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Glossary
VPN vs proxy
A VPN and a proxy both change the address a site sees, and neither changes what your device answers.
Where each one sits
A VPN is set up once for the whole machine, and every program on it leaves through the same place. A proxy is named to one program, and that program is told to send its connections there.
- 1
A VPN wraps the machine
One tunnel carries every program at once, and the browser is never asked about it.
- 2
A proxy is named to the browser
The browser reaches the relay and asks it to open the connection onward.
- 3
Both end at one address
Whatever stands in front, the site records the last machine on the route.
What neither of them moves
An address is a fact about the network. Almost everything a modern check reads is a fact about your computer instead.
The picture your card draws
Canvas and the graphics strings come from your drivers, and the route they travel never touches them.
The clock and the language stack
A machine set to one country behind an address in another is a contradiction a site reads in one call.
The shape of the machine
Screen, cores, memory and fonts describe hardware, and no tunnel moves any of them.
What is already stored
Cookies and local storage stay where they are, so an old session recognises you at a new address.
Your machine right now
These values are read in your browser on this page. They would read the same through any tunnel you turned on.
Uw apparaat, op dit moment
- Time zone
- meten op uw apparaat
- Languages
- meten op uw apparaat
- Screen
- meten op uw apparaat
- Graphics renderer
- meten op uw apparaat
Gelezen in uw browser en hier getoond. Er wordt niets verzonden.
One exit per profile
A profile here carries its own address, and the profile beside it carries a different one at the same moment. Nothing is set on the machine itself, so the rest of your computer keeps its own route.
The country that address comes out of then decides the clock and the language the profile reports.
| What is set | How far it reaches |
|---|---|
| A tunnel over the machine | Every program at once, all sharing one exit |
| An address on a profile | That profile only, while its neighbours keep theirs |
| The country of that exit | The clock and the language the profile reports |
Where the exit is checked
A profile opens on its own first page, and that page reports the exit it came out of and compares it with your real address. When your real address is unknown it gives no verdict at all rather than an invented one.
The diagnostic sweep is a separate thing and runs on the app's own connection. It reads the address this computer leaves from, whether names resolve and which candidates WebRTC offers under the setting a profile window uses.
Often confused with
Tor
A route through three relays rather than one hop, with the last one publicly listed.
An SSH tunnel
Your own server as the exit, reached over a login you already hold.
Incognito
Storage is cleared when the window closes, and the address is left exactly as it was.
What this does not do
- It does not settle which one is safer. They answer different questions, and the answer depends on whether you need one route for the machine or a separate route per account.
- The app does not run a VPN. A profile takes an address over http, https or socks5, or your own server over SSH, and nothing here installs a tunnel on your system.
- A new address does not clean its own record. An address already used for the thing you are about to do carries that history into your visit.
- Neither of them separates two accounts on its own. Storage, the device answers and the account history link them whatever address they arrive from.
Check it
Everything said here about the app comes from a file you can open.
- Where a profile's exit is set
- apps/desktop/src/lib/forkEngine.js · apps/desktop/src/main/main.js
- The exit country decides the clock and the language
- apps/desktop/src/lib/exitGeo.js · apps/desktop/test/exit-geo.js
- One rule covers every scheme, not only plain requests
- apps/desktop/test/proxy-covers-https.js
- No verdict at all when your real address is unknown
- apps/desktop/test/leak-verdict.js · apps/desktop/src/start/start.html
Questions
- Does a VPN change my fingerprint?
- No. It changes where your traffic comes out, and the values in the panel above are produced on your machine and reported by the browser itself.
- Is a proxy better than a VPN?
- Neither is better in general. A tunnel over the machine is one route for everything, and an address on a profile is one route for one account.
- Can I run the app behind a VPN?
- A profile still goes out through the address set on it. Your tunnel then carries the connection to that address rather than replacing it.
- Why does the app ask my address which country it is in?
- Because the clock and the language a profile reports are taken from that answer. A profile in one zone behind an address in another is the first contradiction a check looks for.
- Do I need both?
- Rarely for one account. Two accounts on one machine need two separate exits, and an address per profile is what gives them that.
See which address your profile leaves from
The first page of a profile reports its exit and compares it with your real address, and it stays silent rather than inventing a verdict.