I’ve got an Apple TV 4K with the new ExpressVPN app installed and activated. In the ExpressVPN app, I have my chosen location set to “New York” (I actually live in Los Angeles).
I fired up a random app on my Apple TV — in this case, NewsNation — which uses Location Services to detect your location. Guess what? Even with ExpressVPN installed and activated, the NewsNation app says I am in “Los Angeles.”
What’s going on? What am I missing?
Yeah, I have seen the same with my AppleTV 4K. You can turn off the location services under Settings->Privacy & Security->Location Services. This works for many apps but some apps will block you if the Location Services are off.
Turn Location Services and GPS on or off on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support.
Yep. It seems that VPNs for Apple TV do _not_ interfere with the tvOS’s “Location Services.” So any third-party app that uses the OS’s “Location Services” to determine your location will know where you “really” are. On the contrary, any app that uses your IP address to estimate your location will “believe” that you’re wherever you set your VPN to be. This renders VPNs for Apple TV rather useless, as any app developer can simply circumvent them and use “Location Services” to figure out where you actually are.
I wish VPNs like ExpressVPN would admit this upfront, before charging you. 