Question Is My VPN affecting my Google Device Activity Location and or Google Find My Device Service?

[MasterYoda327]

I am not certain if this is the right location for this question, but I am currently doing some modifications to my Google account's Privacy and Security settings. My Google account is logged into my Windows 10 desktop PC (Brave browser primarily, but occasionally Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome), my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone, my Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatch (through my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra ,smartphone), my Samsung Galaxy Note10+, and connected to the YouTube and YouTube TV apps on my two Roku Ultra streaming devices. I use Nord VPN on both my desktop PC and my Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone. None of the other mentioned devices have VPNs. I have the VPN connected to the Nord VPN service nearest my location. I setup my Nord VPN service in late October of 2022. While checking my devices' activity history on my Google account, I am pretty confident with the times that the activities took place. Please note that I had my Google account setup to notify me of unusual activity and require verification and I never received any notifications of unusual activity that I did not recognize. I noticed with my desktop PC that it just lists United States. The only stand out location was one desktop activity listing Poland, where I have never visited, but checking my activity notifications, which covers the past 28 days, where the Poland location activity is still within, I saw no unusual activity notice, and it leads me to suspect that it may be a location error, but I signed out that activity just to be safe. Leading up to before I setup my VPN, my smartphone activity is listed as in my nearest major city, but after I setup my VPN, it lists Android in United States and then Android, Galaxy Note10+ and Galaxy S21 Ultra as Fair Township, USA, which is a place I do not recognize and I am sure I have never visited. Again my Galaxy Note10+ smartphone does not have a VPN on it. For my Galaxy Watch 4, it listed my nearest major city before I setup my VPN, but after I setup my VPN, the location varies between my nearest major city and Fair Township, USA. Again the smartwatch is linked with my Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone which has Nord VPN on it. For my Roku Ultra devices, it lists my nearest major city on an older Roku Ultra model on a date after I setup my VPN, but that device was replaced recently. With both of the two newer model Roku Ultras, which I bought around the time I setup my VPN, they list Fair Township, USA. Again, I do not have VPNs setup on my Roku Devices. From what I can tell, my Google Maps displays my correct home location, my weather apps on both my Windows 10 desktop PC and Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone are displaying the correct locations. I am having no trouble with the YouTube and YouTube TV apps on my Roku devices. My Google "Find my Device" app on my Galaxy S21 Ultra and Galaxy Note 10+ smartphones and the Samsung SmartThings Find on both my desktop PC and mentioned smartphones appear to properly locate my listed smartphones and smartwatch even with the VPN active. Could the issues that I just mentioned be due to my VPN or is it likely some problem on Google's end? Would these issues be worth further investigating or should I just leave them alone?

Also, as a side note, Google's "Find My Device" app on both of my smartphones, as already mentioned, seems to properly locate my listed and mentioned smartphone devices. However, the desktop PC version of this service can properly communicate with the devices with location and ring tones, but says it cannot find them on the desktop PC web browser screen. I tried fixing this problem with the VPN both on and off, but could not fix that problem. I also tried troubleshooting steps listed online, but that didn't help either. I am now using Samsung's SmartThings Find as my primary device locator and the mobile app version of Google "Find My Device" as a secondary locator if the SmartThings app malfunctions. Is the mentioned problem with Google's "Find My Device" service on the desktop PC due to my VPN or is it a problem on Google's end? Is it worth trying to get it to work or should I leave it alone?

Thanks.

 

[Ralston18]

Could be quite a number of reasons for it all....

FYI:

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...and-or-google-find-my-device-service.3802158/

https://technocript.com/can-websites-track-your-location/

You can easily find other similiar links by searching words and phrases such as "how do websites know my device location".

Search and then revise the search criteria as warranted to focus the search to more specific information and explanations.

Overall it does not surprise me at all that there seems to be confusion regarding device locations; with or without VPN.

For example: if two different databases report the device location as being at "X" (Database 1) and as being at "Y" (Database 2) based on the available data then some decision has to be made regarding which location to use. Some algorithm kicks in and decides the location is "Fair Township" based on Database 3. Not "X", not "Y".....

Or the algorithm falls apart and then reports some random location.

With all of the devices and the other variables involved (per your post) - very likely that the location(s) go astray. All the more so if some are really and truely moving about.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[MasterYoda327]

Could be quite a number of reasons for it all....

FYI:

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...and-or-google-find-my-device-service.3802158/

https://technocript.com/can-websites-track-your-location/

You can easily find other similiar links by searching words and phrases such as "how do websites know my device location".

Search and then revise the search criteria as warranted to focus the search to more specific information and explanations.

Overall it does not surprise me at all that there seems to be confusion regarding device locations; with or without VPN.

For example: if two different databases report the device location as being at "X" (Database 1) and as being at "Y" (Database 2) based on the available data then some decision has to be made regarding which location to use. Some algorithm kicks in and decides the location is "Fair Township" based on Database 3. Not "X", not "Y".....

Or the algorithm falls apart and then reports some random location.

With all of the devices and the other variables involved (per your post) - very likely that the location(s) go astray. All the more so if some are really and truely moving about.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Thanks for the information and help.