How to Change Browser Location Country.
Many video streaming sites have geographic restrictions. For example, Hulu, Pandora, Spotify, Sling TV, etc. are only available in the US and BBC iPlayer is only in the UK.
Now any website has two ways to know where you are browsing from – your IP address and the location of your browser.
While you can easily change your IP address using any VPN, changing your browser location is not easy.
For example, the other day I was browsing CBS using a VPN and everything worked fine. But when I decided to watch local channels on CBS, I got a pop-up asking for the location of my browser. When I clicked “Allow” it says the content is not available at my location.
Read: How to Watch American TV Overseas Online in 4 Easy Steps
Change the country of the browser location on Chrome
So far, I’ve used the Manual Geolocation Chrome extension to fix this issue, but after the new HTML 5 Geolocation API update, none of these extensions seem to work. But here is a simple fix with Chrome developer tools
To check this, you can use mylocation.org and there you will see two types of location – public IP address and browser geolocation. The public IP address can be easily changed using a VPN. For example, if I turn on any VPN and switch to a server in the US, the IP address switches to US.
Then click the Browser Geolocation tab and click Start Test. You will notice that even if you have a VPN running in the background, your browser will still display your original location.
Read: 4 Free VPNs That Work With Netflix (2018)
To fix this, we’ll use the Developer Console or Inspect Element. To open Chrome developer tools in Google Chrome, click Customize Chrome (â‹®) More Tools Developer Tools. You can also right-click the page you want to edit and select Check. I like to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + I (Cmd + Option + I for Mac).
Click the button with the three vertical dots in the upper right corner, and then select the Gauges option under the More Tools section.
Read: Chrome Developer Tools: 10 Helpful Tips to Use It Like a Pro
A new Sensor window will open at the bottom of the developer console. In the Geolocation section, select Custom Location.
Now enter your location based on latitude and longitude. If you don’t know these values, you can always use Google Maps. Or simply select a city name such as Mountain View by clicking the box next to Geolocation. Now reload the page, allow the location data in the popup and you will see the map zeroing out at the location you selected.
Before you test it on a streaming website, make sure you log out of your previous session or open the website in incognito mode. Then change your browser GPS location using the same workaround. Now, if I refresh the page and hit Allow Location, this time you can stream local stations. Change GPS location on Android
Change the country of the browser site on Firefox
To change your location in Firefox, you can use a browser add-on – Location Guard. It is available for Firefox 38.0 and higher. Just install the addon and restart your browser.
Once installed, click the Location Guard extension icon in your browser and select an option.
This will open the options menu in a new tab. Click the extension options (3 horizontal lines) and select Fixed Position. Click the map or drag a marker to set a new fixed location. Now the extension will always show a predefined fixed location that never changes (instead of creating a fake location which is the default).
Close the options menu tab and return to the page where you want to change your location. Refresh the page and your location should now change.
Change the country of the browser location on Android
The same workaround works for Android as well. For example, I won’t be able to fully use the Sling TV app outside of the US unless I give it location permission. Just download Fake GPS app from Play Store, give it permission in developer settings. Set location to California and launch it. Now if I open the Sling app and give it location permission everything should work fine.
Hope this helps you stream your favorite local channels or access your favorite service from anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, there is no permanent way to change location in Chrome. This extension was used to simplify this task, but they do not work now. So I guess you’ll have to do it manually every time. Read: How to Watch HBO NOW Outside the US