Windscribe is a set of tools that work together to block ad trackers and web beacons, restore access to blocked content and help you safeguard your privacy online.
There are 2 components: desktop VPN application, and browser extension. You can use them on their own, but for much greater protection, you should use both. It's silly not to, since it doesn't cost extra.
If you are a light user, you can use Windscribe for free. You get up to 10GB of data per month, and you can use all of the tools we offer. If you need more data, for just $9/month you get unlimited usage. You probably spend 10x that on coffee alone!
The desktop application is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) client. It creates an encrypted tunnel from your computer to our servers, and all your activity is sent through the tunnel. This has 2 advantages:
The browser extension provides a "Lite" VPN client, which does the same thing as the desktop one, but only in your browser. Any other applications you may be using on your computer will utilize your ISP provided IP address.
Additionally it blocks thousands of ad beacons and trackers that could follow you across the websites you visit, and compromise your privacy even if you are already using a VPN. It also blocks various "social widgets", such as Facebook Like buttons, Twitter badges, etc, which are embedded into millions of websites and report all your activity to their respective companies. It also rotates your user agent (which identifies your browser), which further scrambles your online activities in the eyes of whoever is watching.
Contrary to popular belief, a VPN client alone will not keep you anonymous or significantly help your privacy online, unless you take extreme measures, at which point using the Internet becomes a burden.
Anonymous IP address alone provides some protection, however marketers, criminals and governments have stepped up their game which allows them to track you even if you already use a VPN. In order to combat this, browser level protection is also necessary to improve your chances of staying anonymous.
Unlikely. Achieving complete anonymity online is extremely difficult if not impossible. Anyone who claims otherwise most likely has a pair of pants that are on fire. Windscribe will get you 90% there, however the last 10% entirely depends on the user.
In theory, if we took extreme measures, we could, however the same could be said about any other service. We strongly believe in people's right to privacy, especially online, so our system is built from scratch, with that in mind. We do not store any permanent access logs or monitor what our users do. You can sign up without an email address, and pay with Bitcoin, so we would have no idea who you are. For more details, see our Privacy Policy.
The Great White North: Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. That's just north of Toronto.
By choosing a location, you will appear to be using the Internet as if you were physically located in that country. Your ISP provided IP address will be masked behind our IP, which is used by thousands of people, so you "get lost in the crowd", so to speak.
Firewall (sometimes incorrectly known as a "killswitch") blocks all Internet connectivity that happens outside the connection to our servers, so data does not leak your ISP provided IP address. This is helpful if your wifi suddenly drops or you restart your computer. With the firewall enabled, you can be sure that your true IP address doesn't get exposed.
Connection modes allow for connecting to our servers using different ports and protocols. This exists to make sure that if a certain port is blocked, or your network operator is performing deep packet inspection in order to track down VPN usage, you can still connect. The default is "Automatic" which will pick the best mode for you. You can switch it to manual mode if you wish.
Choose the mode that suits you best.
Some networks (China, businesses, etc) actively monitor your connection and can block/alter DNS requests which would break Windscribe. You can manually configure an IP address to access the API, bypassing DNS. Contact us for an IP address to use if you are getting "API Connectivity" errors.
Yes, IPv6 connectivity is firewalled at the client, and all DNS requests get made through the tunnel, resolving domains at the VPN server. This overrides your ISP DNS so you cannot be snooped on by them.
We use AES-256 cipher with SHA512 auth and a 4096-bit RSA key. We support perfect forward secrecy.
This means you shouldn't be using any file sharing/p2p/torrent applications while connected to this location.
By choosing a location, you will appear to be using the Internet as if you were physically located in that country. Your ISP provided IP address will be masked behind our IP, which is used by thousands of people, so you "get lost in the crowd", so to speak.
Cruise Control is a unique Windscribe feature that automatically connects you to the best server which is closest to you, so you have optimal speeds, while at the same time automatically switches to a necessary location that you would need in order to bypass geo-blocked content.
If you are using our desktop application (you really should) while having our extension installed you can connect to a second location in order to mask your traffic even further. This can slow down your Internet connection.
Secure.link generator allows you to create secure links right from your browser, as easily as right clicking on any page and selecting "Copy Secure.link" or by using the home screen of the extension. Secure.link will scan the destination page for known trackers and ad beacons, generate a screenshot of the page, and create a "report card" of the website you're linking to. You can then send this link to anyone in order to bring awareness to how much tracking happens on your favorite (and not so favorite) websites. You can add a password or even force people to install Windscribe to get to the destination page.
This is a unique Windscribe feature that works with our desktop client to help maintain your privacy online.
Sometimes the tracker blocking may cause certain sites to break. We do our best to eliminate these false positives, but some sites rely on trackers to function. You can whitelist sites that exhibit this behavior by clicking the "whitelist it" button at the bottom of the extension home screen.