Nord VPN’s new free tool reveals exactly what the internet knows about your location | Tech Radar

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Nord VPN’s new free tool reveals exactly what the internet knows about your location

The 'My Location' site instantly checks your physical and IP-based whereabouts, helping you understand your online privacy risks

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"My Location" displays your physical location alongside the virtual location

The tool seeks to help users grasp their digital privacy risks

Location data can give away far more than just what coffee shop you are sitting in. It exposes the places you visit regularly, your daily routines, and exactly when you are away from home. Now, to help users understand exactly what data they are broadcasting, the team behind one of the best VPN services has released a dedicated way to check.

Nord VPN has officially launched My Location, a completely free online tool designed to let you instantly check both your physical location and the virtual location visible to the websites you visit. Operating entirely at the browser level, the tool aims to demystify how different types of location data impact your digital privacy.

"Location is one of the most sensitive types of personal information because it can reveal where you are as well as patterns about your daily life," says Marijus Briedis, CTO at Nord VPN. "Once this data is exposed or shared too broadly, it can be used for profiling, targeting, and other purposes far beyond the original reason it was collected."

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One of the primary goals of the My Location tool is to educate users on the crucial difference between their real and virtual locations.

Your real location is pinpointed using device-based methods like GPS or your browser's geolocation API, which apps typically use when they ask for access to your whereabouts.

Your virtual location, however, is based on the IP address attached to your online traffic. This is the data that websites rely on by default to estimate where your connection is originating from.

Why does this difference matter? Handing over this information can lead to targeted advertising and regional price discrimination, where websites show you different prices based on your region. In more severe cases, a time-stamped location history can invite intrusive surveillance or stalking by making it easy to infer where you live and track how you move through daily life.

Using the tool is incredibly straightforward, but there is a specific step you should follow to protect your privacy.

When you navigate to the My Location page, you will see a button to test your location. If you are using Google Chrome, clicking "Test" will trigger a browser warning asking, "Can I give Nord VPN your location?" Alongside this warning, Chrome will present you with three options: "Block," "Just this time," or "Always."

Users should opt for "Just this time." By doing this, you allow the tool to use your browser's geolocation API to determine your real physical location and map it alongside your IP-based virtual location for that single session. Because you haven't granted permanent access, the tool won't work again automatically, keeping your long-term privacy intact.

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Crucially, you don't need to worry about the provider keeping tabs on you. Nord VPN confirmed that the tool operates purely at the browser level and it "does not log or store any location data revealed through its use."

Beyond simply checking what information is visible, taking active steps to lock down your data is essential.

Briedis recommends a few simple hygiene habits for your devices. You should regularly review your app permissions, ensuring you only allow location access while actively using an app. Additionally, it is highly recommended to disable geotagging in your device's camera settings and choose privacy-friendly tools wherever possible.

Finally, while a virtual private network (VPN) won't mask GPS-based tracking, it is the best way to protect your virtual footprint. By routing your internet traffic through an encrypted server, a VPN changes the IP address visible to websites, ensuring your general browsing activity remains safely hidden.

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Rene Millman is a seasoned technology journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, the Financial Times, Computer Weekly, and IT Pro. With over two decades of experience as a reporter and editor, he specializes in making complex topics like cybersecurity, VPNs, and enterprise software accessible and engaging.

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• Nord VPN’s new free tool reveals exactly what the internet knows about your location