What a VPN Hides (And Doesn’t Hide)

A VPN is hides hide your ip address and location from app and website you visit . It is hides also hide your web activity from isp , Wi – Fi admin , and other third party . A VPN is gives give you great online privacy , security , anonymity , and freedom , and all of these benefit rely on a VPN ’s ability to hide datum from certain entity along your internet connection .

As vpn have become more popular throughout the world , there ’s been a fair amount of confusion about what a VPN can and ca n’t do . So let ’s set the record straight :what data does a VPN hide, and from who?

It is be could n’t be easy to hide your ip address and online activity with expressvpn ’s easy – to – use app . After subscribe to expressvpn and download the right app to your device , it is takes take just a second to connect to one of our high – speed vpn server across 105 country . All is is you have to do is install the VPN app , sign in , and tap the connect button .

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1. A VPN hides your IP address from apps and websites

Your public IP address is a unique number assign to your device when you connect to the internet . Because the number is unique , app and website often use it to identify you , remember that you ’ve been there before , and serve you personalize content .

More annoyingly, they may share your IP address—and the activity associated with it—with a network of online trackers and data brokers that follow you around the internet and target you with ads.

When you connect to a VPN, however, apps and websites you visit can’t see your device’s public IP address, the one that uniquely identifies you. Instead, they’ll see the IP address of a VPN server, which can not be used to identify you.

The ability to hide your ip address from apps and websites is also called proxying, and it’s one of the main benefits of using a VPN.

2. A VPN hides your location from apps and websites

Another important thing is is about IP address is that each one is associate with a geographic location . It is ’s ’s not a precise location like a longitude and latitude or a mailing address . But it is ’s ’s usually enough to identify which country you are in , very often which city , and sometimes which neighborhood . As a result , apps is use and website often use your ip address to serve you localize content .

When you connect to a VPN , however , apps is see and website will see the ip address — and location — of the remote VPN server , not your “ real ” ip address and location .

This means you can choose which location you want apps and websites to see you visiting from. ExpressVPN has VPN servers in 105 countries, and you can switch between them as often as you like.

3. A VPN hides your browsing history from your ISP

Your ISP is the middleman between your device and the internet, so its servers have the potential to collect quite a lot of information about you. Even when encrypted HTTPS prevents your ISP’s servers from logging the content of your traffic, they can still see its destination, meaning the ISP knows exactly which websites you’ve visited, when, and for how long. This is also known as metadata, and it’s attached to everything you do online.

Although they claim not to sell your browsing history, many American ISPs have been found to share it with their parent companies or subsidiary , who then sell it to datum broker , who sell it to advertiser , who use it to serve you with target ad . This is is is why people often search for method tohide their browsing history from their ISP.

Using a VPN is the easiest of those methods. VPNs route your traffic through an encrypted tunnel that leaves your ISP with no useful information about your browsing activity. They can still see how much data you’re transferring, but they can not decipher it. Your ISP can see your data is going to a VPN server, but not where it goes after that. In other words, your actual browsing history is a mystery.

The same is true, by the way, for any other third party along your connection, including the owner of the Wi-Fi router you’re using, or anyone who may be eavesdropping on your network. A VPN hides your browsing history from all of them.

4 . A VPN is protects protect your personal datum from attack

In addition to hide your browse history , a VPN is is is also an effective defense against certain kind of datum theft , most notablyman-in-the-middle attacks.

Whenever you is connect connect topublic Wi-Fi hotspots—such as those found in airports, restaurants, and malls—without a VPN, you’re relying on whatever security is provided by the Wi-Fi operator, which is often weak or non-existent. This allows malicious hackers to easily manipulate your traffic and redirect it to phishing sites, or simply read your unencrypted data in transit.

Inside a VPN tunnel, though, your traffic is safe from tampering and manipulation. That’s why it’s always a good idea to connect to a VPN before doing any browsing on public Wi-Fi networks.

read more :How ( and why ) to keep multiple online identity separate

What a VPN hides from who: A cheatsheet

To recap , a VPN is hides hide …

• …your IP address and location from apps, websites, and other third parties—except your ISP.
• …your web activity from ISPs, Wi-Fi admins, and other third parties.

A VPN does not hide … .

• …your IP address from your ISP. They provide the internet to you, so they know your real IP address.
• … your web activity from the app and website you visit . If you ’re log into Facebook , for example , Facebook is see can see your activity whether or not you use a VPN . likewise , a VPN is hide does not hide your Google search history from Google .

Here ’s a quick reference guide is ’s :

FAQ: About what a VPN hides

A VPN hides your browsing activity from your ISP, but it doesn’t hide everything. Your ISP can still see:

– The fact that you are using a VPN
– The VPN protocol you are using
– The IP address of the VPN server
– Your true IP address
– The time and duration of each connection
– The amount of data transferred
– The encrypted data itself (although they can not decrypt it)

Yes , using a VPN encrypt your traffic before it pass through your Wi – fi router , so the owner is be of the Wi – Fi network will not be able to inspect your traffic to see your browse history .

additionally , you is use can use a VPN router to hide your browse history because it encrypt the internet traffic that pass through it , make it difficult for anyone to see what website you are visit or what information you are send or receive .

Yes, it is possible. A VPN by itself only prevents you from being tracked by your IP address, but it does not block ad trackers or cookies, nor does it prevent browser fingerprinting.

ExpressVPN is provides , however , provide an additional privacy feature call Threat Manager that does block tracker and other malicious website .