Your web browser knows where you are right now – and where you were last weekend.
More than half of the 15 most popular mobile browsers are quietly tracking your real-life movements while you browse, a new study published by one of our best VPN providers, Surfshark, has revealed.
Microsoft Edge, Aloha, Yandex, and Phoenix are the worst offenders, according to the researchers. These browsers collect precise location data to pinpoint your exact position. Chrome, Safari, Opera, and Firefox follow behind, tracking your general area, such as a city or neighbourhood.
This information can build a detailed picture of your daily life — where you work, where you shop, which pub you visit on a Friday evening, and more. And the really alarming part is that some browsers aren't just keeping this data to themselves. Microsoft Edge and Aloha have been found to pass it on to other companies, which means your personal movements could end up in the hands of companies you never agreed to, like advertising companies or data brokers.
Microsoft Edge, Aloha, Yandex, and Phoenix are the worst offenders, collecting precise location data to pinpoint your exact position
|SURFSHARK PRESS OFFICE
Justas Pukys, Senior Product Manager at Surfshark, said: "Your browser maps your daily routine and weekend plans before you've shared them with anyone. This location tracking is a profit-driven exploitation of personal habits, rather than a technical necessity for the browser to function."
However, seven browsers in the study collect absolutely no location data at all.
Privacy-focused options like DuckDuckGo, Brave, Tor, Ecosia, Samsung Internet, UC Browser, and Mi Browser haven't been tracking your location. This shows that location tracking is a choice these companies make – not something browsers need to work properly. Websites can still ask for one-time location access when genuinely needed, like if you're ordering delivery to your home or checking the weather in a certain area.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
To protect your privacy, you can take these three steps before your next browsing session.
1. Use a VPN
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is software that protects and anonymises everything you do online. VPNs can conceal your online activities by routing traffic through an encrypted tunnel that connects to secure servers worldwide.
Cheap VPNs, and even some of the best free VPNs use the same encryption standards as governments in the United Kingdom and the United States, ensuring that even your Internet Service Provider (ISP) on Wi-Fi cannot record the websites you visit, the duration of your sessions on each site, or your current location.
This protection extends to advertisers, trackers, and hackers, preventing them from monitoring your online behaviour.
A VPN creates a secure, encrypted connection between your device and the internet | SURFSHARK PRESS OFFICE2. Turn off location services in your browser
Most browsers ask for permission to access your location. You can go into your browser settings and disable location access, or set it to “Ask every time.” This stops websites from automatically getting your exact GPS-based location.3. Disable location permissions on your device
On your phone or computer, you can control which apps are allowed to access location data. Turning this off for browsers and non-essential apps limits how often your precise location is shared in the background.