
Manifest version: 2
Permissions:
  • http://*/*
  • https://*/*
  • storage
Size: 637.52K
URLs: Website

Other platforms

Location Guard (v2.5.0)
3.85 (322) 300,000
Location Guard (v2.5.0)
4.40 (20) 12,024
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Add-on summary

Modern browsers such as Mozilla Firefox can tell websites where you're located in order to provide location-aware functionality. Your geographic location is obtained through various means (eg. using wifi data) and is often highly accurate, which can be a violation of your privacy.

This extension allows you to enjoy the useful applications of geolocation while protecting your privacy. It does so by reporting a fake location to websites, obtained by adding a certain amount of "noise" to the real location. The noise is randomly selected in a way that ensures that the real location cannot be inferred with high accuracy.

Three configurable privacy levels are provided. The higher the privacy level the greater the amount of noise, which gives better privacy at the expense of a less accurate fake location. This can be configured per-website for flexibility: a more accurate location can be provided for driving directions than for a weather forecast. There's also an option to use a fixed location, instead of adding noise to the real one. This offers the best privacy (no dependence on the real location at all), at the cost of very low accuracy.

Note: your location can be also detected from your IP address, but usually with poor accuracy. Location Guard protects the accurate location revealed through the javascript API.

User reviews

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Firefox Browser Add-ons does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.
Pros
  • Works well for setting a fake location
  • Simple and lightweight extension
  • Uses OSM/Leaflet for settings, enhancing privacy
Cons
  • Lacks per-site location settings
  • Extension icon not visible in the Firefox toolbar
  • Difficult to navigate settings to change location
Most mentioned
  • Need for per-site location customization
  • Issues with the extension icon visibility
  • Fixed location does not always override IP location
Recent reviews
by Sergio, 2024-10-14

Works well, thanks. What I would need is to have some fixed "favorite" fake locations.
by Radist, 2024-09-28

by xzilla, 2024-09-23
View all user reviews

Add-on safety

Risk impact

Location Guard requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk likelihood

Location Guard has earned a fairly good reputation and likely can be trusted.

Upgrade to see risk analysis details