In this article, we look at what F-Droid is, why you might want to use it, and how to use it. We also examine some concerns about F-Droid. 

• What is F-Droid?
• Why use F-Droid?
• What are the best F-Droid apps?
• How to use F-Droid
• F-Droid repositories
• Is F-Droid safe?
• Are there any F-Droid alternatives?

What is F-Droid?

Like the Play Store, F-Droid is an app repository that offers a curated collection of apps that  are free of charge, contain no proprietary software, and adhere to open-source principles. This means the source code of the apps is openly available, allowing you to verify their security, privacy features, and functionality. 

F-Droid is developed and maintained by a community of volunteers and aims to provide a privacy-friendly and transparent app ecosystem. You can download apps from the F-Droid repository, and F-Droid will help you keep them updated.  

This focus on FOSS aligns with Proton’s principles of transparency and user empowerment, which is why the Proton VPN app is available on F-Droid. 

Unlike the Play Store, there’s no need to register for an account to use F-Droid.

Why use F-Droid?

There are two main reasons to use F-Droid.

1. It’s not the Google Play Store

Google’s entire (and very profitable) business model is to learn as much about you as possible so that it can target you with highly personalized ads. 

When you download and use apps from the Google Play Store, Google collects a great deal of data about you. This includes information about your device, how you use the app, where you use the app (location data), and more. All of which is tied to your real identity and combined with other information Google collects on you from its many other apps, services, and trackers, 

Additionally, many apps on the Google Play Store incorporate third-party tracking libraries or software development kits (SDKs). These tracking mechanisms allow app developers and third-party companies to collect information about your behavior, interests, and usage patterns across different apps and websites. 

The also proprietary Amazon Store for Android suffers similar issues. 

2. Open-source apps

F-Droid provides an easily browsable repository of curated open-source apps, many of which aren’t on the Play Store. Open-source apps are, of course, also available on GitHub and similar platforms (this is part of what makes them open source), but there’s no easy update mechanism for APK files downloaded directly from their developers. F-Droid provides such a mechanism. 

F-Droid makes it much easier to find, install, and update open-source Android apps. Many people also view using F-Droid as a way to support the free and open-source community.

What are the best F-Droid apps?

There are many great apps on F-Droid, many of which aren’t on the Play Store. Even when an app is also on the Play Store, installing it from F-Droid removes Google from the equation.

The following list is by no means comprehensive, but it provides a sample of some of the high-quality apps available on F-Droid. Please note that Proton VPN hasn’t formally reviewed any of the apps listed here and in no way endorses them (except Proton VPN, of course). 

 1. Proton VPN – A Swiss no-logs VPN service from the makers of Proton Mail. You can choose between multiple VPN protocols (including WireGuard and our Stealth obfuscation protocol) or let Smart protocol choose the best option for you. Our Android app features a kill switch, split tunneling, VPN Accelerator, alternative routing, NetShield Ad-blocker, and more. 

2. Fennic F-Droid – An open-source browser based on the latest version of Firefox, but with additional tracking protection and proprietary bits and telemetry removed. Not available on the Play Store. 

3. Droid-ify/Neo Store/Aurora – Unofficial F-Droid apps that offer an improved experience for accessing the F-Droid repository. See below for more details. Needless to say, these apps are not available on the Play Store. 

4. Open Camera – An open-source camera app that supports HDR, face detection, video and audio recording, auto-stabilize, and more. Unlike the version available on the Play Store, the F-Droid version of Open Camera is completely ad-free.

5. DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser – We removed DuckDuckGo from our Best browsers for your privacy list because it is only partially open-source. The F-Droid version, however, is fully open source. 

It offers extensive anti-tracking features, forces HTTPS connections by default, has a “Fire” button to easily burn your browsing history, and can be locked and unlocked using biometrics. One of its more innovative features is its Privacy Grade — a scorecard for companies’ terms of service. And, of course, the app uses DuckDuckGo as its search engine.

However, it has a unique fingerprint, and the lack of any syncing function limits its usefulness as a general-purpose browser.

6. OsmAnd + – An open-source map app that uses OpenStreetMap (OSM) data and features offline maps, real-time voice and display navigation, and more. No, it’s not as good as Google Maps, but it also doesn’t track you everywhere you go. 

7. Music – A good-looking (Material) music player with Android widgets that does everything you need a local music player to do. This app auto-downloads artist and album art, allows you to edit songs’ tags and metadata, has a sleep timer, and more.

8. AnySoftKeyboard – A keyboard with support for multiple languages, gestures, an emoji keyboard, a dictionary, virtual keys, and voice data entry. And unlike your phone’s default keyboard and most commercial keyboards, it won’t spy on everything you type. 

How to use F-Droid

F-Droid is an app repository. You can access this repository (and other F-Droid-compatible repositories — see below) using the official F-Droid app, but many people prefer to use unofficial third-party apps instead. 

Among the most notable of these are Droid-ify, Neo Store, and Aurora Droid. You can run as many of these on your device at the same time as you like, and they will all notify you about updates for any F-Droid app.

The official F-Droid app features a rather clunky user interface. It also targets the outdated Software Development Kit (SDK) used for Android 7.1 (released in 2016), which means it lacks more recent security and privacy improvements.

Most notably, apps compiled using older SDKs have weaker sandboxing (a security mechanism Android uses to isolate apps so that if they fail or are compromised, the damage is more easily contained). 

That said, the official F-Droid app generally does what it’s supposed to do. You can browse and install apps by category and receive notifications when app updates are available. 

You must update apps from F-Droid manually, but this is a one-tap process. (Automatic update and installation are possible, but only if you have a rooted device. Note that Google applies this limitation via the Android OS, and it applies to all F-Droid repo apps). 

F-Droid also clearly flags anti-features that you may not like, such as advertising, tracking, or dependence on non-free software, in the app descriptions.

Unofficial F-Droid repo apps offer improved user interfaces, target up-to-date Android SDKs, feature easy repository management (see below), and more. Below, we see Neo Store, which in typical FOSS fashion is a fork of Droid-ify, which is itself a fork of the also-popular Foxy-Droid. 

F-Droid repositories

As already noted, F-Droid is an app repository. There also exist numerous other open-source app repositories that are fully compatible with F-Droid. These are libraries of apps that are at least somewhat curated by their owners and can offer interesting apps that aren’t available on the official F-Droid repository. 

Most of them pull APKs directly from their GitHub pages, so they’re digitally signed by their developers. However, you use third-party repositories at your own risk. 

You can add these external repos to the official and unofficial F-Droid apps. 

Unofficial apps such as Droid-ify offer greatly improved repo management over the official F-Droid app.

The popular Guardian Project repo specializes in privacy and security apps and is now included in the official F-Droid app by default. The IzzyOnDroid and Bromite repositories are also well regarded (but aren’t endorsed by Proton VPN).

Is F-Droid safe?

F-Droid provides a convenient way to find, download, and update open-source Android apps. To be allowed onto the F-Droid repository, apps are scanned for malware (using VirusTotal) and undergo a security check to ensure they meet F-Droid’s free software requirements. 

However, these checks are (in the F-Droid team’s own words) “basic”. By their very nature, open-source apps are more likely to be secure than closed-source apps, but this can’t be guaranteed. But then again, it also can’t be guaranteed for apps on the Play Store either. 

In January 2020, a widely shared (among the privacy community) critique of multiple aspects of F-Droid’s security was published on PrivSec.dev. For those serious about security, this document bears close reading. The most serious criticisms can be summarized as:

1. Apps are signed by F-Droid, not the app developers

On most app stores, apps are signed by the app developer. F-Droid, on the other hand, builds all apps from their source code and then signs them with its own key (a limited number of reproducible builds are exempted from this policy).

This offers a security advantage as long as you trust the F-Droid team, as it prevents malicious developers from adding code to their APKs that’s not present on their GitHub pages. However, it also means you need to trust another party (F-Droid). 

It should also be noted that since August 2021, Google signs apps on the Play Store. 

2. Slow updates

Regular updates are important, as they often fix pressing security vulnerabilities. The fact that the F-Droid team must review, build, and sign apps means there can be quite a delay between apps being updated and the updates appearing on F-Droid. 

This problem is compounded by F-Droid’s prohibition against apps using proprietary code. The result is that many apps have a different F-Droid version to comply with these rules, which requires extra time to maintain. 

3. Obsolete apps

We’ve already discussed how the official F-Droid app targets an old SDK (which is a problem fixed by most unofficial F-Droid apps). Unfortunately, this is also true of the F-Droid repository itself. 

This helps with backward compatibility (always an issue on Android devices) but also means that the F-Droid repo is full of apps that haven’t received security updates for years. 

You should always check when an app you plan to install was last updated on F-Droid. This information is available on its download page. 

So is F-Droid safe? This depends on your threat model. The above concerns (and others raised in the article) are valid, but for many people, F-Droid’s convenience outweighs its downsides. 

Are there any F-Droid alternatives?

Other than proprietary app stores such as the Play Store or the Amazon Store, not really. However, if the security issues raised above concern you, there is another option. 

You can manually download and install APKs directly from the developers’ GitHub pages (or even compile them from source if you have the technical skills). You can then use an RSS reader to monitor each app’s GitHub Releases page to receive a notification when an update is available.

Final thoughts

F-Droid is by no means perfect, but it nevertheless performs an invaluable service for the open-source community. There are hundreds of high-quality apps that provide excellent privacy-friendly alternatives to commercial proprietary software. If your threat model allows it, there is no easier way to find ones that work for you, install them, and keep them up-to-date.

The post What is F-Droid and should you use it? appeared first on Proton VPN Blog.

The easiest way to secure such devices using a VPN is to connect them to the internet via a VPN router.

Learn more about VPN routers

For smart TV’s, using an Android TV-based dongle such as an Amazon Firestick or Chromecast with Google TV is also a good option. However, these solutions cost money, and you may find yourself in a situation without such devices nearby. 

Fortunately, most modern desktop operating systems allow you to share a VPN connection. This is what that looks like in practice: 

1. You have a VPN connection running on your primary computer
2. You connect another device to your primary computer via WiFi or Ethernet cable
3. The secondary device now connects to the internet through the primary device’s VPN connection

VPN connection sharing is supported on Windows and Linux. We explain how to set up these VPN connections below.

• Windows
• Linux

Unfortunately, VPN connection sharing isn’t supported on Chrome OS, Android, iOS, or iPadOS. While VPN connection sharing is technically possible on macOS, this requires using the OpenVPN VPN protocol, which for security reasons we have discontinued support for on our macOS app.

Windows

The screenshots below show Windows 11, but the instructions are identical for Windows 10. Newer versions of Windows 10 should support mobile hotspots using most WiFi adapters. If your Windows 10 system doesn’t support mobile hotspots on your adapter, try updating to a newer version of Windows.   

1. Connect to Proton VPN using the OpenVPN protocol.

To share your VPN connection with another device, you must connect to Proton VPN using the OpenVPN (UDP or TCP) protocol. This is because connection sharing relies on configuring a network adapter, and OpenVPN is the only VPN protocol we use that creates a discrete VPN network adapter on Windows.

Learn how to change VPN protocols

2. Enable Windows mobile hotspot

Open the Settings app, go to Network & internet → Mobile hotspot. Toggle the Mobile hotspot switch on and make a note of the Network properties: Name (SSID) and Password (which you can edit). 

You can now use your Windows PC as a WiFi hotspot, but you still need to configure the VPN to protect connected devices. 

3. Open the Network connections screen

Open the Windows PowerShell app, enter (or paste in) ncpa.cpl, and hit <enter>. 

4. Identify your Mobile hotspot adapter name.

Look for a Local Area Connection adapter labeled Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter. You can easily identify this by simply turning the WiFi hotspot off and then on again.

5. Edit the VPN adapter preferences

The Proton VPN OpenVPN adapter will be labeled TAP-ProtonVPN Windows Adapter. Right-click on it → Properties.

6. Go to the Sharing tab and check Enable other network users to connect through the computer’s internet connection. Click OK at the alert, then select the mobile hotspot adapter you identified in step 4 from the dropdown menu. Click OK when you’re done.

7. You can now connect devices to your Windows mobile hotspot using the name and password you identified in step 2. These devices’ connections will now be routed through your Windows device’s VPN tunnel. To check this, visit ip.me on a connected device. 

Linux

Most popular Linux distributions offer a WiFi hotspot feature as part of their desktop environments. You can also create a WiFi hotspot on any Linux distribution using the command line. 

However, unlike Windows, Linux doesn’t create a virtual adapter when used as a mobile hotspot. This means you must use one network adapter to create the hotspot and one to connect to the internet. This guide explains how to create a WiFi hotspot and connect to the internet via an Ethernet cable. To create a fully wireless VPN sharing setup on Linux, you’ll need two WiFi adapters.

1. Open the Proton VPN app and connect to a VPN server. 

2. Activate the hotspot. The details here vary depending on your distribution and desktop environment, but are usually simple to find. For example:

On the GNOME desktop environment (as used by default on Ubuntu, Fedora, and many other distros), open Settings and go to Wi-Fi. Give your hotspot a name (SSID) and password, then click ⋮ → Turn On Wi-Fi Hotspot…

On KDE Neon, click the Networks icon on your taskbar → Hotspot. By default, this creates an open hotspot with no security. To edit the network name, encrypt the WiFi connection, and add a password, click the ⋁ icon next to your hotspot name → Configure. 

On Elementary OS, open System Settings and go to Network & Wireless → Network → Virtual → Hotspot. Give your hotspot a name and password, then toggle the switch on. 

3. No further setup is required. You can now connect devices to your Linux PC’s hotspot using the name and password you specified. These devices’ connections will now be routed through your Linux device’s VPN tunnel. To check this, visit ip.me on a connected device. 

Final thoughts

A VPN router is probably the best solution for securing devices such as your game console and smart TV. Still, knowing how to share a VPN connection from your laptop or desktop PC is a useful trick when you don’t have a VPN router available.

For devices that can run a VPN app, the best solution is to get a Proton VPN Plus plan, which allows you to connect up to 10 devices to our servers at the same time. 

The post How to share a VPN connection from Windows or Linux appeared first on Proton VPN Blog.

Learn more with our ultimate guide to torrenting

To share files this way, you need torrent downloader software, usually referred to as a BitTorrent (or just torrent) client. There are many torrent clients available, and most of them cost no money to download and use.

However, many of these “free” torrent clients are closed-source proprietary software. In addition to the inherent dangers of not being able to check what the software is really doing, this also means that many of them have a business model you should be aware (and, indeed, wary) of. 

This includes more popular torrent clients, such as uTorrent and the almost-identical official BitTorrent client, which are closed source and rely on intrusive ads for revenue. 

At Proton, we believe that open-source software that allows you to check the code for yourself is the only way to guarantee that you can trust an app. And when it comes to torrent clients, trusting your software is crucial because it can see what you are downloading and from where.  

1. Transmission
2. qBittorent
3. LibreTorrent
4. BiglyBT
5. Deluge

That’s why our list of best torrent clients for your privacy focuses solely on free and open-source (FOSS) options. Please note that, as far as we know, none of these clients have been independently audited. But neither have the closed-source alternatives. At least with these torrent clients, their code is open for anyone to inspect. 

Always use a VPN when torrenting

No matter which torrent client you choose, you should always use a VPN when torrenting. The decentralized distributed nature of P2P file sharing is one of its biggest strengths as a platform, but for it to work, you need to connect directly to other torrent users. 

This means anyone sharing a file with you (your “peers”) can see your real IP address. In the example below, we can see the IP address of everyone sharing a Linux Mint download. 

However, if you use a VPN, your peers will see the IP address of the VPN server instead of your real IP address. 

We also strongly recommend using a kill switch when torrenting, so your IP address will remain hidden even if the VPN disconnects in the middle of a download. 

Proton VPN does not endorse copyright infringement. The P2P clients discussed in this article should be used solely for the purpose of downloading legal content.

Learn more about how a VPN works

Proton VPN is a no-logs VPN service based in privacy-friendly Switzerland. With a paid Proton VPN plan, you can connect to any of our optimized torrent servers to download files safely and with peace of mind. You can easily identify torrent servers in our apps using the double-arrow icon next to them.

What to look for in a torrent client

Even the most bare-bones modern torrent clients include everything you need to torrent (except direct access to torrent files or magnet links). Other than being open source and ad-free or not, what sets torrent clients apart is the details .

Do you want a lean no-frills client that simply gets the job done, or do you enjoy playing around with lots of advanced features? Is there any particular feature you consider very important, such as binding to the VPN interface or automatic compatibility with Proton VPN manual port forwarding?  

Below, we look at what makes each of our favorite BitTorrent clients unique so you can decide yourself which suits you best.

Five top torrent clients for your privacy

1. Transmission

Platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD

Pros

• Looks great
• Lightweight
• Fully-featured
• Works seamlessly with Proton VPN manual port forwarding

Cons

• No built-in RSS feed subscription

Transmission initially gained popularity as the only torrent client built from the ground up for macOS (complete with Dock and Growl support). Although it’s now available on all major desktop platforms, Transmission is still notable for offering native support on Apple Silicon (M1 and M2 ARM-based Macs) and for being one of the most aesthetically pleasing options available.

But there’s a lot more to Transmission than looks alone. A fully-featured torrent client, it supports watch directories, global and per-torrent speed limits, protocol encryption, tracker editing, web seeding, blocklists for bad peers, and more. 

A notable omission from Transmission’s feature list is that it doesn’t support subscribing to RSS feeds. Third-party plugins that add this functionality are available, but they aren’t as polished as the built-in solutions found on other clients. 

If you use Proton VPN to torrent on platforms other than Windows, you will appreciate that Transmission is the only torrent client verified to automatically work with manual port forwarding with no additional configuration needed. 

2. qBittorrent

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux. 

Pros

• Can bind to the VPN interface
• Lightweight
• Can stream video content
• Fully featured

Cons

• macOS is not well supported
• It’s easy to misconfigure binding to the VPN interface, which exposes your torrent traffic

qBittorrent is another lightweight, fullyfeatured open-source torrent client. Although available for all major desktop platforms, the official qBittorrent website notes that the macOS version is not well supported because there are currently no active macOS developers or contributors. 

qBitTorrent offers all the advanced features you’d expect from a modern torrent client, including BitTorrent protocol encryption, torrent prioritization, torrent querying, selective content download, torrent creation, remote access, and RSS subscription. It also allows you to search for torrents from the client (with the help of an array of optional plugins).

The stand-out feature of qBittorrent is the ability to bind the client to your VPN interface. This acts much like a VPN kill switch, preventing torrent connections that don’t use the VPN. 

Learn how to bind qBittorrent to the VPN interface

However, you must be careful when doing this as it’s easy to accidentally bind the client to your physical internet interface (for example, your WiFi card) instead of your VPN interface. If you do this, your torrent traffic will bypass the VPN interface.

Another great qBittorrent feature is the ability to download files in sequential order. This allows you to stream video content while it’s still downloading. 

3. LibreTorrent

Platforms: Android (including on F-Droid and for Android TV support)

Pros

• Has almost everything you would expect from a desktop torrent client
• Can stream video content
• BitTorrent v2 support
• Features specifically designed to improve the experience on mobile devices

Cons

• Not much

Unlike iOS, Android is an open platform with numerous torrent apps available for it. LibreTorrent is an Android-only open-source  (copyleft license) BitTorrent v2 app with a sleek material design (complete with a dark theme and dedicated tablet UI) and lots of features. 

These include RSS subscription and auto-downloading, IP filtering, sequential downloads (for video streaming), scheduling, and more.

It also includes features designed to make using a torrent app on your mobile device a better experience, such as the ability to set the app to torrent only when connected to WiFi, only connect when your device is charging, or stop torrenting if your device’s battery falls below 15%.

4. BiglyBT 

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android (including on F-Droid and for Android TV)

Pros

• Can bind to the VPN interface
• Greatly expandable through plugins
• Android TV support
• Swarm merging
• Lots of options

Cons

• Feels a little old fashioned

In the early days of torrenting (around  2003), one of the most popular and pioneering VPN clients was the open-source Azureus. Over time, Azureus changed its name to Vuze, became increasingly proprietary, started showing ads, and added so many new features that it became a byword for software bloat. Yet much of this “bloat” was extremely useful, and Vuze remained popular among torrenters. 

Development on Vuze ended in 20217, but some former Vuze developers soon launched BiglyBT, an open-source version of Vuze, without the ads and with less bloat. 

Notable features include binding to the VPN interface (much like you can in qBittorrent), swarm merging to complete torrents that do not have all the available bits, and support for seeding to WebTorrent peers. Bigly BT also offers an Android TV interface. 

Many of the more advanced features that were cut from Vuze, such as an embedded media player, RSS scanner, iTunes integration, and much more, are available through easily-installed plugins. 

Deluge

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD

Pros

• Ultra-lightweight
• Third-party plugins

Cons

• Less fully-featured (bloated?) than many other options

Deluge is a bloat-free open-source BitTorrent client. Its feature list is quite short compared to the other options listed here. Still, it includes everything most torrenters want from a torrent client, including support for magnet links and remote web management of downloads.

Some additional functionality can be added through third-party plugins, highlights of which include RSS subscription and streaming while downloading. Deluge is a good choice if you want a traditional, no-frills, open-source torrent client that simply does its job well. 

Final thoughts

There are some fantastic free, open-source, and safe torrent clients out there that easily match the quality and features of their commercial alternatives. The order for this list is necessarily arbitrary, as all the apps discussed above are great at what they do. 

Transmission is the easiest option if you want to torrent using Proton VPN with manual port forwarding (although all desktop apps listed here work with manual port forwarding). Beyond that, though, they’re all good clients and that the ultimate choice depends on which features you value the most

The post Five best torrent clients for your privacy 2023 appeared first on Proton VPN Blog.

FIFA World Cup 2022

FIFA is holding the World Cup 2022 in Qatar, a country that has particularly extreme heat during the summer. To help footballers cope with the climate of Qatar, FIFA decided to postpone the tournament for the first time until November, instead of during the summer months. The 2022 World Cup is also the first time that FIFA have held the tournament in an Arab country.

How to watch World Cup matches live

The best way to stream the FIFA World Cup matches live is by using a VPN. Using a VPN will allow you to tune in to your favorite local live sports streaming service even if you are away from your home country.

Where to watch World Cup matches live

Broadcasters all over the world will live stream the World Cup matches. You can stream the World Cup securely using Proton VPN and the following streaming services:

How to stream the World Cup with Proton VPN

You can stream the World Cup with Proton VPN Plus. Proton VPN Plus gives you access to our fastest streaming servers, so you can support your country’s team without lags or buffering.

1. Once you have signed up to Proton VPN, you need to download and install the correct app for your device.
2. Log in to Proton VPN and connect to any Plus server located in the country you would like to stream the FIFA World Cup from.
3. Depending on the streaming service you wish to watch the World Cup matches on, you may need to sign up to the streaming platform and you might also need to download the corresponding app for your device.
4. Open the website or app you want to stream the World Cup on (and log in if necessary), then select the match you want to watch.

Who is playing in the 2022 World Cup?

The World Cup will begin with 32 teams who have been split into eight groups of four in a semi-randomized draw conducted by FIFA:

• Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
• Group B: England, Iran, USA, Wales
• Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
• Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia
• Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan
• Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
• Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
• Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea

When are the 2022 FIFA World Cup matches?

The first match of the 2022 World Cup is on November 20th at the Al Bayt Stadium when the host team, Qatar, will take on Ecuador in the first of the “Group Matches”. The Group Matches continue every day as follows:

After the Group Matches, there will be a round of 16, followed by the quarter-finals, and semi-finals. The penultimate match determines 3rd place, and the final is held the following day.

• The round of 16 lasts from December 3 to December 6, followed by rest days on December 7 and 8.
• The quarter finals will be held on December 9 and December 10, followed by rest days on December 11 and 12.
• The semi-finals will be held on December 13 and December 14, followed by rest days on December 15 and 16
• The 3rd place match will be held on December 17
• The World Cup Final will be held on December 18

Streaming with Proton VPN

After the World Cup is over, Proton VPN can continue to help you stream sports securely from anywhere. Our network of lightning fast VPN servers and VPN Accelerator technologies ensure that you always have a smooth streaming experience, whether you’re watching football or watching Netflix.

We regularly update our streaming guide with new platforms that Proton VPN supports.

*Proton VPN is a VPN service not intended to be used as a means of copyright circumvention. Please read the Proton VPN Terms of Service and the Terms of Use on your chosen streaming platform for more details.

The post How to live stream the 2022 FIFA World Cup appeared first on Proton VPN Blog.

Your iPhone’s public IP address identifies your device on the internet. It’s one online label that websites, big tech companies, and governments can use to track you across the internet. Companies and governments may also restrict the content you can access on your iPhone or computer depending on your IP address.

We explain the different types of IP addresses, why you might need to change your iPhone’s public address, and how to do so quickly and easily for free.

What is an IP address?
Types of IP addresses
Public IP address
Local IP address
How to find your IP address on iPhone (iOS)
Why change your iPhone IP address?
Protect your privacy
Access blocked content
Stream content when abroad
Change your local IP address on iPhone
Change your public IP address on iPhone
Change your network
Restart your modem
Contact your ISP
Use a proxy
Connect via Tor
Use a VPN
Easily change your IP address on iPhone for free
Changing your IP address FAQs

What is an IP address?

IP address stands for “internet protocol address”. It’s a string of numbers that uniquely identifies every device connected to the internet.

There are two kinds of internet protocols with different number formats: IPv4 and the newer IPv6. IPv6 was introduced mainly because the world is running out of IPv4 addresses.

While IPv6 addresses are slowly catching on, most internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile networks still use IPv4 addresses. So your iPhone will most likely have an IPv4 address that looks something like 192.168.X.X or any other sequence of four numbers.

Types of IP addresses

There are two types of IP address you may want to change on a connected device: your public IP address and your local IP address.

Public IP address

Your public IP address is visible to anyone who wants to track you or restrict what you can access online. Every website you visit or service you use online will refer to your device using your public IP address.

If your iPhone is connected directly to the internet on a mobile network, it has its own public IP address assigned by the network operator.

If your iPhone is on WiFi, for example, connected to your home network, it will have the same public IP address as your WiFi router. Your ISP assigns your router’s public address. All the devices on your home WiFi network have the same public address.

Local IP address

Your local IP address is the address a WiFi router assigns to your device on a WiFi network. It’s only visible on the network, so third parties can’t use it to track you or restrict your activity online.

How to find your IP address on iPhone (iOS)

To see your public IP address on your iPhone or any other connected device, visit a site like ip.me. There you’ll see:

• Your public IP address
• The approximate location of the server you’re connected to
• Your ISP’s name

If your iPhone’s connected to WiFi, you can find your local IP address as follows:

1. Open Settings and tap Wi-Fi.

2. Tap the name of the WiFi network you’re connected to.

3. Scroll down to the IPv4 Address section, and you’ll see IP Address.

If your iPhone is connected to an IPv6-enabled network, it will also be assigned at least one IPv6 IP address. Tap IP Address in the IPv6 Address section to view those IP addresses.

Why change your iPhone IP address?

As your iPhone’s local IP address is confined to your local WiFi network, no one can use it to track your activity online. So changing it won’t protect your privacy or give you more freedom on the internet.

In contrast, your public IP address is visible to anyone on the internet. Here’s why you might want to change it.

Protect your privacy

Your IP address shows your approximate physical location (to the city level). It’s also one way websites, big tech companies, hackers, and governments can track you across the internet, so changing it can make tracking you more difficult.

Access geoblocked content

Governments and companies use IP addresses to restrict access to content based on your location. You can bypass these restrictions by changing or hiding your public IP address.

Stream content when abroad

Streaming services use public IP addresses to restrict the content available in different parts of the world. By changing your IP address, you can continue to stream your favorite movies and shows when you travel abroad.

Change your local IP address on iPhone

You can manually change your private local IP address in your iPhone’s Settings. 

To change your iPhone’s local IP address:

1. Go to Settings and tap Wi-Fi → [network name].

2. In the IPv4 Address section, Note down your current IP address, the Subnet Mask, and the Router address. Then tap Configure IP.

3. Select Manual. Then in the Manual IP section, enter a new IP address and add your subnet mask and router address.

Note that the first three sets of numbers in your new IP address should be the same as your router’s. Only the last number should change — choose a number between 1 and 256.

4. Tap Save at the top right when you’re done.

You can only change your local IPv4 address in your iPhone Settings. If you want to change your local IPv6 address, you’ll need to adjust the IPv6 settings in your router (if it supports this).

Change your public IP address on iPhone

If your iPhone is connected to a mobile network, the network provider will set its public IP address.

If you’re on WiFi, your ISP usually assigns the IP address of the router you’re connected to, which will also be your iPhone’s public IP address.

There are various ways to change or hide your public IP address assigned by your mobile network or ISP.

Change your network

Connect to a new wireless network, like a public WiFi hotspot, and your device will be assigned a new public IP address. But make sure you read the terms of service of any “free” WiFi networks, as many make money by selling your personal data.

Restart your modem

Switch off your home WiFi router, wait for at least 10 seconds, then turn it back on again. Your ISP may assign your network a new public IP address, though it’s not guaranteed to work. Even if it does, you’ll likely get another address in the same city.

Contact your ISP

Ask your ISP to change your public IP address. They may not be ready to do this, and there are easier ways to change your address, but it’s one option you can try.

Use a proxy

A proxy is any server that sits between your device and the internet. An IP address from the proxy becomes your new public IP address, so your “real” public IP address is hidden.

There are many types of proxies, both free and paid. But proxies tend to be slow, and very few offer a secure, encrypted connection.

Connect via Tor

One type of proxy that gives you maximum anonymity online is the Tor network, which you can access by installing the Onion Browser on your iPhone.

With Tor, your internet traffic is encrypted and routed through a worldwide network of servers, concealing your original IP address. But using Tor will significantly slow down your internet and is only recommended if you’re looking for the highest level of anonymity.

Use a VPN

One of the simplest ways to change your public IP address is to use a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN is a proxy that creates an encrypted connection between your device and a special VPN server, which then connects to the internet.

While using a VPN is quick and easy, the VPN provider can see all you do online, so it’s essential to choose a VPN you can trust.

Easily change your IP address on iPhone for free

The easiest and most secure way to change your public IP address for free is to use Proton VPN.

Proton VPN is the only free VPN service with no logs, no data limits, and no speed limits, so you can use it as much as you like. 

To change your iPhone’s public IP address for free with Proton VPN:

1. Sign up for Proton VPN Free (if you don’t already have a Proton Account).

2. Install the Proton VPN app from the App Store on your iPhone.

3. Open the Proton VPN app and click Quick Connect to get a new public IP address from one of our free servers in the United States, the Netherlands, or Japan. Or tap the power button next to a country to select that country manually.

After you’ve connected, check your new public IP address. It will look something like this:

With alternative routing and our unique Stealth protocol, Proton VPN Free is a great way to change your iPhone’s public IP address to beat government censorship.

We offer Proton VPN Free because we believe everyone has a right to privacy online. Our free service is supported by our paid plans, which give you IP addresses in over 60 countries, support P2P file sharing, and unblock popular streaming services.

Changing your IP address FAQs

Why does my IP address show me to be in a different city?

Most ISPs and mobile operators assign blocks of public IP addresses to devices in certain geographical areas. That means that your public IP address may indicate where you are down to the level of your city or even suburb. But there’s no guarantee. An IP address can sometimes suggest you’re in a completely different area or even another country.

If you change your IP address with a VPN or another type of proxy server, you’ll appear to be wherever the server is located.

Is it illegal to change my IP address?

Not usually, no. Even in restrictive countries that don’t want you to bypass their censorship systems, access to proxies, VPNs, and Tor is often blocked, but it’s rarely a crime. 

Is changing my IP address to stream content worldwide illegal?

It’s not illegal to change your IP address to stream content from abroad. But you need to make sure you comply with the terms and conditions of the service you’re using. For example, the Netflix terms of use say:

“You may access the Netflix content primarily within the country in which you have established your account and only in geographic locations where we offer our service and have licensed such content”.

So using a VPN to watch content that’s not licensed for the area you’re currently in is against Netflix’s policy. However, you have a right to watch content you pay for and can normally access when you’re home.

The post How to change your IP address on iPhone appeared first on Proton VPN Blog.

What is bandwidth throttling?

Bandwidth throttling is when your ISP intentionally slows down your service. Throttling limits the flow of data to and from your device by restricting the speed at which you can process data. Any ISP can throttle your bandwidth, though it’s more common with mobile and wireless ISPs.

Bandwidth measures how much data can be transferred in a given amount of time (typically one second). When your ISP throttles your bandwidth, it’s artificially restricting how much data your internet connection transfers, resulting in longer load times for websites, apps, and other online content.

Why do some ISPs throttle your bandwidth?

There are many reasons an ISP might limit your bandwidth, including managing network congestion and slowing down connections to websites that did not pay for “fast lane” network priority.

Network congestion

ISPs may throttle your internet speed to better manage network congestion at peak times when many people are using the internet all at once. As more people use the internet, they use more bandwidth, increasing the network’s congestion. ISPs throttle everyone’s bandwidth at peak times to make sure new connections are not blocked. This can be why you experience slow internet speeds at certain times of day but not others.

Although it would be preferable for your ISP to add more bandwidth to its network, that’s not always possible, particularly for providers that deliver internet over wireless or satellite connections. In these cases, limiting bandwidth is the easiest solution to network congestion.

Sometimes, your ISP will throttle your connection when they notice you’re torrenting, gaming, or streaming, all of which require large amounts of bandwidth. ISPs do this to ensure normal service to customers that use less bandwidth.

Data limits

If you are on an internet plan with a data cap, your ISP may throttle your bandwidth when you reach your data cap instead of cutting your data off altogether. When this happens, you will experience slow connection speeds until your next billing cycle begins, and then your ISPwill restore your usual speeds. Whether your ISP throttles your data or cuts it off altogether depends on your carrier and your specific plan’s details. 

Data limits are most with mobile ISPs as most fiber and cable broadband providers do not generally sell plans that have data limits.

Fast lane

The most controversial type of bandwidth throttling is paid prioritization. Instead of providing you with a standard amount of bandwidth regardless of which website you visit, paid prioritization is when an ISP accepts payment from a website or services to pay in exchange for extra bandwidth. This allows that website to buy a “fast lane” and have its traffic prioritized,  giving its users faster service than other websites that don’t pay for a fast lane.

This kind of bandwidth throttling was one of the key issues in the 2017 fight to maintain net neutrality. After the FCC repealed the rules protecting internet neutrality, ISPs were no longer obligated to treat all internet traffic equally and could impose bandwidth throttling to create “fast lanes”.

Is bandwidth throttling legal?

Bandwidth throttling is legal and, in many cases, necessary. The majority of bandwidth throttling happens when ISPs try to limit the congestion on their network and maintain reliable service for their customers. If ISPs could not manage demand, you might not be able to connect during peak traffic times. 

In the US, the 2015 Open Internet Order made throttling illegal unless it was for “reasonable network management” or to meet other technical needs. However, the FCC repealed the rules protecting the open internet in 2017, thus legalizing paid prioritization and other kinds of blocking and throttling.

How to check if your ISP is throttling your internet

You cannot always tell when your ISP is throttling your bandwidth as it does not have to inform you when it restricts your internet, and many other factors can slow down your internet speed. However, you can use a VPN to check if bandwidth throttling is causing your slow internet.

1. Use a speed checker tool to measure your internet speed

Before you can determine if your ISP is throttling your internet, you need to measure your normal internet speed. You can do this using an online speed test such as speedtest.net or fast.com and following the on-screen instructions.

Your results will include your ping, download speed, and upload speed. Write these measurements down. For more accurate tests, you can check your connection speed using two different speed test tools, as different tools may provide slightly different results.

2. Use a VPN to test your internet speed

The next step is to download a VPN for your device. For your test to be accurate, you should choose a VPN with no data limits or artificial speed restrictions. 

Once you install the VPN, connect to the nearest VPN server in the app. It’s important to connect to the closest server possible, as connecting to a server further away can slow down your internet speed.

While connected to the VPN server, repeat step one by visiting the same speed test tool and taking a new reading of your internet speed.

3. Compare your readings

If you see that your internet is faster while connected to a VPN, your ISP has likely imposed a bandwidth limit on your connection. This may only be the case during peak times, so you should perform this test throughout the day to discover when your internet is affected.

How to stop bandwidth throttling

The method for stopping your ISP from throttling your bandwidth depends on why they’re limiting your usage.

Use a VPN

Although you cannot use a VPN to bypass your ISP’s data limits or to circumvent paid prioritization, you can use a VPN to prevent your ISP from monitoring your online activity and using that information to slow your traffic. 

For example, if your ISP throttles your bandwidth when you’re gaming, using a VPN will keep your online activity private. If your ISP does not know you’re gaming, it cannot use that as a reason to limit your bandwidth.

Switching connection type

If you primarily use a mobile or other wireless ISP, switching to a fiber or broadband provider should increase your bandwidth. Mobile ISPs are more likely to suffer from network congestion and throttle customers’ bandwidth more often as a result. However, switching ISP is understandably not an option for everyone.

Upgrade your data plan

If your ISP throttles your internet because you hit your data cap, you may want to either reduce your overall data usage or upgrade to a plan with a higher cap. Some mobile ISPs offer unlimited data plans.

Use Proton VPN to bypass internet throttling

You can prevent your ISP from throttling your internet and stay private online by using Proton VPN. Proton VPN offers:

• High-speed 10 Gbps servers  
• Servers in more than 60 countries
• Our unique VPN Accelerator technology that reduces latency and increases VPN connections by up to 400%

Proton VPN doesn’t impose any artificial speed restrictions on your internet connection. We also provide unlimited bandwidth to everyone who uses Proton VPN, even on our Free plan, making it the best tool for testing your internet speed and circumventing throttling.

FAQs

The post What is bandwidth throttling? How to tell if your ISP is limiting your internet appeared first on Proton VPN Blog.

Banks, in general, do a good job securing their apps and banking portals. You are much more likely to fall victim to a phishing scam or a malicious link than you are to have your banking account hacked (assuming you use a strong password and two-factor authentication, but more on that later). Still, a trustworthy VPN can add an extra layer of security to your online banking and even make it easier to access your banking app.

How secure is online banking?

The vast majority of websites use hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS). As the name suggests, this is a more secure version of the hypertext transfer protocol used to send data between your browser and a website. HTTPS uses TLS encryption to prevent your internet provider and anyone else on your network from interfering with your connection or seeing what you type or click on a website (although they still can see which website you visit). You can verify your connection is protected by HTTPS by looking for a padlock in your browser’s URL bar.

This means that as long as you are certain you are connected to your bank’s website or app, you can be relatively certain that you can go about your banking business securely.

How can a VPN help secure your banking?

Your VPN can provide additional protection to your online banking that HTTPS cannot. It can also help you access your banking app under certain conditions. 

Prevent DNS poisoning on public WiFi

When you connect to a website, you type in that website’s URL, such as https://protonvpn.com. But computers don’t actually use URLs; they use IP addresses, such as 185.159.159.140. The internet uses the domain name system (DNS) to link a URL to the correct IP address. Special DNS servers, operated by your ISP or network administrator, handle these DNS requests.

DNS poisoning or DNS spoofing is when an attacker intercepts your browser’s DNS requests and sends back their own spoofed response. Typically, the attacker will send you to a website that looks exactly like the one they are spoofing, but because it is under their control, they can see any information you enter, including your username and password. 

DNS poisoning is possible because DNS requests are not encrypted by TLS by default. Public WiFi hotspots typically do not have the same safeguards as larger ISPs and thus are easier targets for DNS poisoning.

However, if you use Proton VPN, we encrypt all of your internet traffic, including your DNS requests. We also process your encrypted DNS requests on DNS servers that we operate ourselves. This prevents DNS spoofing.

Obscure which bank you use on public WiFi

If you connect to a WiFi hotspot at an airport, restaurant, or stadium, HTTPS will prevent attacks from interfering with your connection or seeing your activity on a website, but it won’t stop them from seeing what website you are on. They could see the bank you use via their website and use this information to craft more believable phishing attacks. 

However, if you use Proton VPN, your connection will be encrypted and routed through one of our VPN servers before you connect to your bank’s website. Anyone else on the public hotspot will see the IP address of the VPN server but not which website or app you are using.

Access your banking app while you are traveling

If you try to use your banking app while traveling, you may have your attempt flagged as suspicious or even be denied access. Most banking sites don’t expect login attempts from IP addresses outside your home country.

Proton VPN can help you get around this geoblocking. When you use Proton VPN, the websites you connect to cannot see the IP address of the device you are using. They can only see the IP address of the VPN server you are connected to. If you connect to a VPN server in your home country, that’s where your banking app will think you are. 

Note: Some banking apps will also deny you access if your IP address does not originate from the same country where you recently made purchases. We recommend trying to access your banking app on a secure WiFi network without a VPN first. Then, if you are being geoblocked, connect to a VPN server in your home country and try again.

Only use a trustworthy VPN

When you connect to a VPN, it essentially replaces your ISP. It handles your internet connection, meaning it can see which websites you visit. Given its ability to monitor your connection, using an untrustworthy VPN can be worse than using no VPN at all.

Proton VPN is maintained by the same team of scientists who created Proton Mail, the world’s most popular encrypted email service. All Proton VPN apps are open source, meaning you can go and check their code to ensure they do exactly what we claim. We recently had our no-logs policy confirmed by independent experts. Their report verifies we do not log your browsing history, IP address, or any other identifying metadata. 

Sign up for Proton VPN for free today to give it a try.

How to make your online banking even more secure

Using a trustworthy VPN will make it safer for you to do your banking online. But there are several other simple steps that you can take to ensure your online banking is as secure as possible. 

Use a strong password

Your password is the first line of defense for any of your online accounts. Using a strong, unique password or passphrase will make it harder for attackers to guess or bruteforce your password and get access to your banking account. We recommend a passphrase of four or five words that you do not use anywhere else.

Learn more about creating strong passphrases

Use a password manager

A password manager generates and stores passwords for all your accounts, allowing you to use more complex passwords than you could if you needed to memorize them. You only need to memorize a single master password that lets you log in to your password manager. 

Most password managers also have an autofill feature that selects the correct password for the website you are visiting. If the password manager does not autofill your password into the blanks, this is a good sign that you are on a phishing website.

Find an open-source password manager to use

Enable two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an extra layer of protection for your online accounts, typically in the form of a time-based, one-time code provided by an app on your phone. If you enable 2FA, even if an attacker manages to get a hold of your username and password, they still will not be able to access your banking account unless they can also provide the 2FA code. Nearly every banking website should offer 2FA. 

Learn more about using 2FA

Type the website address yourself

This is an old-school trick, but it is still effective. It is very easy to hide malicious URLs in hyperlinks, and even if you inspect the link before you click it, it can be difficult to verify where a shortened URL will lead. If you are led to a phishing website under the control of an attacker, not even TLS or a VPN can protect you. However, you can remove this risk by simply typing in the URL of your bank’s website yourself.

The post How to secure online banking with a VPN appeared first on Proton VPN Blog.

It is an unfortunate fact that more and more governments around the world are attempting to censor the truth and prevent their citizens from using social media to communicate and organize.

A virtual private network (VPN) is a powerful and easy-to-use tool that allows anyone to bypass the most popular methods of censoring the internet.

We’ll describe how VPNs bypass different types of censorship and explain the features that make Proton VPN the best option for anyone who needs to defeat internet censorship.

How does a VPN defeat internet censorship?

Government censorship typically relies heavily on telling domestic internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to social media or domains that are showing content that the government doesn’t want to get out.

Governments can also pressure search engines to filter out certain results. In some instances, like in China, the government will separate its cyberspace from the rest of the internet to prevent its citizens from accessing censored content.

Learn how internet censorship works

But governments can only enforce these blocks within their own borders. Defeating government censorship is therefore usually a simple matter of connecting to a VPN server located somewhere that does not censor the internet. Once you connect to such a server, you can browse the internet as if you were located where the VPN server is and access content that is censored where you are physically located.

When you use a VPN, instead of connecting directly to a website or other internet resource (such as a mobile app’s backend infrastructure), your connection is routed via a VPN server that acts as an intermediary between your device and the internet.

VPN servers are run by commercial VPN services such as Proton VPN, which typically locate their VPN servers in locations around the world (Proton VPN offers VPN connections in over 60 countries worldwide).

The connection between your device and the VPN server is encrypted, preventing your ISP or any other third-party observer from seeing what you do on the internet. All they can see is that you have connected to the VPN server.

And if an ISP can’t see what you are accessing, it can’t enforce a block.

Learn more about how VPNs work

Why Proton VPN is the best VPN to access blocked websites

Proton VPN is brought to you by the same team that created Proton Mail, the world’s most popular truly secure email service.

We offer a free VPN service with no logs, no ads, and no data limits. As the graph below illustrates, when people around the world face a crisis and need to defeat censorship, they turn to Proton VPN.

Governments, of course, are well aware that people use VPNs to bypass their restrictions, and often try to block access to VPNs themselves. Proton VPN uses advanced techniques such as alternative routing to help defeat such efforts, although this can become a cat-and-mouse game where access to the open, uncensored internet cannot always be guaranteed.

A free VPN that ensures your freedom

We are building a better internet where privacy is the default. To ensure that everyone can benefit from this better internet, Proton VPN offers a 100% free VPN service with:

• No logs
• No ads
• No data limits
• No speed limits
• No catches

While our paid plans give you access to premium features and more servers, our core VPN service, with full Proton privacy, security, and anti-censorship capabilities, is available to everyone for free.

We do this because privacy and freedom of speech are human rights, so everyone should be able to access a VPN, regardless of their ability to pay.

Proton VPN’s advanced anti-censorship features

Proton VPN has developed a unique set of technologies designed to help defeat censorship.

Alternative routing

Available in all our apps, our alternative routing feature helps you access our service when connections to our servers are blocked. If our software cannot connect directly to our servers, it routes your connection through third-party services (such as AWS) that are unlikely to be blocked.

Learn more about alternative routing

Smart Protocol

Our Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS/iPadOS apps support four secure and modern VPN protocols:

• WireGuard
• OpenVPN
• Stealth

Learn more about these VPN protocols

Smart Protocol is a feature available in all these apps that allows you to connect to Proton VPN even when some VPN protocols or standard ports are blocked. When the default VPN protocol is blocked, it automatically switches to different VPN protocols to evade the block.

OpenVPN and WireGuard in TCP mode, can be highly effective at defeating censorship, as it makes VPN traffic look like routine HTTPS internet traffic. The best protocol for defeating censorship, however, is Proton VPN’s custom Stealth protocol, which is effective at bypassing many kinds of VPN blocks.

Learn more about Smart Protocol

Download Proton VPN from other places

Even if you can’t access our website to download our mobile apps, they are available from popular third-party sources that are less likely to be censored:

• Apple App Store
• Google Play
• Amazon app store
• F-Droid

All our apps are fully open-source and available on GitHub, where you can also download their source code to audit or compile for yourself.

A transparent, trustworthy VPN service

When you access the internet in the usual way, your ISP can see everything you do online. In some places, they are required to hand this information over to the government. When you use a VPN, your ISP cannot see what you do online, but your VPN service can. It is therefore vital you choose a VPN service you can trust.

Proton was founded by scientists who met at CERN and believe in transparency and peer review. In line with these core principles, all our apps are fully open source so anyone can examine our code.

We understand that not everyone has the knowledge or time to do this, so we also commission regular third-party audits of our software by security experts. And unlike some VPN companies, we make the audit reports fully available for everyone to see.

Our belief in transparency extends to all areas of the company. For example, we are completely open about who we are, who makes up our team, and where we are based.

We are also transparent about how we can afford to run our free VPN service — it is funded for by our paid plans, which give access to additional features, like P2P file sharing and streaming access. By signing up for a paid plan, you also join the active and highly engaged Proton community who believes privacy and freedom of speech are human rights worth defending.

Support our mission by upgrading to a paid plan

This transparency has led organizations like Reporters Without Borders to partner with Proton to provide journalists in conflict zones with secure means of communication. And the United Nations has recommended Proton as an effective way of avoiding government surveillance and censorship.

Final thoughts

VPNs are powerful anti-censorship tools that anyone can use to access the free and open internet. Proton VPN’s trusted, 100% free VPN service supports everyone’s right to access information and contact others without government restrictions.

The post How to bypass internet censorship appeared first on Proton VPN Blog.

Dating apps are now as much a part of modern courtship as going to the movies or buying flowers. But dating apps like Tinder, Grindr, or Bumble, present significant privacy risks. This Valentine’s Day, take some time to protect your privacy on dating apps. 

Online dating is a privacy nightmare because it’s a Catch-22. You are obviously looking to entice someone and therefore want to create a level of intimacy, but you are speaking with someone you have never met. It requires a delicate dance of revealing enough information about yourself to beguile without sharing too much. And you need to accept information from people on the other end of your conversation, hoping they are acting in good faith. 

Scammers know this. They have begun hacking these apps or using social engineering to access people’s most sensitive photos or to trick people into sending payments. According to the US Federal Trade Commission, romance scams have been increasing steadily, and over $547 million was lost to these scams in 2021.

Beyond scammers, many of these dating apps use the data you give them to target you with ads. When you consider that hundreds of millions of people use dating apps around the world to meet new people, there is a lot of data to be mined. Furthermore, many dating apps have been less-than-responsible stewards of the data entrusted to them.

But don’t give up on love! (It is Valentine’s Day, after all.) There are ways to limit your exposure online.

What data do dating apps have?

Most dating apps use the data they collect from you to target you with ads. That’s how they can continue operating while offering their service for free. (It’s also why you often can get access to stronger privacy controls if you pay for a subscription to a dating app.) 

When you consider the types of sensitive information many of these apps require you to share when you create an account, this data collection can be concerning. As an example, before you can use Tinder, you must share:

• Your phone number or Google or Apple account
• Your first name
• Your date of birth
• Two photos of you
• Your location by turning on location tracking on your phone
• Your sexual orientation

And nearly all dating apps encourage you to share more information, from your place of work to your favorite hobbies to your ethnicity. They also monitor any activity in their app, including swipes and conversations. Obviously, a dating app can use any information you share with it to target you with ads. 

Many dating websites also contain dozens of trackers. Ghostery found that Match Group dating services (including Match.com, Tinder, and OkCupid) had up to 36 trackers on their websites, including trackers from Facebook and Google.

Dating app data breaches

Most dating apps are still relatively new. Tinder launched in 2012, yet it has already suffered several data breaches and has been caught improperly sharing user data. This is sadly the norm among dating apps, which is important to keep in mind as you decide what personal data to divulge in these apps.

Back in 2013, cybersecurity experts discovered trileration attacks ((similar to triangulation) that Tinder allowed third parties to discover users’ exact location, down to within a few hundred feet. Tinder resolved the issue by only specifying their users’ location in increments of miles, making the location data much less precise. In 2014, experts found the same flaw in Grindr. Grindr claimed to have resolved the issue, but in 2016, researchers in Japan could still determine Grindr users’ location. Then, in 2018, another security expert discovered the location of Grindr users, including ones that had opted out of letting Grindr share their location data.

A report by Kaspersky in 2017 examined several dating apps, including Tinder, Bumble, and OkCupid, and found that nearly all the Android versions of these apps stored sensitive data on the Android device without proper protection. Hackers could use Facebook authorization tokens to gain full access to your account. Once a hacker had this access, they could view all the messages sent and received through these dating devices.

In January 2018, the cybersecurity firm Checkmarx discovered that Tinder did not use HTTPS encryption to secure the photos on its iOS or Android apps. If hackers connected to the same WiFi network as a Tinder user, they could see the same photos that user was viewing, whether they swiped right or left, and even insert pictures into that user’s queue. Tinder has since added HTTPS encryption to all its services. 

In April 2019, the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) filed a complaint after discovering that Grindr was sharing its users’ HIV status with third parties without consent. Grindr has since announced it would stop sharing its users’ health information with third parties.

The NCC filed another complaint in 2020 after it found that Grindr, Tinder, and OkCupid were sharing data unexpectedly with ad networks and other third parties. This information included users’ ages, genders, GPS location, IP address, and details about their device. 

In January 2021, the dating website MeetMindful.com suffered a data breach that exposed the details of all of its nearly 2.3 million users. The breach exposed geolocation data, full names, email addresses, Facebook IDs, Facebook authentication tokens, and more. Later that year, an engineer discovered that Bumble allowed a trilateration attack (similar to the one that affected Tinder) that could expose a user’s exact location.

The majority of these system-level vulnerabilities have been resolved, but they speak to a culture of playing fast and loose with people’s personal data. Fortunately, there are things you can do yourself to patch up potential security failures in the dating apps you use.

How to protect your privacy on dating apps

Account security

• Use a strong, unique password and two-factor authentication if it’s available.
• Beware of links, and especially links using shortened URLs. Hackers will try to lure you away from the dating app to sites where they can more easily harvest your data. This is one of the most common Tinder scams. Rest your cursor over any link before you click it, or copy and paste the link into https://www.checkshorturl.com/. 
• Only ever access your dating app on a secure WiFi network. An even better option is to protect the internet connection of your dating app with a trustworthy VPN. This will add an extra layer of security to the app’s encryption.
• Consider subscribing to a paid plan. Many dating apps give you additional privacy options, like turning off location tracking or hiding your account, if you subscribe to a paid plan. 

Privacy and social engineering

• Never share your full name, address, or place of work in your profile. Tinder, Bumble, and Happn all allow users to add information about their jobs and education. With just this information and a first name, Kaspersky researchers matched a dating app profile to a LinkedIn or Facebook account 60% of the time.
• Use a VPN to block dating app trackers and trilateration attacks. Nearly every dating website and app contain trackers that can follow you around the internet. Proton VPN’s NetShield Ad-Blocker stops trackers from even loading, speeding up your internet connection. And, unlike other ad blockers, it can protect block trackers in apps, not just in your browser. 
• Choose your profile pictures carefully. A lot of information can often be gleaned from what is in the background of a photo, information that could be used to identify you. Also, remember that if you use a photo from one of your social media accounts, a reverse image search could link your dating profile to that account.
• Do not link your dating app account to other accounts, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. This makes it easy for hackers to connect your social media profile to your online dating one. It also would expose your data if Facebook were to suffer a data breach.
• Don’t use your everyday email for your dating app or to contact new matches. Instead, use an alias or a private email just for that specific app or relationship.
• Always disable location-sharing features.
• Give a temporary phone number to your matches. You can use services like Phoner or Burner that give you temporary phone numbers that last a couple of weeks for free or for a small fee. Since they are temporary, it is hard to use such a phone number on your dating app account, but it could give you some time to meet your matches in real life before you trust them with your phone number.
• Try reverse image searching your match’s profile picture if something feels off. If your search finds the photo is from a modeling agency or a foreign celebrity, you are likely looking at a fake account.
• Avoid sharing specific information that could identify you. Eventually, you will have to share information about yourself. After all, you are trying to convince someone that you are interesting enough to meet. Try to talk more about your interests, ambitions, and preferences. More “I love pizza” than “My favorite pizza restaurant is on the corner of Main St. and 2nd Ave.” Never be afraid to say “no” if someone asks you for personal information that you’re not yet comfortable sharing.
• Avoid sending photos to people you do not know. Photos can contain metadata about when and where the photo was taken. If you must share a photo, be sure to remove its metadata first.
• Beware of chatting with bots. Online bots are getting harder and harder to detect, but one test you can try is to work gibberish into a phrase, like “I love a;lkjasdllkjf,” and see if the bot repeats the non-word or transitions into a non-sequitur question. (If it’s a human, you can always cover by saying your phone slipped.)
• If someone asks you over a dating app to send them money, your answer should always be “No” unless you want to show up on the next version of The Tinder Swindler. 
• Do not immediately friend your matches on Facebook. Once someone has access to your Facebook account, they can see your friend and family network along with your past activity and location. Wait until you have been dating for a month or two before friending them. (Or, more ideally, quit Facebook.)

Physical safety

• Arrange to meet in a public area and let a friend know that you are going. You should also choose to meet in a neutral place, not the restaurant or cafe you go to every week.

Don’t let this advice scare you off of dating apps! They can be fun, and they’ve helped millions of people find dates, hookups, friends, and partners. Just try not to let Cupid’s arrow lull you into a false sense of security, and always keep in mind that this person who seems too good to be true just might be.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The post How to protect your privacy on dating apps appeared first on Proton VPN Blog.

Depending on the country you are in, certain videos are blocked. This is because YouTube uses your location (tagged by your IP address) to determine which videos you can watch. This is called geoblocking or geo-restricting. 

If you have tried to use YouTube while on vacation or living abroad, you will likely be familiar with YouTube’s geo-restriction error message, “The uploader has not made this video available in your country” that occasionally pops up when you try to access videos you watch in your home country.

However, as with other types of geo-restrictions, there are ways to unblock YouTube videos and enjoy all the content on the platform.

Why are videos blocked on YouTube?

There are generally two reasons why YouTube geo-blocks content:

1. Licensing: This typically happens with entertainment material owned by a major company. The video’s owner either has chosen to restrict access to a limited number of countries or does not have the right to share the video in specific countries. Many music videos fall under licensing restrictions, like Wiz Khalifa’s official video for Black and Yellow, which is blocked in most of Africa and parts of Central America and the Caribbean.  
2. Complying with local laws: YouTube sometimes blocks a video if it violates local law. For example, it is illegal in Thailand to insult the Thai monarch, so videos critical of the Thai king are blocked within the country. 

At Proton, we believe that the internet is best when you have the freedom to express yourself and exchange ideas. This freedom is undermined when corporations like YouTube impose geoblocks on content. Proton VPN is a firm defender of freedom of speech, and we condemn online censorship in all its forms.

How to unblock YouTube videos

The fastest, easiest, and most reliable way to unblock YouTube videos is to use a VPN. Using a VPN lets you connect to a server in another country and change your IP address to make it appear to YouTube that you are watching videos from that country. By connecting to a server in a country where the videos you want to watch are not blocked, you can successfully bypass geo-restrictions on all YouTube videos.

1. To watch a blocked YouTube video using a VPN, you will first need to sign up for a trustworthy VPN. You can sign up for Proton VPN here.
2. You then need to download and install the VPN app on your device. You can download Proton VPN here, which will allow you to unblock YouTube videos on your mobile and desktop devices or even on your Android TV.
3. Once you have installed the VPN app, you need to log in and connect to a VPN server in a country where the video you want to watch is not blocked. 
4. You can now watch all the YouTube videos that are not blocked in that country.

Depending on the video, it may be obvious which countries it is available in, or you may need to try a few different locations to find one that works. For example, Saturday Night Live (SNL) is an American television show that geoblocks its most recent videos on YouTube for anyone outside of the US. As you would expect, connecting to a US server will make those videos available. However, it may not always be so obvious which country you need to choose to unlock a specific YouTube video.

Using SNL as an example, you can see the extent to which some YouTube channels geoblock their content by looking at how many more videos are available when connected to a VPN server in the US.

Why unblock YouTube with a VPN?

By using a trustworthy and secure VPN to unblock YouTube videos, you are also masking your IP address from your internet service provider and keeping your online activity private. Using a VPN to unblock YouTube videos is also much safer and more reliable than using a YouTube proxy, and it offers a better watching experience than using Tor (although using Tor to unblock YouTube may be necessary in some edge cases).

By using a VPN to bypass geo-restrictions on YouTube videos, you will:

• Keep your viewing history private
• Find it easy to switch between servers in different countries to access different content
• Have a fast enough connection to easily stream videos

You should note that a VPN can see all your online activity while you are connected, which is why you should only use trustworthy VPNs with a no-logs policy, like Proton VPN. (Our latest security audit results confirm our no logs policy.)

Learn more about how VPNs work.

Other ways to unblock YouTube videos

Although using a VPN is generally the best way to unblock YouTube videos, you do have other options.

Unblock YouTube videos with Tor Browser

The Tor Browser is a powerful privacy tool that you can use to hide your IP address. It lets you send your internet traffic over the Tor network, a web of special servers around the world. The Tor Browser encrypts your internet traffic three times and then routes it through three different servers, making it almost impossible to trace, so YouTube is unable to know your real IP address and can’t geoblock videos for your location.

The average YouTube user would be better served simply using a VPN, which makes selecting a country to browse from quick and easy. However, you should use Tor Browser to unblock geo-restricted YouTube videos if you think there would be dire ramifications if local authorities found out you were watching this video  (for example, due to authoritarian restrictions on freedom of information).

While it is a somewhat complicated procedure, you can also set which country the final Tor server is in. There are three main reasons you should avoid using Tor to stream YouTube:

• Tor traffic is slow
• By watching a YouTube video on Tor, you will make the connection even slower for everyone else using Tor
• Tor can be complicated to set up and use

Learn more about using Tor.

Unblock YouTube videos with YouTube proxies

A proxy server also allows you to browse the internet as though you are in another country by connecting you to another server. The proxy server hides your IP address from your destination site similarly to a VPN. However, proxies should generally be avoided because they can: 

• Expose your data
• Monitor your online activity
• Provide generally weak performance

However, unlike a VPN, a proxy only works over the connection you open with the proxy. For example, if you are listening to Spotify via the desktop app and you connect to a proxy server in your internet browser, only the traffic from your internet browser will go through the proxy, while Spotify will continue to connect to your local ISP.

Secondly, proxies do not add extra encryption to your traffic like a VPN. In fact, in many cases, free proxies ban HTTPS traffic. This means that not only is your data vulnerable to being intercepted and read, but the proxy service can track your activity while you are connected to it. Also, free proxy connections are usually less stable and slower than a VPN connection.

What if YouTube is blocked altogether?

There are some instances where YouTube is blocked altogether, rather than individual videos. This can happen in countries with strict censorship practices or if you use a network that blocks YouTube using a firewall (for example, at work or school).

Government censorship

Some countries, like China, Iran, and Turkmenistan, have blocked YouTube entirely. The reasons provided for blocking YouTube include protecting citizens from harmful content, national security, or for morality reasons. Depending on the methods that country uses, a VPN may or may not be effective.

Network firewalls 

Many schools and workplaces use firewalls to block certain websites like YouTube to remove distractions or increase productivity. However, there are many cases where access to YouTube videos is necessary in these environments — especially for educational reasons.

You can still use a VPN to bypass these restrictions on accessing YouTube, as the VPN will hide your internet traffic from the firewall.

1. To unblock YouTube using a VPN, you will first need to sign up for a VPN. You can sign up for Proton VPN here.
2. You then need to download and install the right VPN app for your device.
3. Once you have installed the VPN app, you need to log in and connect to a VPN server in a country where YouTube is not blocked. If you only need to bypass a network firewall, you can connect to a server in the same country that you are already in, as this will still prevent the firewall from blocking your browsing activity.
4. You will now be able to watch YouTube videos.

FAQ

The post How to watch blocked YouTube videos appeared first on Proton VPN Blog.