Disable/Check for Mock Location (Prevent Gps Spoofing)

Disable / Check for Mock Location (prevent gps spoofing)

I have done some investigation and sharing my results here,this may be useful for others.

First, we can check whether MockSetting option is turned ON

public static boolean isMockSettingsON(Context context) {
    // returns true if mock location enabled, false if not enabled.
    if (Settings.Secure.getString(context.getContentResolver(),
                                Settings.Secure.ALLOW_MOCK_LOCATION).equals("0"))
        return false;
    else
        return true;
}

Second, we can check whether are there other apps in the device, which are using android.permission.ACCESS_MOCK_LOCATION (Location Spoofing Apps)

public static boolean areThereMockPermissionApps(Context context) {
    int count = 0;

    PackageManager pm = context.getPackageManager();
    List<ApplicationInfo> packages =
        pm.getInstalledApplications(PackageManager.GET_META_DATA);

    for (ApplicationInfo applicationInfo : packages) {
        try {
            PackageInfo packageInfo = pm.getPackageInfo(applicationInfo.packageName,
                                                        PackageManager.GET_PERMISSIONS);

            // Get Permissions
            String[] requestedPermissions = packageInfo.requestedPermissions;

            if (requestedPermissions != null) {
                for (int i = 0; i < requestedPermissions.length; i++) {
                    if (requestedPermissions[i]
                        .equals("android.permission.ACCESS_MOCK_LOCATION")
                        && !applicationInfo.packageName.equals(context.getPackageName())) {
                        count++;
                    }
                }
            }
        } catch (NameNotFoundException e) {
            Log.e("Got exception " , e.getMessage());
        }
    }

    if (count > 0)
        return true;
    return false;
}

If both above methods, first and second are true, then there are good chances that location may be spoofed or fake.

Now, spoofing can be avoided by using Location Manager's API.

We can remove the test provider before requesting the location updates from both the providers (Network and GPS)

LocationManager lm = (LocationManager) getSystemService(LOCATION_SERVICE);

try {
    Log.d(TAG ,"Removing Test providers")
    lm.removeTestProvider(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException error) {
    Log.d(TAG,"Got exception in removing test  provider");
}

lm.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, 1000, 0, locationListener);

I have seen that removeTestProvider(~) works very well over Jelly Bean and onwards version. This API appeared to be unreliable till Ice Cream Sandwich.

Flutter Update:
Use Geolocator and check Position object's isMocked property.

how to prevent mock GPS location (spoofing) from fake GPS app in Swift?

You can check if the app is jailbroken or not. If it already jailbroken, you can prevent the user to use the app with showing permanent dialog or something else.
If you wanna know how to detect the device is jailbroken or not, you can find it by yourself. There is so many literature that will tell you how.

Cheers :)

Related Topics