Others have said all the important things, but I wanted to add that there are things that Android always tunnels through a VPN, like internet connectivity checks.

So even with Always-ON and Block Connections, this will still ignore a VPN

Impossible to say without knowing everything about you and your situation but the most likely scenario is that at one point you were signed into a device with the VPN disabled or disconnected.

Google has ways of knowing your location but some of the more sinister ones, like determining your location based on WiFi, they're probably not going to broadcast back to you.

VPNs really don't do much to protect your privacy

A VPN doesn't do anything about the GPS location on your phone.

You'd have to find out why Google thinks you have a certain location, then determine if it's worth blocking that somehow. If it's not possible, you'd have to stop using the service entirely if you don't want that data observed.

Is this because I am using a free tier VPN? so it's not functioning properly etc...

Nope ! I use the free tier on all my devices and nothing is leaked based on all tests I did.

If you are on linux you need to check your /etc/resolv.conf and see if your home's router/ISP DNS is in there.

Check also if networkManager hasn't your ISP's dns configured.

There are other locations where your home router's DNS could be hidden on linux after a DHCP configuration.

If it's on windows :/ sorry can't help there.

Previous location + WiFi (google and others map it), + also logging in on your phone, + anyone else who is associated with you at that location, + exif data on photos that are uploaded, querying your browser for system time, lots more.

You can look at something like https://www.deviceinfo.me/ to see what just a browser can identify. When you connect to an account obviously the service has many more details.

Web Location tracking has not been fully based on IP registration data for quite some time.

Is this because I am using a free tier VPN? so it’s not functioning properly etc…

• Does Proton not have a page to check your IP address and check for DNS leaks (Mullvad does : https://mullvad.net/en -> Check for leaks) ?

• Did you look up your IP address by other means ?

• On the desktop with Linux you can check the content of /etc/resolv.conf and ip a (Your local IP) and ip r (Gateway address).

Else google fixed my location based on my previous location history? I used my google applications without VPN for many years, I am just learning & following privacy tips recently.

Are the sessions from your last login ? With some applications (Dunno about Google) you can delete older sessions from the overview.

Is this because I am using a free tier VPN? so it’s not functioning properly etc…

Free tier VPN services often come at the cost of some privacy and security features, but ProtonVPN will still protect you against IP address leakage regardless.

Else google fixed my location based on my previous location history?

Google stores location information indefinitely, so even if you are using a VPN right now it will still have a history of your real location.

Some other ways your location can get leaked to Google:

• Location access for websites
• Using stock Android or ChromeOS logged into that Google account
• Installing Google apps on your computer
• DNS leaks (e.g. through TunnelVision or a custom DNS over your VPN)
• WebRTC leakage (this is a technicality and your VPN should protect against this. The uBlock Origin extension also helps)

Hope this helps!

Check your location by Searching ”whats my IP address?" Search engines should show it at the top of the results along with your ISP location. If using a VPN, that should show the different location you set it to.

If ONLY Google is showing your true location and your search is showing a different one, then yeah, Google is possibly using a previously known location.

On your phone? Or desktop?

If you're signed in to a Google account on an Android device with Google Play Services installed, a VPN will not hide your location from Google because the device has several ways to determine your location other than your IP address. You might be able to disable Google's location services permissions on the device, and if you're just going for a casual privacy upgrade, that should give you one.

If you really don't want Google knowing where you are, you probably can't use a phone with Google Play Services on it, as it integrates itself fairly deeply into the OS and can't necessarily be trusted to follow the permissions model in the future, even if it can be shown to do so today. Avoiding that means installing a third-party Android build on your phone. Note that a lot of third-party apps rely on Google services, and while an open source substitute exists, it's not always a smooth experience.

There are many ways Google (and many others) know what you're up to and where you are besides your internet browsing history.

It's called metadata, and John Hancock can be proven to have been "in the hood" when the Declaration was signed....

GPS, wifi, cell pings, your neighbours, friends, their histories, their meta.

If you're concerned about hiding your browsing history from a peer, a vpn is fine.

If you want to swat someone, then maybe not.