Vytal for Chrome

Getting tracked as you're browsing the web is something that happens all too often these days. While the likelihood of something bad happening to you due to this is low, it can't be argued that it's a bit anxiety-inducing knowing that such a practice is so widespread.

Still, what can you do in this situation? For one, you can disregard it entirely and browse the web just fine, or you can use a VPN to mask your IP. Alternatively, spoofing your location could achieve a similar result, without changing your IP. Vytal for Chrome is an extension that allows users to handily spoof their location data and user agent, right from their browser.

The way the extension manages to spoof your location is quite ingenious. As stated by the developer, it makes use of the chrome.debugger API to mock device data to the parameters set by the end user. As the original parameters existed to provide your actual location and device data, this extension simply works to allow the user to modify them liberally.

Such work might sound quite complex, but the end user won't have to heed any such details. Clicking the extension's icon will open up a menu which will grant you the ability to freely modify your configuration: select a location, timezone, locale, and even input the latitude and longitude of a specific place.

This add-on is all about preventing tracking, so this won't help you bypass geo-blocking on streaming websites, or modify currencies to the ones in a specific region. For that, you'll require a dedicated VPN.

As the extension certainly allows for it, those with a bit more knowledge on the matter can delve deeper and modify user agent data. Through this, you can mock a different operating system and browser, to further steer away from web tracking and fingerprinting.

Vytal is quite a capable extension: for those looking add-ons to enhance their privacy while surfing the web, this one works to good effect.