How to Test Your VPN for Leaks and What The Results Mean

How to Test Your VPN for WebRTC and IP Leaks

  1. Write down your your public IP address before you connect to your VPN.
  2. Connect to your VPN.
  3. Refresh this page to run the leak test. Your results will appear in the table below.

What Your Results Mean

Our test checks for two types of leaks — IPv6 and WebRTC.

You can check if WebRTC is causing your IP to leak by comparing your original IP address to your IP address after you connect to your VPN:

  • If your public IP address changes, you’re safe. Your VPN’s leak protection is working, and WebRTC is not sharing your real IP with websites.
  • If there is no change, it means that your IP and location are leaking.

A small eye icon with a line through it under “Your IPv6 address” tells you that there’s no IPv6 leak. If you see a series of numbers under “Your IPv6 address,” it means that there’s a leak.

How to Fix IPv6 and WebRTC Leaks

How to Fix a WebRTC Leak

Don’t worry — disabling WebRTC won’t stop you from using your favorite sites. Some VoIP services (like Discord and Zoom) will no longer work in-browser, but you can still use their standalone apps without putting your privacy at risk.

1. Use a VPN with WebRTC and IP Leak Protection

There’s a simple way to fix a WebRTC problem: switch to a VPN with stronger leak protection. If your real IP address is exposed while you’re connected to a server, it’s most likely because your VPN doesn’t have leak protection.

These VPNs block leaks (and protect your IP) without stopping you from using WebRTC (and the apps that rely on it) entirely. This means that you’re safe from leaks and you can still use services like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp — which you can’t do if you manually disable WebRTC.

2. Manually Disable WebRTC

You can also protect yourself from leaks by disabling WebRTC in your browser settings. This is more complicated and you won’t be able to access the browser version of websites that depend on WebRTC.

Firefox

  1. Type “about:config” into your address bar and press enter.
  2. Click “Accept the Risk and Continue” — this warning is only there to let you know you’re about to access advanced settings for your browser (there is no risk).
  3. In the search bar, type “media.peerconnection.enabled”.
  4. Toggle the setting to “false”. Now, you’re protected from WebRTC leaks.

Chrome

You can’t disable WebRTC in Chrome’s settings, so you need to download a third-party extension that does it for you.

  1. Go to the Google Chrome web store.
  2. Search for WebRTC Control and then click to open it.
  3. Click “Add to Chrome” then “Add extension”.

Opera and Yandex

  1. Go to Opera’s extensions store and search for WebRTC Control.
  2. Click on WebRTC Control and then click “Add to Opera.”
  3. Open the dialog box that says “click to start using.” This switches WebRTC blocking on.

Safari

  1. Go to Preferences > Advanced.
  2. Click the box next to “Show Develop menu in menu bar.”
  3. Click on “Develop” and go to “WebRTC.”
  4. Check “Disable ICE Candidate Restrictions.”

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge doesn’t let you disable WebRTC in your browser settings, so you need to install an app called WebRTC Control. This app isn’t available from Microsoft’s extension library, but you can install on Edge for free from the Chrome Web Store.

  1. Open Edge and go to the Chrome Web Store.
  2. Click the “Allow extensions from other stores” button at the top of the page. A new dialog box will pop up. Click “Allow” again.
  3. Search for WebRTC Control.
  4. Click on WebRTC Control to open it.
  5. Select “Add to Chrome” (even though it says Chrome, it will be added to Edge).

Brave

  1. Go to “Preferences” and click “Shields”, then “Fingerprinting Protection”.
  2. Check “Block all fingerprinting” in the dropdown menu.
  3. Then, go to “Preferences” and click “Security”, then “WebRTC IP Handling Policy”.
  4. Check “Disable Non Proxied UDP”.

Android

Chrome for Android gives you an experimental feature to disable WebRTC:

  1. Open your browser.
  2. Click on the address bar and type “chrome://flags/#disable-webrtc”.
  3. Press “Enable” to switch off WebRTC.

Because this is an experimental feature and your safety isn’t guaranteed, you need to use a VPN with leak protection for additional security.

iOS

Like Chrome for Android, Safari for iOS has an experimental WebRTC-blocking feature. You also need to use a secure VPN to keep yourself safe.

  1. Open “Settings” and click “Safari”.
  2. Tap on “Advanced” then “Experimental features”.
  3. Toggle on “Remove Legacy WebRTC API”.

How to Fix an IPv6 Leak

1. Switch to a VPN with IPv6 Leak Protection

The easiest way to fix this kind of leak is to use a VPN that blocks IPv6 requests. This way, you don’t need to change your device’s settings to prevent websites from seeing your IPv6 address.

2. Disable IPv6 on Your Device

You can disable IPv6 in your network settings, but this option is more complicated and requires some technical skills to complete.

Windows

  1. Press the Windows logo and R key to open the command box.
  2. Type “control panel” into the dialog box and click “OK.”
  3. Click “Network and Internet” and then “Network and Sharing Centre.” Then, click “Change adapter settings.”
  4. Double-click on the internet connection you’re using and select “Properties.”
  5. Uncheck the box next to “Internet Protocol Version 6,” then click “OK” to disable IPv6.

macOS

  1. Open Launchpad, then open Terminal.
  2. Type in: “networksetup -setv6off Ethernet && networksetup -setv6off Wi-Fi” and then hit enter.

Linux (Debian)

  1. Open a terminal window and type in “sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf”.
  2. Go to the bottom of the file and type in:
    net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6 = 1
    net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6 = 1
    net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6 = 1
  3. Save the file and close it. Then, reboot your computer.

Android

  1. Open your settings menu, then click Connections > Mobile networks > Access Point Names.
  2. Click on your network provider’s name and then click on APN protocol.
  3. Choose IPv4. You’re done!

iOS

It isn’t possible to disable IPv6 on your iOS device. So, you will need to choose a VPN with strong leak protection to keep your IP address hidden.

FAQs on WebRTC and IPv6 Leaks

? What is WebRTC — and is it dangerous?

WebRTC is a JavaScript API (Application Programming Interface) that makes it possible for your browser to access your microphone and camera. You use it when you make a video call on Messenger, send a voice memo, or go live on Facebook. If you’ve ever encountered a pop-up asking for permission to access your microphone or webcam, that’s WebRTC.

There’s a big privacy issue with WebRTC though — it can access your real IP address (even if you use a VPN). This means WebRTC is dangerous because it can share your location with websites without your permission.

? How do I check if WebRTC is leaking my IP address?

You can use our leak test tool to find out if you have a WebRTC leak. To do this, you need to compare your original IP address (before you connect to a VPN) with your VPN IP.

Here’s how:

  1. Open our leak test tool and write down your public IP address.
  2. Connect to your VPN server
  3. Refresh the page to run a second test.
  4. Compare your new public IP address with the one you wrote down in step one.

If your IP address doesn’t change after you connect to your VPN, WebRTC is leaking your real location.

? How do I prevent WebRTC and IP leaks?

You can fix a leak by disabling WebRTC in your browser, using a third-party blocker, or switching to a VPN with leak protection.

It’s safe to disable WebRTC in your browser, but it means that some services that use WebRTC (like Facebook Messenger calls) won’t work anymore.

Some browsers don’t let you disable WebRTC, so you need to install a third-party extension (like WebRTC Control) instead.

The easiest solution is to switch to a VPN with built-in WebRTC and IP leak protection so that you don’t need to worry about manually changing your browser settings.

? Do all VPNs prevent WebRTC leaks?

No. For a VPN to protect you from leaks, it needs to have WebRTC protection built-in.

Leak protection stops WebRTC from sharing your real IP address with websites. Without this extra security feature, your VPN isn’t really protecting you.

I tested a range of services and found some VPNs that allow you to continue using WebRTC but protect you from leaks by forcing the API to use your anonymous VPN IP address instead of your true IP address.