Does A Vpn Hide My Ip Address
What does a VPN hide? | NortonLifeLock
A virtual private network (VPN) can hide a user’s internal protocol address (IP address) and block their location and browser history, allowing them to share and receive information on public internet networks more privately.
Whether you’re searching something online or communicating via social media, you’re leaving digital footprints in the form of your browsing history, cookies, and cached data.
Your Internet Service Provider (ISP), the government, and other third parties can track what you search, visit, and download.
Even if you use a private browsing mode, your IP address can still be collected.
When you download and enable a VPN prior to browsing, a VPN can offer online privacy and increased security by helping hide your online identity and encrypting your traffic. Hackers and third parties will only be able to see the IP address of the remote VPN. This prevents them from accessing your location, browser history, or the personal information you may have sent or received during that browsing session.
Here are the seven main things that a VPN hides:
1. Search History
You can clear your cookies and search history from your browser. But chances are your ISP has recorded the websites that you’ve visited. VPNs can hide your search history and other browsing activity, like search terms, links clicked, and websites visited, as well as masking your IP address.
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Can you truly remove your search history?
No. You’re removing the file references from your directories, but your operating system won’t simultaneously erase this data. It only moves the information to a special area on your Mac or PC’s hard drive.
If you use a VPN each time you browse, third parties will only be able to see the IP address of the remote VPN. This disables them from pinpointing your location, ISP and, potentially, other personal information.
2. IP Address
Your IP address identifies your device on the Internet or a local network. It’s the key data that connects you to your location, ISP, and web search history.
IP addresses can share sensitive information about you that includes your physical location such as your city, state, ZIP code, and country. It can trace back to your home ISP, which could reveal your name, home address, phone number, and credit card numbers.
Instead of sending information directly from your IP address, the VPN server’s IP address is associated with your activity.
For example, if your VPN service provider has servers around the world, you could appear to be connecting to the internet from a different country.
3. Medical Diagnosis and Health Conditions
Medical providers often operate through private client portals. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has set standards in the exchange of protected health information (PHI). This is the diagnosis, procedures, and counsel between doctors, clients and medical facilities.
HIPPA requires healthcare facilities to operate on private networks. These secured portals encrypt your medical information from outside parties. VPN networks allow medical professionals and patients to safely access confidential medical information untampered.
4. Travel accommodations
Travel and airline websites associate the information that you’re researching with your IP address. When you visit online travel booking websites multiple times to find better deals, a cookie has likely already locked into a price.
A cookie is data sent from a user’s computer to a website. They can identify your past travel searches, online profiles, all the way to your home address. Any action like clicking on a link can trigger an “event. ” Marketers use analytics tracking tools to track website traffic and user behavior. It only takes a short amount of time for advertisers to bombard you with retargeting ads.
VPNs can block tracking technologies, allowing you to search travel websites anonymously and avoiding advertisers altogether.
5. Geolocation
We already mentioned that your IP address can identify your geolocation. Browsers and websites use this information to map web traffic from different cities, states, and countries.
For example, when you use Google Maps, you must enable your phone to detect your location. Websites use the same technology.
One side benefit of using a VPN is known as geo-spoofing. This means a VPN “fools” websites and other online services into thinking you’re in one location when you’re really in another.
This could provide access to geo-restricted services or help save money while doing online shopping. But remember to always check your service agreement rules and observe government laws and regulations.
6. Personally identifiable material
A VPN can hide your online identity by masking your IP address. It encrypts your location and the data you send and receive, helping protect your personal identifiable information (PII). This data can come in the form of your bank information, as well as Social Security and driver’s license numbers. If a hacker gains access to your computer, your PII is could be vulnerable via audio files, messages, and passwords.
Even secure websites can become vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Using a VPN network can increase your protection when you go online, from hackers and cyber thieves.
7. Torrenting
BitTorrents (torrents) are metadata files and folders that are shared and downloaded between users on a network. This gives users access to movies, music, and other forms of media content.
Though torrenting isn’t illegal, downloading copyrighted material like movies or songs is a violation. Since your ISP can track your activity, so can the government. Using a torrenting service without a VPN can sometimes lead to warning letters or even hefty fines from the government.
Even if performed legally, torrenting can be dangerous. Downloading unknown files can result in you downloading malware. These viruses can infect your computer and corrupt your files. VPNs can prevent online peers from seeing your IP address, which could help prevent hackers from singling you out.
How to choose a VPN
When choosing a VPN, consider your needs for the device. User-friendliness, speed, secure encryption, and price are all important factors to examine. You also want reliable customer service, should anything out of the ordinary occur.
Consider using a secure VPN network that provides powerful protection and is capable of connecting other devices in your home. Research online reviews, but be careful of sites that promote affiliate websites. You can also talk to your tech-savvy friends and get their insight on recommended products.
Most importantly, when purchasing a VPN, it’s best to buy from a software company that you trust. So, no matter where you are, you can search the internet knowing that your connections are safer.
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How to Check If Your VPN Is Working | Avast
How to tell if your VPN is securely connected
Many VPNs are far less secure than their developers admit. A quick VPN test will show you whether or not your VPN is masking your IP address, leaking your DNS info, or spilling other info that should be protected. Once you learn how to tell if your VPN is working, you’ll have everything you need to evaluate any VPN you use.
A VPN security test will reveal whether your VPN (virtual private network) is providing the level of protection you’re paying for — and if you’re using a free VPN, it’s probably not doing much at all. You can quickly and easily test your VPN connection and see if you’re as anonymous online as you should be.
Is your VPN working? Let’s find out!
Why your VPN is not working — and how to check
When your VPN is working properly, it hides your identifying information from anyone online. But not all VPNs are built as securely as others, and many will inadvertently reveal information that could be used to identify you or your geographical location. If you’re trying to use a VPN to unblock websites, these leaks will prevent you from doing so.
It’s especially important to check for leaks if you’re setting up your own VPN, since you can’t rely on a VPN provider for security. A trustworthy VPN for PC or VPN for Mac should already be leak-proof — but it helps to make sure.
Here, we’ll review the three most common types of VPN leaks and show you how to check your VPN in each case. The best way to avoid all VPN leaks — and fix them if you find any — is to choose a secure and reliable VPN from a provider you trust to keep your data safe.
IP address leaks
Every device that connects to the internet has an IP address, which allows devices to communicate with one another online. IP addresses are linked to geographical locations, so if someone can see your IP address, they know where you are, down to the city or town. People can also use your IP address to track and monitor your activity online.
One of the primary duties of a good VPN is to hide your IP address behind another one. Then, no one can identify your real IP address when you’re online.
How to test for an IP address leak
Any VPN worth its subscription fee should hide your IP address. It’s easy to check if yours is giving you this basic level of protection — or if you have a VPN leak.
First, identify your actual IP address. Make sure your VPN is turned off. Your VPN may display your IP address, or you can search “what is my IP address” and find a number of sites that will quickly show you.
If you Google “what is my IP, ” you’ll see your IP address in either IPv6 or IPv4 format. Avast SecureLine VPN will display your IPv4 address, and many IP address lookup websites will give you both.
Note your IP address — you’ll need to refer to it later during this VPN test.
Turn on your VPN and connect to any server. The Virtual IP here is what your VPN IP address is, which should be different from the actual IP address you noted in Step 1.
Search “what is my IP” again in Google (or use an IP lookup site) and check the result against your VPN’s virtual IP address. If they match, then you know your VPN is effectively hiding your real IP address.
But if the IP check shows your actual IP address from Step 1, then your VPN has failed the VPN test and is leaking your IP address.
How to fix an IP address leak
If your VPN test showed your actual IP address, first try connecting to another VPN server and testing again. If that doesn’t solve the problem, choose a different VPN provider with better security. IP address tracking is one way companies like Google collect and use your data. While a VPN won’t protect against all types of web tracking, it will prevent you from being tracked through your IP address.
Some VPNs don’t cover IPv6 connections. If you have IPv6 enabled on your computer, and you connect to an IPv6-enabled website, your VPN may secure your IPv4 address while letting your IPv6 traffic slip through. In this case, either disable IPv6 on your device, or choose a VPN that protects it. Any VPN that supports IPv6 will also support IPv4.
Hiding your IP address is one of the primary reasons why people choose to use VPNs, and if you’re not getting this basic level of service from your VPN, take your business elsewhere.
Avast SecureLine VPN uses bank-grade encryption on all our lightning-fast servers around the world to hide your IP address and keep you anonymous whenever you connect.
DNS leaks
The DNS (domain name system) is like the phone book for the internet. All websites have IP addresses, but it’s not practical to remember a unique string of numbers for every website you visit. The DNS matches a website’s IP address to its URL — such as You can view and edit your router’s DNS settings in its admin menu.
When you’re not using a VPN, your local ISP (internet service provider) handles your DNS requests, and the websites you visit can see where your DNS requests come from.
A good VPN should handle DNS lookups for you, but not all of them do. In these cases, a website you visit while connected to your VPN will still know where your DNS request came from. This also means your ISP will know which websites you visit, since they’ll be handling DNS lookups instead of your VPN.
How to test for a DNS leak
Checking for DNS leaks is similar to testing your VPN for IP address protection. Here’s how to test your VPN for DNS leaks:
With your VPN off, head to DNSLeakTest, which will show you what your IP address is and display your general location.
Now, turn on your VPN and reload the page. You should see your VPN’s IP address displayed here instead.
If these IP addresses match, then your VPN is protecting your IP address. Try clicking Standard Test or Extended Test under your DNSLeakTest info for more detailed results.
You can see that the results of the Extended Test reflect the US-based server we’re using via Avast SecureLine VPN. If these tests show DNS addresses that belong to your ISP, then your VPN is leaking your DNS info.
How to fix a DNS leak
If the results of your VPN test show a DNS leak, try contacting your VPN provider’s customer support. They may be able to address the issue.
Otherwise, switch to a better VPN with its own encrypted DNS servers — like Avast SecureLine VPN. This will ensure that your VPN won’t reveal your DNS info, which can be used to find your IP address.
WebRTC leaks (and what is a WebRTC leak? )
WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is a free, open-source solution that lets websites and apps host real-time audio and video communications, offer live streaming, and enable file sharing without using third-party software like extensions or plugins.
A WebRTC leak happens when your browser reveals your actual IP address when making WebRTC requests while you’re connected to a VPN. A good VPN will prevent WebRTC leaks, but not all VPNs do.
Let’s find out what happens with Avast SecureLine VPN.
How to test for a WebRTC leak
With your VPN off, head to a website that can test your VPN for WebRTC protection. Here, we’ll use BrowserLeaks. You should see your actual IP address under Public IP Address.
Connect to your VPN and refresh the page. If your browser is protecting you against WebRTC leaks, you’ll see your VPN-provided IP address here.
In the screenshot above, the IP address in the WebRTC test matches that of our VPN connection — if you get similar results, then your VPN test worked and your VPN is hiding your IP address.
If you still see your actual IP address after the VPN test, then your VPN is leaking your IP address when your web browser makes WebRTC requests.
How to fix a WebRTC leak
If your browser is leaking your IP address via WebRTC, you’ve got several options. The safest, most convenient, and most effective solution is to use a VPN that protects against WebRTC leaks. As we’ve seen in our test above, Avast SecureLine VPN hides your IP address and forces your browser to use one of our IP addresses instead for WebRTC.
And to ensure comprehensive leak protection, our dedicated privacy and security engineers built a simple VPN browser extension that’s easily launched from within the Avast SecureLine VPN app. With Avast SecureLine VPN’s extension turned on, you’ll get comprehensive protection against WebRTC leaks.
You should be able to rely on your VPN to protect your personal data at all times: when you’re using WebRTC to video-call a colleague, banking online, sending a file, surfing over free public Wi-Fi, or trying to unblock a beloved website. Avast SecureLine VPN gets the job done every time, with bank-grade encryption and super-fast servers all over the world.
Without a reliable VPN, you’ll need to disable WebRTC in your browser. This will stop WebRTC leaks, but it’ll also prevent you from using WebRTC-related functions at all.
Test your VPN speed
IP address leaks aren’t the only thing to worry about when testing your VPN. No matter how secure your VPN is, you won’t want to use it if it’s slowing down your internet connection.
A number of factors can affect your VPN speed, and not all of them are due to the VPN itself.
Your internet connection: Your VPN can’t be faster than your actual internet connection. The best it can do is be just as fast.
Physical distance between you and the VPN server: The closer you are to your VPN server, the faster the connection will usually be. But this isn’t always true, since VPN speed can also depend on…
The number of people using the same server: If the closest server to you is handling lots of simultaneous connections, you might get faster service by connecting to one a bit farther away.
Your computer’s processing power: Your computer encrypts and decrypts data as it flows through your VPN. A struggling computer can’t support super-fast VPN speeds.
Local bandwidth limits: If you live in a region with bandwidth restrictions or limitations, your internet speed may suffer. The same can happen if you’re sharing an internet connection with other people.
A quick VPN speed test will show you how well your VPN is performing. If you Google “internet speed test, ” you’ll find one at the top of the search results. Click Run Speed Test to begin.
How to fix VPN speed issues
Is your VPN too slow? Here are a few ways you can speed up your VPN connection. But remember, your VPN can only be as fast as the speed you get from your ISP.
Disconnect and reconnect. You never know — sometimes a reset can make a difference.
Change servers. Experiment and see if you get faster speeds on a different server. Some VPNs can auto-connect you to the fastest available server at any time.
Try a wired connection. Wi-Fi is usually slower than Ethernet. You’ll likely get faster speeds if you connect your computer to your router with an Ethernet cable.
Close down other apps. The more apps that are funneling data through your internet connection, the slower everything will feel.
Do a malware scan. Malicious software can eat up your PC’s resources and slow it down. Try a virus removal tool to speed things up.
What you should do if your VPN isn’t working
Has your VPN failed any of the VPN tests outlined above? If so, contact your VPN’s support team. If you’re using a trustworthy VPN, they should be available to resolve the issue.
Otherwise, switch to a trustworthy and secure VPN that won’t leak your IP address or other personal info online. Avast SecureLine VPN hides your IP address and protects your internet traffic against DNS leaks and other privacy threats to keep you anonymous whenever you’re online.
Protect your privacy with our trusted VPN
There’s no reason to use a VPN that can’t keep your IP address hidden. For true online anonymity whenever you connect, choose a VPN from the cybersecurity experts trusted by over 435 million users worldwide.
Avast SecureLine VPN uses powerful encryption protocols to secure your internet connection against leaks of any kind, protecting you against anyone trying to access your personal data. Experience airtight online privacy today with our 7-day free trial.
What Does a VPN Hide? (And What It Doesn’t) – CactusVPN
What does a VPN hide, exactly? And what doesn’t it hide?
We’ll do our best to answer those questions in this guide. We have a full FAQ section down below, so feel free to skip to the question that interests you the most.
What Does a VPN Hide?
Here’s a list of the main things a VPN hides:
1. Your IP Address
When you browse the web without a VPN, everyone can see your IP address – websites, hackers, surveillance agencies, advertisers. The list goes on and on, really.
You don’t need us to tell you why that’s a big problem … but we’ll do it anyway.
Basically, it takes all the fun out of going online. What you browse on the web isn’t just between you and your screen. Pretty much everyone can associate your IP address with your online preferences.
For example, online advertisers will know that your IP communicates often with sites that sell craft beer or Christmas decorations. So, they’ll start spamming you with targeted ads about those things. The sites you visit know your IP, so they can deliver those ads to you.
Some people might find those ads useful. But, for most of us, they’re downright creepy and annoying.
Well, if you use a VPN, that’s no longer a problem. The service hides your IP address by routing your traffic through a VPN server. Basically, your connection will look like this:
You → ISP Network → VPN Server → Internet
You’ll essentially communicate with the web through the VPN’s IP. So, any site you visit will only see the VPN’s IP address.
Oh, and here’s another cool thing – by hiding your IP address, VPNs help you bypass firewalls. You’re not browsing the web through an IP that has firewall restrictions linked to it anymore, after all.
2. Your Geo-Location
When websites see your IP address, they don’t just have a way to track you online and associate your online preferences to you. They’re also able to tell exactly where you’re from. In case you didn’t know, your IP actually reveals a lot of data about you:
What country and city you are your ZIP code is (not all the time, but still) your ISP is.
If you’re not concerned about your online privacy, that seems pretty harmless, right?
Well, it isn’t. If websites know your geo-location, they can do this:
Use geo-blocks to stop you from interacting with various content – like watching specific titles on Netflix or using sites like Hulu and geographical price discrimination to display different prices to you based on your geo-location. For example, if you’re from the US, you might see higher prices than if you were from Poland or India.
Since VPNs hide your IP address, nobody will see your geo-location anymore. Any site you visit will just think your location matches the geographical range of the VPN’s IP address. So if you use a US VPN server, it’ll look like your traffic is coming from the US.
Translated, that means you can use a VPN to unblock any content you want (movies, TV series, radio stations, news sites, etc. ) and even save money (on car rentals, bookings, video games, or airplane tickets, for instance).
3. Your Traffic
When you go online at home or use public WiFi, your ISP and cybercriminals can eavesdrop on your Internet traffic. That way, they can see your online activities. Hackers can use that information to target you with MITM attacks. And your ISP can use that knowledge to selectively throttle your bandwidth.
All in all, it doesn’t sound good for you.
So how can a VPN help?
It’s simple – the service encrypts your traffic end-to-end. That’s just a fancy way of saying that nobody will be able to spy on your traffic anymore. If they try to do that, they’ll just see gibberish.
Let’s say you’re visiting Facebook while using a VPN. Anyone who tries to monitor your traffic won’t see connection requests heading to Instead, they’ll just see this: Bi1spxg7jr6pkgaX7tjzZQ==.
The perks are pretty obvious: with a VPN, hackers can’t steal your data, and your ISP can’t lower your speeds for specific online services.
If you’d like to know how the encryption-decryption process works with a VPN, here’s a brief overview:
You use a VPN app to connect to a VPN two establish an encrypted connection. Any data that passes through it is you visit a site, the app encrypts your traffic and sends it to the VPN server receives your traffic, decrypts it, and sends it to its destination (the site you want to visit), the VPN server receives the content you requested. It encrypts it, and sends it to the VPN app receives the data and decrypts it so that you can view it.
It sounds like a lengthy process, but don’t worry – in reality, it’s very quick. It won’t even take a second!
4. Your VPN Usage (Maybe)
We say maybe because not all VPNs can do this. But if the provider uses obfuscation, their service can hide the fact that you’re using a VPN in the first place.
Basically, your ISP and government won’t see that you’re using the OpenVPN protocol. Instead, they’ll just see regular HTTPS or HTTP traffic (depending on which obfuscation method the VPN uses).
Overall, this is a pretty handy perk that helps you stay under the radar if your government doesn’t approve of people using VPNs. Or if your ISP has a problem with VPNs and throttles VPN traffic.
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Common FAQs
What follows is a list of FAQs about what VPNs do and don’t hide. We included questions we got from our readers, and found on Reddit and Quora.
We realize we already answered a few of them at the start of the article, but we figured some readers might scan the article to the FAQ they’re most interested in. So we decided to answer them again in short to offer the most reader-friendly experience.
If your question isn’t on this list, please reach out to us in the comments. We’ll do our best to answer it ASAP.
Does a VPN Hide You from Your ISP?
A pretty vague question. VPNs obviously won’t hide your physical location from your ISP (your home address). However, they can hide you from your ISP by:
Masking your traffic, so that they can’t analyze your data packets anymore to see what web services you’re your browsing. Basically, your ISP won’t know what sites you’re visiting. They’ll only see that you’re connected to a random IP address (the VPN’s IP).
All in all, using a VPN will stop your ISP from learning what your online preferences are (and potentially selling that data to advertisers).
Does a VPN Hide Your IP Address?
Yes, of course. The VPN intercepts your connection requests (which contain your IP) with its VPN server, and then forwards them to the web using its server’s IP.
So whenever you’re online and are using a VPN, any site you visit will only see the VPN’s IP address. Yours remains “hidden. ”
Does a VPN Hide Your IP from Your ISP?
No, VPNs can’t do that (no tools can, really). We saw a surprisingly big number of people that actually thought that if they use a VPN, their ISPs won’t know what their original IP addresses are.
It just doesn’t work like that. VPNs can only hide your IP from the rest of the Internet. Your ISP will always be able to see your IP while you’re using a VPN. Their dashboard might show something like this:
Source IP (Your IP)Destination IP (The VPN’s IP)1. 2. 3. 45. 6. 7. 8.
Plus, don’t forget – your ISP is the one who assigns you your IP address. They obviously have a database where they keep track of which customer gets which IPs.
You don’t need to worry about that, though. Just because your ISP can still see your IP when you’re using a VPN doesn’t mean you don’t get any privacy. They still can’t see your online browsing.
Does a VPN Hide Your Search History?
Yes, you can say it does that in a way. Since your ISP won’t be able to see what sites you browse, they won’t know what you’re looking up on the Internet. Also, websites and advertisers won’t be able to link your searches to your IP address.
But using a VPN won’t hide your search history from your browser or any cookies sites might place on your device. To protect your privacy from that, you should also use incognito/private mode. Or, at the very least, you should clear your browser’s cookies and cache regularly.
Does a VPN Hide Torrenting?
Yes, a VPN can make torrenting more private by stopping your ISP from seeing that you’re downloading torrents.
Don’t forget – your ISP can detect torrent traffic if they’re actively searching for it. High bandwidth usage, multiple TCP connections, and parallel upload streams are usually a dead giveaway.
If you use a VPN, though, they can’t see any of that. The service encrypts your traffic, so your ISP won’t know you’re using torrent services.
Does a VPN Hide Your Location?
Yes. VPNs hide your IP address, which reveals your geo-location. Anyone who tries to look up your geo-location while you’re using a VPN will only see the location of the VPN server you’re using.
Does a VPN Hide the Websites You Visit?
Yes. Your ISP and network admin will only see that you’re connecting to the VPN’s IP address. They won’t see the final destination of your connection (the sites’ IP addresses).
So if you’re visiting Facebook, your connection will look like this:
Your IP Address → ISP Network → VPN Server IP Address → Facebook IP Address
Your ISP and network admins will only see this:
Your IP Address → VPN Server IP Address
They won’t see this:
Your IP Address → Facebook IP Address
Does a VPN Hide Your MAC Address?
No, a VPN can’t do that. Unlike your IP address, your MAC address isn’t assigned to you by your ISP. Instead, the manufacturer of your device assigns it. And also unlike your IP, your MAC address doesn’t travel to the worldwide web. It only stays on your local network. So, the VPN can’t route it through its servers to hide it.
But the problem takes care of itself as you can see. Your MAC address isn’t visible to websites, so your privacy isn’t at risk even though a VPN can’t hide it.
People used to be concerned that IPv6 addresses could leak MAC addresses some time ago. But the Privacy Extensions update for IPv6 took care of that. If you’re still worried about that, no problem – here’s how to disable IPv6 completely.
Does a VPN Hide Your VPN Usage?
Yes, but only if the VPN uses obfuscation to mask its traffic. And usually only if you’re using the OpenVPN protocol since it has a unique digital signature which obfuscation can mask.
You can also get some obfuscation if you use the SSTP protocol since it uses port 443 (the HTTPS port) and SSL encryption. However, it’s not a very popular option since it’s closed-source and only owned by Microsoft. Also, it’s only available on Windows devices.
If you use other protocols, obfuscation wouldn’t really help since most of them use dedicated ports (L2TP/IPSec uses UDP ports 500, 4500, and 1701, for example). And some protocols weren’t intended to be used with obfuscation (like WireGuard).
Does a VPN Hide Your Phone Location?
Not really. Sure, a VPN can hide your phone’s IP to hide its geo-location. But even then, there are still plenty of ways to track your phone’s location:
WiFi networks that are in range. Cellular sensors and data.
Maybe you could spoof the GPS data with some apps, but there’s not much you can do about the WiFi networks and cellular towers.
Does a VPN Hide Your Browsing History from Routers?
Yes. VPN encryption starts at your device and lasts until your data reaches the VPN server. Before it does that, your traffic passes through a router. So it (the router) can’t see your browsing history because it’s encrypted.
If you’re having trouble picturing how that works, here’s a helpful image:
Does a VPN Hide Your Online Browsing at Work?
VPNs can do that since they hide the sites you visit. So your office’s network admins won’t be able to see that you’re browsing Facebook. But they will know you’re connecting to a VPN IP address (they know it belongs to a VPN because there’s no website name next to it).
However, that’s only true if you use your own device. If you use a work computer, your employer can still see your online browsing even if you’re using a VPN. Here’s how:
They could use spyware that records your might have remote access to your work boss might use keyloggers (like Teramind) to keep tabs on what you’re IT team could check your device after hours.
To learn more about using a VPN at work, please read our guide.
Does a VPN Hide Your Data Usage?
Contrary to popular belief, VPNs don’t actually do that. They only hide what web services you use. That’s what stops your ISP from selectively throttling your speeds.
For example, with a VPN, they won’t know you’re binging Netflix. So they won’t be able to slow down your Netflix speeds.
However, they’ll still know how much data you use. They’ll just see that you’re sending it to and receiving it from the VPN server, like so:
Source IP (Your IP)
Destination IP (The VPN’s IP)
Sent
Received
1. 82 GB10 GB
Does a VPN Hide Your Account Activity?
No, VPNs can’t stop sites from seeing what you do when you’re logged into your accounts. For instance, if you log into your Reddit account while using a UK VPN server, the only thing that will be different will be that Reddit will think you’re connecting from the UK.
Other than that, the site can still see how you use the account. Plus, it can identify you thanks to cookies.
The only way a VPN can hide some of your account data is if you use a throwaway email to create a fake account. That way, the site can’t tie it to your IP address since a VPN hides it. Or, you know, don’t create an account to begin with.
Does a VPN Hide Your Whole Online Identity?
No, it can only hide it to a certain extent – by stopping anyone from tracking your IP address and seeing your traffic, basically.
But there are still plenty of ways sites, cybercriminals, and surveillance agencies can track your online identity: malware, background scripts, browser fingerprinting. Even social media can give away sensitive data if you’re not careful what you post and share on it. VPN’s don’t have control over your Facebook or Instagram, after all.
NOTE: Many people seem to think that VPNs offer complete anonymity. That’s false – they can only offer more privacy. To learn how to make up for what VPNs lack, check out our in-depth guide which covers that topic.
Does a VPN Hide You from Malware?
No, VPNs aren’t designed to prevent malware infections. Only antivirus programs can do that. So don’t think you can randomly download files from shady HTTP sites just because you’re using a VPN!
The only way VPNs can “hide” you from malware is if they employ firewall-like features that block your connections to malicious domains.
That, and they could theoretically protect you from some malware attacks by encrypting your traffic. Hackers won’t know what site you’re supposed to land on, so they can’t efficiently use fake sites infected with malware.
But, really, you’re much, much better off just using antivirus software (like Malwarebytes).
Does a VPN Hide You from Your Government?
Not completely, but it can create obstructions to make it harder for surveillance agencies to keep tabs on your online traffic.
Just be sure to use no-log VPNs (like CactusVPN). That way, the authorities can’t force the VPN provider to hand over logs containing user data.
What Does a VPN Hide? The tl;dr Version
VPNs are great online privacy tools that can hide your:
IP addressGeo-locationTrafficAnd the fact that you’re using a VPN
Overall, they’re great ways to bypass censorship and geo-blocks, protect your data from hackers and government surveillance, avoid annoying targeted ads, and make sure your ISP doesn’t know everything you do on the Internet.
If you know other things a VPN hides (or doesn’t), please tell us about them in the comments below.
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Frequently Asked Questions about does a vpn hide my ip address
How do I know if my VPN is hiding my IP address?
With your VPN off, head to DNSLeakTest, which will show you what your IP address is and display your general location. Now, turn on your VPN and reload the page. You should see your VPN’s IP address displayed here instead. If these IP addresses match, then your VPN is protecting your IP address.May 20, 2021
What does a VPN not hide?
Since your ISP won’t be able to see what sites you browse, they won’t know what you’re looking up on the Internet. … But using a VPN won’t hide your search history from your browser or any cookies sites might place on your device. To protect your privacy from that, you should also use incognito/private mode.Dec 3, 2020
Can my IP see my VPN?
What’s clear is that your ISP can’t see who you are or anything that you do online when you have a VPN activated. Your device’s IP address, the websites you visit, and your location are all undetectable. The only thing that your ISP can “see” when you’re using a VPN is encrypted data traveling to a remote server.Mar 21, 2021
