Make sense of what a website can see.

Your connection: IP addresses and VPNs

A public IP address identifies the connection reaching a service. Home routers, workplace gateways, mobile networks and VPN exits can put several people behind the same address. Location databases estimate where that network is, sometimes with substantial error.

IPv4 and IPv6 use different address families. A connection may support both, and a VPN must handle each appropriately to route both through its service. Compare the IPv4 result and IPv6 test before and after a network change. An unavailable test can reflect routing, filtering or a missing address family.

A VPN changes the path to websites and the public address they see. Accounts, cookies and browser characteristics can still associate activity with a returning visitor. Choose a privacy measure according to the signal you want to change.

Browser identity and fingerprinting

The user-agent string and Client Hints describe parts of the browser and platform. Sites use them for compatibility, troubleshooting and interface choices. Privacy features may reduce their detail, so a detected version or operating system can be approximate.

Check the browser identity, then use the built-in About screen for the exact installed version. The update check compares visible major versions with vendor release information.

Fingerprinting combines characteristics such as language, timezone, display, rendering behavior and browser properties into a distinguishing pattern. A single ordinary value can be common while the combination is more specific. Our diagnostic displays available signals and leaves their interpretation visible.

Screen dimensions are useful for troubleshooting layouts. CSS pixels, physical pixels, scaling and zoom can differ. Their interpretation matters more than treating one reported number as the whole display.

Cookies, private browsing and account state

Cookies can remember preferences or carry an identifier associated with a signed-in account. Services also use tokens to represent authorized access. Their scope and lifetime depend on the service. A captured authenticated session can have consequences after the sign-in itself has finished.

Private browsing generally separates local cookies and history from the ordinary profile and clears that temporary state when the private session ends. Websites still receive network requests, and signing in identifies the account. Browser privacy settings and account-access controls serve different purposes.

That distinction helps explain AiTM session capture and device-code authorization. Both can involve successful authentication; each gives access through a different mechanism.

WebRTC and permissions

WebRTC supports real-time audio, video and data connections. Connection establishment can expose network candidates according to the browser’s protections, routing and configuration. Modern browsers often mask local addresses; results depend on the environment.

Camera, microphone and precise location are separately permission-controlled capabilities. Review permissions from the address-bar site controls or the browser’s settings. Grant access for a task you recognize, and remove stale permissions when the task is over.

A request to run a terminal command is a different kind of instruction. The ClickFix and TermFix guide explains how a website uses familiar verification language to ask for local execution.

Use the result in context

Try the live signal snapshot when comparing browser profiles or explaining a problem to support. The longer browser-visibility guide connects those values with practical security examples. Share only the information needed for the question, especially when a report includes your public IP address.

For browser behavior details, see Mozilla’s documentation on HTTP cookies, Client Hints and permissions.