Four locations that can be confused

• Your device's physical location: GPS or another device location signal, when a site can access it with your permission.
• The VPN location you selected: a label in the VPN app. It may refer to a region or service endpoint, not a promise that every server or exit address maps to that exact city.
• The public IP address a site receives: the apparent network source for that request. If the browser request uses the VPN tunnel, the site sees the VPN exit IP instead of your ordinary public IP.
• The location lookup result: a site or geolocation database's estimate associated with that IP. Providers may disagree, update at different times, or return different levels of detail.

For example, a VPN app may say “City A,” while a website's IP lookup labels the same exit address as a nearby region or another city. That difference alone does not establish that the VPN is disconnected or that the site knows your physical location. Cloudflare describes IP geolocation as an estimate and says allocation changes can make providers' results differ. MaxMind likewise documents variable accuracy and an accuracy radius for some results.

Work out which part differs

1. While connected, record the VPN app's selected location and connection status. Avoid assuming that a marketing city name specifies the physical machine used for this session.
2. In the same browser, use a reputable IP check and note the public IPv4 and IPv6 results if shown. This is a point-in-time observation of that browser request, not an audit of every app or route.
3. Look up the observed IP with one or two geolocation services. Note each provider and whether it reports a country, region, city, or uncertainty radius. Different labels for the same IP can reflect database differences.
4. If the observed IP is not what the VPN provider documents for the selected region, check the provider's current server and IP guidance. Then review whether the browser extension, split-tunneling rules, IPv6 handling, or another network path is meant to bypass the VPN.
5. If only one site shows a different location, review that site's location explanation and browser permission indicator. A web page that requests device geolocation needs explicit browser permission; a site can also use account or information you supplied. Do not treat its displayed location as an independent IP test.

Do not share a public IP address if you consider it sensitive. If location affects access to an account or service, use that service's support and location-correction process; an IP map does not prove your physical location or entitlement.

What an IP location can and cannot tell you

IP registration data and geolocation are different. IANA coordinates top-level address space and allocates blocks to Regional Internet Registries; registry information helps identify network-resource records but is not a live location signal for a person using an address. Commercial geolocation services estimate where an address or network is used from their own data and methods. Their databases can disagree or lag behind network changes. Mobile, corporate, proxy, and VPN networks can make the user different from the apparent network endpoint.

MaxMind says its estimates cannot locate a specific household, individual, or street address, and its accuracy varies by country, connection type, and ISP practices. Treat city labels and map pins as approximate. A changed city label does not by itself prove a leak; an IP address different from the expected VPN route deserves a separate routing check.

For more detail, see the IP and DNS check guide, the VPN visibility guide, and the public IP registration lookup guide.