Documentation

What is Lindvara?

Lindvara is a program for macOS that changes your iPhone's current location. Changing your current location can be useful for social media, dating apps, or location-based games — anywhere you'd rather not share exactly where you are.

It works by using the Developer Mode feature built into iOS, the same mechanism Apple provides to Xcode for simulating a location. Nothing is jailbroken, and nothing needs to be installed on your phone.

Contact us

Support is included with every subscription. If something isn't working, get in touch and we'll help you sort it out — usually within a day.

• Support: support@lindvara.app
• Billing: billing@lindvara.app

When reporting a problem, it helps enormously to include your macOS version, your iPhone model and iOS version, and what the device indicator in the top right of the app says.

FAQ

Does my location stay changed after I unplug my iPhone?

Sometimes, but don't rely on it. The location is set on the iPhone itself, so unplugging doesn't undo it directly — but the simulation belongs to the developer session, and once the cable is out iOS can discard it at any point. When that happens the phone quietly returns to real GPS and you won't be told.

In practice a pinned location holds for a while after unplugging — around an hour in our testing — and then iOS discards it on its own. Nothing on the Mac can prevent that, because with the cable out there is no channel to the phone at all.

While the cable is in, Lindvara re-sends the pin every 15 seconds and keeps your Mac awake, so it holds indefinitely. Closing the laptop lid sleeps the Mac; the pin is re-applied automatically as soon as it wakes.

The reliable setup: leave your iPhone plugged in — a power bank or a spare charger works if you want to move around.

Routes, journeys and drift are different again: they push a new position every second, so they need the cable and an awake Mac. Unplugging mid-route freezes you at the last position sent, not the destination.

My iPhone isn't showing up

• Make sure you tapped Trust on the phone and that it's unlocked.
• Try a different cable or USB port — charging-only cables won't carry data.
• Replug the phone and wait a few seconds for it to be detected.

Developer Mode is missing from Settings

iOS hides the Developer Mode option until a computer asks for it. Lindvara does this for you: open the app with your phone connected and press Show toggle in Settings, then look again on the phone.

Location isn't changing

• iOS can take a second or two to recalibrate.
• Keep the phone unlocked while changing location.
• If you replugged the phone, just press Change location again — the connection rebuilds itself.

Install Lindvara on macOS

1. Download the Mac build — a .dmg file. Apple Silicon Macs take the standard build; Intel Macs take the Intel one.
2. Open the .dmg and drag Lindvara into your Applications folder.
3. Launch it from Applications. The first launch takes a few seconds while it starts up its engine.

If macOS says it can't verify Lindvara

You'll see something like “Apple could not verify ‘Lindvara’ is free of malware”. That's because Lindvara isn't notarised by Apple yet — notarisation needs a paid Apple Developer account. It doesn't mean anything is wrong with the app, and it only happens the first time. Two ways past it:

Option 1 — right-click to open

1. Open your Applications folder in Finder.
2. Right-click (or Control-click) Lindvara, then choose Open.
3. Click Open again in the dialog that follows.

macOS remembers your choice, so you only do this once.

Option 2 — clear the quarantine flag

If the right-click route doesn't work, open Terminal and run:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Lindvara.app

Then open Lindvara normally.

Requirements

• macOS 13 or later (Apple Silicon or Intel)
• An iPhone with a charging cable
• iOS 16 or later

Install Lindvara on Windows

1. Download Lindvara-Setup.exe and run it.
2. Choose where to install it, then let the installer finish.
3. Launch Lindvara from the Start menu or the desktop shortcut.

Before you plug in your iPhone

Windows needs two things that macOS ships with, and neither is included yet:

• Python 3.10 or later — install it from python.org and tick Add Python to PATH.
• The Apple device driver — install iTunes from Apple's website, or Apple Devices from the Microsoft Store. This is what lets Windows talk to your iPhone.

Then open Command Prompt and install the engine:

python -m pip install pymobiledevice3

Set up your iPhone

This is a one-time setup. Lindvara walks you through it the first time you open the app.

1. Plug your iPhone into your Mac with a charging cable.
2. Unlock the phone. If you see Trust This Computer, tap Trust and enter your passcode.
3. On the phone, open Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll to the bottom.
4. Tap Developer Mode and switch it on. Your iPhone will restart.
5. When it comes back, unlock it and tap Turn On when prompted.
6. Lindvara will show your device in the top right. When the dot turns green, you're connected.

Update Lindvara

Updates are included with your subscription. Open the download page and grab the latest build, then drag it into Applications over the old copy — your saved places, journeys and identities are kept.

Static mode

Once your device shows green, changing your location is the simplest thing in the app.

1. Search for a place, or click anywhere on the map.
2. Drag the pin to fine-tune exactly where you want to be.
3. Press Change location.

It normally takes one to three seconds. To go back to the truth, press Restore real GPS — or hit ⌘⇧E from anywhere, even when Lindvara isn't the app in front of you.

Routes

Routes simulate movement — walking, cycling or driving — along actual roads rather than cutting across fields.

1. Right-click the map to drop a destination.
2. Pick a speed, in mph or km/h. Choose Custom… for any value you like.
3. Press Start route.

While a route runs you'll see the path drawn on the map, a blue location marker moving along it, and a live estimate of the time and distance remaining. Tick Loop back to walk the route in reverse when you arrive, over and over.

Realistic pace

With this on, your speed varies naturally and you pause occasionally for a few seconds, the way a person actually walks. A perfectly constant speed is as much of a tell as a perfectly still pin.

GPS drift

Real GPS never sits perfectly still. Start drift nudges your reported position a few metres at a time within a radius you choose, so the pin has the small natural wander a real receiver produces.

A radius of 5–10 metres is realistic for a phone in a pocket. Larger values look like you're moving around a building.

Geofence zones

A zone is an area on the map that Lindvara watches. When your simulated position crosses into or out of it, the app acts — without you doing anything.

1. Move the pin to where you want the zone centred.
2. In Geofence zones, name it and set a radius in metres.
3. Press Add zone at pin.
4. Start a route that passes through it.

Entering a zone moves the device to that zone's centre, and every crossing is written to the activity log so you can see exactly what happened and when.

Journeys

A journey is a whole day planned out: home, then the café, then the gym, then home again. Lindvara travels each leg along real roads, waits at each stop, and moves on by itself.

1. Open Journey and search for your first stop.
2. Set Get there by — walk, cycle or drive. This sets the speed for the leg leaving that stop.
3. Set how long you stay: a number of minutes, or tick or until and give a time like 17:00.
4. Press Add stop. Repeat for each place in your day.
5. Press Play journey.

The list reads left to right as your day: Home · stay 30 min · then drive, Café · until 17:00 · then walk, Gym · no stay.

Schedules

If you want a change to happen while you're away from your Mac, schedule it. Pick a delay in the Schedule section and press Put me here later.

A countdown appears while a change is pending, and Cancel stops it before it fires.

Bookmarks & favourites

Saved places keeps the spots you use often. Type a name, or search for the place the same way you do on the main map, and press Save.

The bookmark icon at the right of each saved place marks it as a favourite. Favourites turn gold and sort to the top of the list, so the places you actually use stay within reach.

Location history

Every location you set is kept in Recent, newest first. Click any entry to jump straight back there.

Identities

The selector in the top right switches between separate identities — Personal, Work and Travel are created for you, and you can add your own with the + button.

Each identity keeps its own saved places, history, journey stops and geofence zones, so a work identity never mixes with a personal one. Nothing is shared between them.

Activity log

Activity records every location change, route, journey, drift and zone crossing, with the time it happened. Newest first.

The log is stored on your Mac and survives restarts, so you can always see what the app did and when. Clear log wipes it.

Consistency checks

The badge on the map shows the weather where you claim to be — conditions and temperature — along with the nearest city. It updates as you move the pin.

If something contradicts your real situation, a warning appears in the Location section. The most common one is a timezone mismatch: your Mac's clock on one offset while the place you claim to be is on another. That single inconsistency is the most common way a spoofed location gets noticed.

You'll also be told when it's the middle of the night where you are, or when the temperature is implausible. These are advisory — they never block anything.

Offline maps

Map tiles are cached on your Mac as you browse, up to about 600 MB, with the oldest removed first. Anywhere you've already looked at keeps working with no internet connection at all, so you can plan and replay routes while travelling.

Switch between Light, Dark and Satellite using the control at the bottom right of the map. Your choice is remembered.

Uninstall on macOS

1. Quit Lindvara.
2. Open your Applications folder and drag Lindvara to the Bin.
3. Empty the Bin.

To remove the cached map tiles and your activity log as well, delete the folder ~/Library/Application Support/Lindvara.