How to Detect GPS Spoofing, Location & Fake GPS Spoofing in Android Apps

Last updated May 15, 2023 by Appdome

Learn to Detect Fake GPS in Android apps, in mobile CI/CD with a Data-Driven DevSecOps™ build system.

What Is GPS Spoofing, Location Spoofing & Fake GPS Location?

Fake GPS or GPS spoofing in an Android mobile app refers to modifying the location data transmitted by the Global Positioning System (GPS) to make it appear as though the device is located in a different place than it actually is by modifying the GPS location returned by the app’s Java API layer. Fake GPS / GPS spoofing can also be used for malicious purposes, such as to deceive someone into believing that the user is in a different location for fraudulent activities.

For example, if a Netflix account only allows users from a certain country to watch certain content, an attacker could change the location to one that allows the requested content to be viewed. In this way, the fake GPS allows people to watch whatever they want from a different geographical location.

Why Detect Fake GPS in Android Apps?

The GPS API helps to redirect the user to certain flows and to provide more accurate data and options based on your location.

In certain situations, an attacker can modify this behavior by intercepting access to the GPS API provided to the app’s developers and modifying the user’s location returned by the API, and thus making the app believe that the user is in a different location than they actually are. This can result in unintended flows beginning to appear in the app.

Appdome will scan for installed hooks by a variety of common reverse engineering tools and frameworks related to GPS API’s to prevent modification of access to GPS.

Detecting Fake GPS on Android apps by Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Detect Fake GPS without an SDK or gateway:

Upload the Mobile App to Appdome.
1. Upload an app to Appdome’s Mobile App Security Build System
2. Upload Method: Appdome Console or DEV-API
3. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
Build the feature: Fake GPS Detection.
1. Building Fake GPS Detection by using Appdome’s DEV-API:
  1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Fake GPS Detection feature as shown below:
  2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2.1-2.2.2 of this article, Building the Fake GPS Detection feature via Appdome Console, to add the Fake GPS Detection feature to this Fusion Set.
  3. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set, as shown in Figure 1 above, and get the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below):
    
    Figure 2: Fusion Set Detail Summary
    Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).
  4. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, App Center, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Cirlce CI or other system:
    
    Build an API for the app – for instructions, see the tasks under Appdome API Reference Guide
    
    Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository
2. Building the Fake GPS Detection feature via Appdome Console
  
  To build the Fake GPS Detection protection by using Appdome Console, follow the instructions below.
  1. Where: Inside the Appdome Console, go to Build > Anti Fraud Tab > Mobile Malware Prevention section
  2. How: Toggle (turn ON) Fake GPS Detection, as shown below.
    If needed, Customize the Threat Notification to be displayed to the mobile end-user in a standard OS dialog notification when Appdome Detects Fake GPS.
    
    Figure 3: Detect Fake GPS option
    Note: The App Compromise Notification contains an easy to follow default remediation path for the mobile app end user. You can customize this message as required to achieve brand specific support, workflow or other messaging.
  3. When you select the Fake GPS Detection you'll notice that your Fusion Set you created in step 2.1.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Fake GPS Detection
    
    Figure 4: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Fake GPS Detection protection
  4. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Fake GPS Detection:
    
    Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense
    If the Threat-Events™ setting is cleared (not selected). Appdome will detect and defend the user and app by enforcing Detect Fake GPS.
    
    Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection
    When this setting is used, Appdome detects when hooking frameworks and other methods are used to modify values returned by the GPS API and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Fake GPS Detection Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.
    
    Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense
    When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against Fake GPS (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Fake GPS Detection Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.
  5. Click Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 3).
Congratulations! The Fake GPS Detection protection is now added to the mobile app
Certify the Fake GPS Detection feature in Android Apps.

After building Fake GPS Detection, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Fake GPS Detection protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Fake GPS Detection protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below:

Figure 5: Certified Secure™ certificate

Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Fake GPS Detection has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Fake GPS Detection and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app

Using Threat-Events™ for Fake GPS Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Fake GPS is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Fake GPS in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Fake GPS shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Fake GPS are:

Threat-Event™ Elements	Detect Fake GPS Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name	Fake GPS Detection
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE	Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION	Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE	Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check
Visible in ThreatScope™
Developer Parameters for Detecting Fake GPS Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME	GeoLocationSpoofingDetected
Threat-Event DATA	reasonData
Threat-Event CODE	reasonCode
Threat-Event REF	6801
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore	Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore	Total Threat-events score

Threat-Event Context Keys
message	Message displayed for the user on event
externalID	The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion	OS version of the current device
deviceModel	Current device model
deviceManufacturer	The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken	The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo	Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn	PLMN of the device
deviceID	Current device ID
reasonCode	Reason code of the occured event
buildDate	Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform	OS name of the current device
carrierName	Carrier name of the current device
updatedOSVersion	Is the OS version up to date
deviceBrand	Brand of the device
deviceBoard	Board of the device
buildUser	Build user
buildHost	Build host
sdkVersion	Sdk version
timeZone	Time zone
deviceFaceDown	Is the device face down
locationLong	Location long
locationLat	Location lat
locationState	Location state
wifiSsid	Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus	Wifi SSID permission status

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Fake GPS is detected.

The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Fake GPS Detection:

IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();
                    intentFilter.addAction("GeoLocationSpoofingDetected");
                    registerReceiver(new BroadcastReceiver() {
                            @Override
                            public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
                                String message = intent.getStringExtra("message"); // Message shown to the user
                                String reasonData = intent.getStringExtra("reasonData"); // Threat detection cause
                                String reasonCode = intent.getStringExtra("reasonCode"); // Event reason code
                                String currentThreatEventScore = intent.getStringExtra("currentThreatEventScore"); // Current threat event score
                                String threatEventsScore = intent.getStringExtra("threatEventsScore"); // Total threat events score
                                String variable = intent.getStringExtra("<Context Key>"); // Any other event specific context key

                                // Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
                            }
                        }, intentFilter);

                        
                        Java
                    
​x
 
IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();
intentFilter.addAction("GeoLocationSpoofingDetected");
registerReceiver(new BroadcastReceiver() {
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
            String message = intent.getStringExtra("message"); // Message shown to the user
            String reasonData = intent.getStringExtra("reasonData"); // Threat detection cause
            String reasonCode = intent.getStringExtra("reasonCode"); // Event reason code
            String currentThreatEventScore = intent.getStringExtra("currentThreatEventScore"); // Current threat event score
            String threatEventsScore = intent.getStringExtra("threatEventsScore"); // Total threat events score
            String variable = intent.getStringExtra("<Context Key>"); // Any other event specific context key
​
            // Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
        }
    }, intentFilter);

val intentFilter = IntentFilter()
                intentFilter.addAction("GeoLocationSpoofingDetected")
                registerReceiver(object : BroadcastReceiver() {
                    override fun onReceive(context: Context?, intent: Intent?) {
                        var message = intent.getStringExtra("message") // Message shown to the user
                        var reasonData = intent.getStringExtra("reasonData") // Threat detection cause
                        var reasonCode = intent.getStringExtra("reasonCode") // Event reason code
                        var currentThreatEventScore = intent.getStringExtra("currentThreatEventScore") // Current threat event score
                        var threatEventsScore = intent.getStringExtra("threatEventsScore") // Total threat events score
                        var variable = intent.getStringExtra("<Context Key>") // Any other event specific context key

                        // Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
                    }
                }, intentFilter)

                         
                        Kotlin
                    
​x
 
val intentFilter = IntentFilter()
intentFilter.addAction("GeoLocationSpoofingDetected")
registerReceiver(object : BroadcastReceiver() {
    override fun onReceive(context: Context?, intent: Intent?) {
        var message = intent.getStringExtra("message") // Message shown to the user
        var reasonData = intent.getStringExtra("reasonData") // Threat detection cause
        var reasonCode = intent.getStringExtra("reasonCode") // Event reason code
        var currentThreatEventScore = intent.getStringExtra("currentThreatEventScore") // Current threat event score
        var threatEventsScore = intent.getStringExtra("threatEventsScore") // Total threat events score
        var variable = intent.getStringExtra("<Context Key>") // Any other event specific context key
​
        // Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
    }
}, intentFilter)

const { ADDevEvents } = NativeModules;
                const aDDevEvents = new NativeEventEmitter(ADDevEvents);

                function registerToDevEvent(action, callback) {
                    NativeModules.ADDevEvents.registerForDevEvent(action);
                    aDDevEvents.addListener(action, callback);
                }

                export function registerToAllEvents() {
                    registerToDevEvent(
                        "GeoLocationSpoofingDetected",
                        (userinfo) => Alert.alert(JSON.stringify(userinfo))

                        var message = userinfo["message"] // Message shown to the user
                        var reasonData = userinfo["reasonData"] // Threat detection cause
                        var reasonCode = userinfo["reasonCode"] // Event reason code
                        var currentThreatEventScore = userinfo["currentThreatEventScore"] // Current threat event score
                        var threatEventsScore = userinfo["threatEventsScore"] // Total threat events score
                        var variable = userinfo["<Context Key>"] // Any other event specific context key

                        // Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
                    );
                }

                     
                    React Native
                
​x
 
const { ADDevEvents } = NativeModules;
const aDDevEvents = new NativeEventEmitter(ADDevEvents);
​
function registerToDevEvent(action, callback) {
    NativeModules.ADDevEvents.registerForDevEvent(action);
    aDDevEvents.addListener(action, callback);
}
​
export function registerToAllEvents() {
    registerToDevEvent(
        "GeoLocationSpoofingDetected",
        (userinfo) => Alert.alert(JSON.stringify(userinfo))
​
        var message = userinfo["message"] // Message shown to the user
        var reasonData = userinfo["reasonData"] // Threat detection cause
        var reasonCode = userinfo["reasonCode"] // Event reason code
        var currentThreatEventScore = userinfo["currentThreatEventScore"] // Current threat event score
        var threatEventsScore = userinfo["threatEventsScore"] // Total threat events score
        var variable = userinfo["<Context Key>"] // Any other event specific context key
​
        // Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
    );
}
​

RegisterReceiver(new ThreatEventReceiver(), new IntentFilter("GeoLocationSpoofingDetected"));
                class ThreatEventReceiver : BroadcastReceiver
                {
                public override void OnReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
                {
                    String message = intent.getStringExtra("message"); // Message shown to the user
                    String reasonData = intent.getStringExtra("reasonData"); // Threat detection cause
                    String reasonCode = intent.getStringExtra("reasonCode"); // Event reason code
                    String currentThreatEventScore = intent.getStringExtra("currentThreatEventScore"); // Current threat event score
                    String threatEventsScore = intent.getStringExtra("threatEventsScore"); // Total threat events score
                    String variable = intent.getStringExtra("<Context Key>"); // Any other event specific context key

                    // Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
                }
                }

                    
                    Xamarin
                
​x
 
RegisterReceiver(new ThreatEventReceiver(), new IntentFilter("GeoLocationSpoofingDetected"));
​
class ThreatEventReceiver : BroadcastReceiver
{
  public override void OnReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
  {
    String message = intent.getStringExtra("message"); // Message shown to the user
    String reasonData = intent.getStringExtra("reasonData"); // Threat detection cause
    String reasonCode = intent.getStringExtra("reasonCode"); // Event reason code
    String currentThreatEventScore = intent.getStringExtra("currentThreatEventScore"); // Current threat event score
    String threatEventsScore = intent.getStringExtra("threatEventsScore"); // Total threat events score
    String variable = intent.getStringExtra("<Context Key>"); // Any other event specific context key
​
    // Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
  }
}

window.broadcaster.addEventListener("GeoLocationSpoofingDetected", function(userInfo) {
        var message = userInfo.message // Message shown to the user
        var reasonData = userInfo.reasonData // Threat detection cause
        var reasonCode = userInfo.reasonCode // Event reason code
        var currentThreatEventScore = userInfo.currentThreatEventScore // Current threat event score
        var threatEventsScore = userInfo.threatEventsScore // Total threat events score
        var variable = userInfo.<Context Key> // Any other event specific context key

        // Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
            });

                    
                    Cordova
                
​x
 
window.broadcaster.addEventListener("GeoLocationSpoofingDetected", function(userInfo) {
        var message = userInfo.message // Message shown to the user
        var reasonData = userInfo.reasonData // Threat detection cause
        var reasonCode = userInfo.reasonCode // Event reason code
        var currentThreatEventScore = userInfo.currentThreatEventScore // Current threat event score
        var threatEventsScore = userInfo.threatEventsScore // Total threat events score
        var variable = userInfo.<Context Key> // Any other event specific context key
​
        // Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
});

Prerequisites to Using Fake GPS Detection:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect Fake GPS , you’ll need:

Appdome account (create a free Appdome account here)
A license for Fake GPS Detection
Mobile App (.apk or .aab For Android)
Signing Credentials (see Signing Secure Android apps and Signing Secure iOS apps)

Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Android Apps by using Fake GPS Detection. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Fake GPS Detection

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Customizing, Configuring & Branding Secure Mobile Apps
Deploying/Publishing Secure mobile apps to Public or Private app stores
Releasing Secured Android & iOS Apps built on Appdome.

All apps protected by Appdome are fully compatible with any public app store, including Apple App Store, Google Play, Huawei App Gallery and more.

Features Similar to Fake GPS Detection

Here are a few related resources:

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

How to Detect GPS Spoofing, Location & Fake GPS Spoofing in Android Apps

What Is GPS Spoofing, Location Spoofing & Fake GPS Location?

Why Detect Fake GPS in Android Apps?

Detecting Fake GPS on Android apps by Using Appdome

Upload the Mobile App to Appdome.

Upload an app to Appdome’s Mobile App Security Build System

Build the feature: Fake GPS Detection.

Building Fake GPS Detection by using Appdome’s DEV-API:

Building the Fake GPS Detection feature via Appdome Console

Certify the Fake GPS Detection feature in Android Apps.

Using Threat-Events™ for Fake GPS Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Prerequisites to Using Fake GPS Detection:

Thank you!