In AdGuard VPN Browser Extension v2.10, we’ve added custom profiles. Now you can save different VPN setups and switch between them instantly.

Custom profiles

You may use your VPN differently throughout the day: one setup for work, another for studying, and a third for streaming or watching cartoons with your kid. Each case may require a different VPN location, DNS server, or exclusion list.

Custom profiles make switching easier. You can save a set of VPN settings once and return to it whenever you need. The VPN extension supports up to 10 profiles in total.

To try the new feature, click the AdGuard VPN icon in your browser → three-line menu in the upper-right corner (☰) → Profiles.

Profile settings

You can choose a name for each profile and configure the following settings:

• Server location
• WebRTC
• DNS server
• Exclusions

After creating profiles, you can switch between them directly from the extension popup.

How profile locations work

Here’s one detail worth knowing: the location set in a profile stays saved until you change it in that profile’s settings.

You can still switch locations from the extension popup. This change is temporary. When you switch profiles or reopen the browser, AdGuard VPN will use the location saved in the selected profile’s settings.

Other settings work differently. If you change WebRTC, DNS server, or Exclusions while a profile is active, AdGuard VPN saves these changes to that profile.

That’s all for AdGuard VPN Browser Extension v2.10. Update the extension, try profiles, and tell us what you think on GitHub or social media.

Upd. This promotion is over. If you didn’t get a chance to buy AdGuard Ad Blocker, AdGuard VPN or AdGuard DNS at a discount, don’t worry — we often run other promotions. Not to miss the next one, subscribe to our newsletter — we’ll keep you in the loop!

Long, long ago, when the Internet was a very different place — full of Flash animations and clumsy ad algorithms, with no Instagram and no mobile-first everything — AdGuard was born. Hard to believe, but that was 17 years ago!

AdGuard then and AdGuard now are worlds apart. But some things have stayed with us from the start: we believe in the cleaner Internet and better privacy for everyone. And yes, no AdGuard birthday is complete without discounts.

This time, we’ve prepared discounts for:

🎂 AdGuard Ad Blocker: 50% off 1-year licenses and 45% off lifetime ones
🎂 AdGuard VPN: 83% off 2-year subscriptions
🎂 AdGuard DNS: 60% off Personal and Team yearly plans

Mark AdGuard’s birthday by removing annoying ads, protecting your traffic from third parties, and blocking unwanted DNS requests. Extend or upgrade your current subscriptions and licenses — or get new ones for yourself or as a gift. Either way, we’ll be happy to have you celebrate with us.

What is going on in the UK

Over the last few years, the UK has passed — or proposed — several controversial laws affecting the online sphere. The Online Safety Act, passed in 2023, has made the biggest waves. As the country’s main online safety framework, it requires regulated online services to assess risks to children and take steps such as age checks, safer recommendation systems, and stronger moderation where minors are likely to use the service.

The need to protect children from online harms regularly appears in UK legislation as a justification for new restrictions and limitations. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, passed earlier in 2026, was also presented in part as a child-safeguarding measure and includes, for example, powers to require internet service providers to prevent or restrict children’s access to certain services. On March 2, the UK government launched the “Growing up in the online world” consultation to explore additional online safety measures for minors, including curfews, social media age limits, restrictions on features like infinite scroll and autoplay, AI chatbot restrictions, and ways age verification or age assurance could support enforcement.

The government itself acknowledges that enforcing minimum age rules may require adults to verify their age in order to access certain services, creating privacy trade-offs and additional friction for users. Still, those concerns have done little to slow the push toward broader age-assurance requirements, and the trend shows no signs of stopping.

From privacy concerns to internet checkpoints

In our previous articles, we already outlined how this trend — and it is by no means limited to the UK — threatens online privacy. Age verification often means collecting or processing IDs, biometrics, phone numbers, payment credentials, or other sensitive data. The more often users are asked to verify themselves, the more opportunities there are for leaks, scams, and misuse of personal information.

But the UK debate adds a whole other layer to the discussion. The issue goes beyond simply asking what happens to your data once you upload it. It becomes a question of what the internet itself will look like when identity checks become the norm. The risk is not only that your passport scan could be leaked — it is the normalization of asking for that passport scan in the first place.

In the joint statement mentioned earlier, the signatories warned that widespread age gates could undermine the decentralized nature of the web and push it toward a more permission-based model. Age verification at scale creates an infrastructure of permission: more services need to know who you are, how old you are, where you are, and whether you are allowed to enter. This is very different from the web many users have grown accustomed to — one based on open standards, shared protocols, and cross-border interoperability. Critics warn that if governments continue expanding age-assurance requirements, that model of the web may gradually give way to one increasingly built around identity checks and access controls.

VPNs under age checks: when privacy tools become restricted

VPNs provide a clear example of how this shift toward mandatory identity checks could affect basic privacy tools. The aforementioned UK consultation identifies VPNs as a possible circumvention tool and asks whether restricting children’s access should be prioritized. It even asks respondents whether, in principle, “everyone should go through age checks to access a VPN if it would prevent children from using them.”

But treating VPNs as mere loopholes misses the broader point. For many users, a VPN is an essential part of basic digital hygiene and an indispensable privacy protection tool — and now this tool itself could potentially be placed behind an age check.

And it’s hard to attribute this to ignorance. The government’s consultation acknowledges that VPNs have legitimate uses, including remote work, protecting sensitive communications, and safeguarding privacy, and notes that early evidence does not suggest the post-age-assurance VPN spike was driven by children trying to bypass checks. Yet the question of age-gating VPNs remains on the agenda, undermining rights while failing to address the root causes of online harm.

The real problem

Age-gating websites and restricting VPNs and other privacy tools is a superficial fix that misses the underlying problem. The real issue is not that children might outsmart the system and access harmful material; it is the system itself — the predatory tactics that exploit adults and minors alike, and the large platforms optimized for mass data collection and precise ad targeting. If anything, going further down the age restriction path would only solidify the dominance of Big Tech gatekeepers, as few large-scale apps and platforms controlled by tech giants would very likely decide who can and who can’t access content online.

The solution should not be “collect even more sensitive data but promise to handle it carefully.” Instead, it should be “collect less data in the first place.” It should mean designing spaces and services that are safe for children by default, reducing tracking, improving parental controls, and — perhaps most importantly — holding platforms accountable for intentionally harmful design.

Despite the warnings of privacy advocates, the trend so far points in the opposite direction. Age verification in the UK is just one example, but it reflects a broader pattern already present in other countries. As an individual, you can take steps to protect yourself: be cautious when a site asks for an ID, biometric data, or phone number. Even legitimate requests may affect your privacy, and fraudulent ones can have severe consequences. Be especially wary of shady “bypass services,” fake verification tools, and unknown apps promising easy access. And if you are concerned about the direction the web is heading, raise your voice — collectively, our voices may be heard.

The UK debate illustrates where online safety policy may be heading next. If every new online risk leads to more age checks, identity verification, and restrictions on privacy tools, the result could be an internet that is neither safer nor more private. Children deserve protection online, but everyone — including children — also deserves privacy. A safer internet should not require building a less private one.

Why Pornhub might not be available

Pornhub is one of the most visited websites in the world in the category “Adult”. But due to different reasons, it can be blocked.

Age verification laws. This is currently the most common reason for blocking in the United States and parts of Europe. Since 2023, dozens of US states — including Texas, Virginia, Utah, Mississippi, Louisiana, Indiana, North Carolina, and Montana — have passed strict age verification laws. Rather than implementing invasive ID-tracking systems that compromise user privacy, Pornhub has chosen to completely disable its service in these regions. Consequently, you may find Pornhub blocked at the state level.

National сensorship. Governments in countries like Thailand, India, the Philippines, China, UAE ban adult content at a national level. In these regions, strict state firewalls are used to block Pornhub and maintain control over web content.

Local restrictions. Pornhub is also frequently banned in offices, schools, and public spaces. Network owners use firewalls to restrict access simply because these are not considered appropriate environments for viewing such content, or to maintain a professional atmosphere.

Bandwidth consumption. Just as other media content, adult video is quite demanding on network resources, and bandwidth costs money. That’s why travelers can often find that porn is blocked in hotels or on public Wi-Fi networks specifically to save bandwidth and reduce costs.

In most cases, access to Pornhub is restricted by blacklisting the website’s domain on a network firewall. The good news is that it’s possible to unblock Pornhub and here is the how-to.

How to unblock Pornhub

There are several ways to unblock Pornhub. Let’s see them all.

Tor browser

Tor looks like a usual browser, but in fact, with Tor, you can bypass blocking, improve your anonymity and privacy online. Tor is a free browser that you can safely download from the official website, install and start to use quickly. Even if Tor is not available to download in your country, the company allows users to get it from one of the official mirrors, or via the service GetTor. There are versions for all popular OS and mobile devices.

Tor encrypts all your internet traffic. In other words, your online activity is hidden from your ISP and anyone who might watch your connection locally. By default, Tor Browser doesn’t save your browsing history and deletes cookies at the end of each session.

Additionally, all data is encrypted and sequentially transmitted via multiple nodes within the Tor network, none of which have full information about the source and destination points of the data. And finally, your real IP address is masked.

VPN

A Virtual Private Network, or VPN for short, is probably the easiest way to access blocked websites, especially if you want to visit them regularly. Let’s look at how it works.

When you turn on a VPN it creates an encrypted tunnel for all your traffic between your device and a VPN server. This means that your ISP sees only an active VPN connection and nothing more. All your online activity becomes hidden and protected from being tracked, gathered, and sold to advertisers, marketers, and different third-party companies. Thus your ISP, or your colleagues, can’t see websites you visit and can’t block access to them.

Once your request reaches the VPN server, it is decrypted and forwarded to the internet from the server’s own IP address. To the rest of the web, your actual IP address is hidden. This is crucial because many websites restrict content based on a user’s geographical location. By masking your IP, you can easily unblock xHamster or other adult platforms that might be restricted in your specific region.

Another benefit of using VPN is encryption, which makes your online activity unreadable. This helps to avoid blocking from your ISP, Wi-Fi owner, or other organization, which can’t see what you are doing online while you use VPN.

There are several tips that can help you choose the best VPN provider:

• Number of locations. Choose a VPN provider that offers a wide list of server locations worldwide so you can always find a server with the highest speed.
• Quality of encryption. Modern secure VPNs use AES-family encryption (AES-128, AES-256) as a de-facto standard. These standards offer excellent security and are hardware-accelerated on most platforms, including mobile devices. This ensures high speeds and low battery consumption.
• Clear logging policy. Some VPN providers log too much user data. Carefully read the privacy policy to ensure that your VPN collects only the minimum information required for technical support.
• Paid subscription. While free VPNs may look tempting, they are often riskier than using no VPN at all. Since these providers still need to cover their costs, they often do so by selling your data to third parties.

Smart DNS

Smart DNS is a popular method that is often simpler than a VPN and works exceptionally well for streaming. Unlike a VPN, which routes all your data through a remote server, Smart DNS only redirects the specific parts of your DNS queries that reveal your geographical location.

The most significant advantage of this method is connection speed. Because there is no encryption involved, your bandwidth remains untouched, making Smart DNS a perfect choice for watching 4K adult videos without any buffering or lag. Furthermore, it can be easily configured on devices that do not naturally support VPN software, such as Smart TVs or gaming consoles.

To set up Smart DNS, you generally need to obtain the DNS server addresses from your provider and manually enter them into your device’s network settings. However, keep in mind that this method does not hide your IP address or encrypt your data. While it is excellent for accessing content worldwide, it doesn’t provide the same level of anonymity as a VPN or Tor, meaning your ISP might still be able to see which domains you are visiting.

Changing DNS server

The Domain Name System (DNS) maps domain names to the IP addresses that computers use to locate websites. This allows you to browse the web using comfortable names instead of strings of numbers.

However, it is possible for ISPs to monitor your DNS requests and block access to specific content. You may try replacing your default DNS server in the system preferences with one from Google or Cloudflare and check if it helps to unblock Pornhub, for example.

Modern technology has made this method even more reliable through DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) and DNS-over-TLS (DoT). While standard DNS requests are sent in plain text, these protocols wrap your requests in a layer of encryption. Most popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge now support encrypted DNS. By enabling this feature in your browser’s security settings, you can ensure that your ISP cannot easily intercept your requests, making it a much more robust way to bypass DNS-based blocking.

You can also change the DNS server from the one assigned by your ISP to Google’s public DNS server on different devices:

For some users, it might seem too complicated and time-consuming. Also, this method is not a hundred-percent solution. Unlike VPN, it does not encrypt your traffic, so if the network is monitored your browsing history will be recorded.

Proxies

Proxy servers work as intermediaries between your device and the web server. After your traffic passes through a proxy server your IP address changes to the IP address of the proxy server. As a result, you hide your IP address and can unblock the website only if the content is restricted because you are not in a required geographic area. Proxies are not as secure as VPNs (to be precise, they have nothing to do with security), but it is a good option if you can’t install a VPN on your device and can’t access a website because of server side geo-blocking.

The traffic to proxy servers is not encrypted and remains visible to network owners. That’s why this method doesn’t give a 100% guarantee that it will help to unblock Pornhub. The result depends on what kind of Pornhub blocking strategy the owner of the network uses.

Another disadvantage of using a proxy is that you need to set up a proxy server connection on your OS or browser to start using it. This might be challenging for a non-technical person.

Web proxies (anonymizers)

Finding a web proxy is an easy task. With a quick search, you can get a list of dozens of web proxy servers with almost the same functionality. To start using it you needn’t make any additional setups. Just go to the web proxy website and enter Pornhub’s website address in the address bar. Web proxy acts like a middleman and changes your real IP address, but also adds an additional layer of security (when HTTPS is on), which makes it more probable to get Pornhub unblocked.

How to unblock Pornhub: Comparison of methods

Why choose AdGuard VPN

Using VPN is one of the effective ways to protect your online activity from monitoring and blocking your access to content that somebody considers unacceptable. Let’s explore all benefits that AdGuard VPN offers its users:

• In-house developed VPN protocol. AdGuard VPN avoids ready-made solutions and uses a proprietary protocol TrustTunnel. AdGuard VPN protocol is more difficult to detect and it’s faster than traditional VPN protocols.
• Lists of exclusions. With AdGuard VPN, you can choose on which websites and apps you want your VPN to be on and off. For example, you can turn off AdGuard VPN for all websites by default, so it will run only on those websites you add to the list.
• Custom DNS servers. AdGuard VPN users do not need to use DNS servers provided by their ISP. They can choose a DNS server from the list of known providers or set up their own DNS server.
• Locations with the fastest speeds. With AdGuard VPN you know ping times to every VPN location. Usually, the server with the lowest ping is the fastest one — maximize your connection speed by choosing the right location.
• VPN servers in 55+ countries. Regardless of where you are, you can always be sure of a fast and stable connection with a wide list of VPN servers.
• QUIC support. AdGuard VPN helps you stay connected even in non-ideal conditions: for instance, when you’re connected through a mobile network.
• Kill Switch. It’s an essential VPN feature that automatically cuts off your internet connection if your VPN connection is suddenly lost.
• Auto-protection. This feature automatically turns on AdGuard VPN when you connect to Wi-Fi networks, which often might be unsecured.
• Simultaneous connections. Users of AdGuard VPN Unlimited can simultaneously switch on the VPN on 10 different devices and have an unlimited number of devices logged in but disconnected.
• Strict no-logging policy. AdGuard is a privacy-oriented VPN that does not track, gather or store users’ activity logs. Privacy policy

FAQ

On April 28, 2026, we received an email from Apple notifying us that the app would be removed because it “includes content that is illegal in Russia” and therefore does not comply with the App Review Guidelines.
The notice also cited Apple’s policy that developers are responsible for ensuring their apps comply with all local laws in the regions where they are distributed. The takedown request referenced Russia’s law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection,” specifically Article 15.1, which regulates the restriction of access to prohibited information and empowers authorities to block related services: https://blocklist.rkn.gov.ru/article15-1/

It’s important to note that while the TrustTunnel iOS client is no longer available in the Russian App Store, it remains accessible in other regions.

“While your app has been removed from the Russia App Store, it is still available in the App Stores for the other territories you selected in App Store Connect,” Apple stated in the letter.

Why is this happening: bigger picture

This takedown is not an isolated case. Apple has repeatedly complied with similar requests from Russian authorities. In July 2024 alone, dozens of VPN apps were removed from the Russian App Store, including AdGuard VPN.

Since then, Roskomnadzor has only intensified its campaign against VPN services, particularly after the introduction of a 2024 law that effectively criminalizes the dissemination of information about bypassing internet restrictions.

More recently, the scope of enforcement has expanded. In March 2026, reports indicated that the regulator had shifted focus from mainstream, ready-to-use VPN services to more flexible tools — including custom VPN clients and proxy apps that allow users to connect to private servers or configure their own networks.

This marks a clear escalation: not just targeting services, but targeting tools.

And now TrustTunnel — an open-source protocol with a simple client — has been caught in that widening net.

Our position: TrustTunnel client is a neutral tool

The TrustTunnel client, as such, is just that — a client application. It does not provide any built-in circumvention capabilities on its own.
On its own, without a server, it is effectively useless. It does not bypass restrictions by itself and does not contain any prohibited content.
It is a neutral tool that depends entirely on how it is configured. The same client is used in a wide range of legitimate scenarios, including corporate VPN infrastructures, private secure connections, and internal networking. For that reason, holding it accountable makes little sense. It is no different from blocking a web browser simply because it can be used to access restricted websites.
Unfortunately, in practice, nuance is often ignored. Takedown requests are issued broadly to anything associated with VPNs, without regard for context or actual functionality.

How users are affected

For users in Russia who have already installed the TrustTunnel iOS client, nothing breaks immediately: the app will continue to function. However, they will no longer receive updates through the App Store, which over time may affect stability, compatibility, and overall service quality.
For new users in Russia, access becomes more complicated but not impossible.

If you want to download or update TrustTunnel for iOS, you’ll need to use a non-Russian App Store account. In practice, this means creating or switching to an Apple ID registered in another country. Here is guidance on how to change your App Store region.

It’s also worth pointing out that TrustTunnel is open-source. That means the code is publicly available on GitHub: https://github.com/TrustTunnel/TrustTunnel, and the app can be built and installed manually. If you’re comfortable with Apple’s developer tools, you can compile and sideload the app yourself. It’s not a one-click experience, but it’s a fully workable fallback.

Also worth noting: the app remains available on Google Play, so Android users are not affected by this removal.

Alongside these changes, we’ve also made a few smaller updates that might be less noticeable at first glance, but still help improve the overall experience. Let’s take a look at everything in order.

Accessibility improvements

Now AdGuard VPN for Mac is much easier to navigate without relying on visual cues. Interface elements are properly labeled and structured, allowing screen readers to accurately describe buttons, statuses, and actions. In practice, this means the app can “speak” clearly — helping users understand what’s happening and interact with it more confidently.

We’ve expanded accessibility support across key sections of the app, including Settings, App settings, DNS servers, Authorization, Support, Home, Onboarding, and Promo. These improvements make the experience more intuitive and predictable for users with visual impairments.

Dark app icon support

AdGuard VPN now supports a dark app icon on macOS, allowing it to better match your system’s appearance. It’s a small detail, but one that helps the app feel more at home in your environment.

Updated system requirements

Starting with version 2.9, AdGuard VPN for Mac requires macOS 12 (Monterey) or later. This change allows us to take advantage of newer system features and continue improving the app going forward.

We’re always working to make AdGuard VPN better for everyone, and your feedback plays a big part in that. If you have ideas, suggestions, or something you’d like to see improved, feel free to share them on GitHub, on social media, or through the Support section in the app.

Here are methods that are commonly used to block access to websites:

• DNS-based blocking. DNS-based blocking disrupts the domain name resolution process when a user’s device searches for an IP address of a website by its domain name. As a result, the website doesn’t give the IP address in response to the browser request and the user can’t get access to the website.
• URL- and DPI-based blocking. Blocking by IP address and deep packet inspection blocking are used to restrict access when a browser establishes connection to a server or requests content from it.
• Search results blocking. All popular search engines have some kind of ‘Safe search’ option, when all ambiguous search results, including porn, are filtered out.

Content-blocking techniques can be used at different levels:

• National level. All traffic that enters or leaves the country potentially can be blocked via national gateways or firewalls.
• ISP level. Telecommunications carriers, including mobile carriers, may install specialized software and hardware equipment to censor certain types of web content.
• Local network level. Network owners may use filtering software to prevent access to certain websites.
• Endpoint level. Specialized software may be installed directly on users’ devices or even be a part of their operating systems. This is commonly used in home and work networks, usually for security or parental control reasons.

The best techniques for unblocking porn websites

Undoubtedly, using VPN is the most effective and reliable way to unblock porn. But there are also other methods, which have their own advantages and shortcomings. Let’s review them.

Get access with a VPN

Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is definitely one of the most convenient ways to unblock porn regardless how it was blocked. Let’s compare browsing with and without VPN to clarify how VPN can help to unblock porn sites.

When you go online without a VPN, your ISP, router, network owner, and anyone who has access to your traffic can know (and partially block) the websites you visit. Besides that, the websites themselves can be configured to perform IP-based blocking, usually to prevent access from certain countries.

A VPN is a technology that creates an encrypted connection between your device and a VPN server. It makes your traffic securely encrypted and no one can know what you are doing online. Thus, your browsing becomes more private and free. After your request reaches the VPN server, your current IP address gets hidden behind the IP address of the VPN server and for the entire Internet, your online activity is associated with it. Which, in turn, helps you to bypass restrictions and provides a reliable way to unblock xHamster or any other adult platforms restricted in your area.

One of the most common complaints about using a VPN is that it slows down connection speed. And to some extent this is true. When you use a VPN your data has to pass a longer way to reach the server and it naturally requires additional time. However, the used VPN protocol, quality of a VPN app and server load also affect the connection speed. Premium VPNs usually do their best to provide customers with high-quality service and minimize the impact. Free VPNs often don’t focus on that, but may still look tempting because they don’t require payments. For some users, it might be the main benefit. But be careful — free VPN service providers still need to cover costs and they successfully do it by selling users’ data. If you don’t want to put yourself at risk, avoid free VPNs.

How to choose a good VPN?

Here are some useful tips which can help you find the best VPN for your online needs:

1. VPN server locations. Choose a VPN provider with a wide list of VPN servers all over the world. So you can find the server location which suits you best.
2. The type of encryption standard. Nowadays AES-128 and AES-256 encryptions are the industry standards which work fast and guarantee strong protection.
3. Useful security features for additional protection. Premium VPNs usually provide some additional useful features. For example, Kill Switch cuts your Internet connection if the VPN connection suddenly drops. So you can be sure you are always under protection.
4. Clear no-logging policy. It’s important that VPN providers log only minimum data, which is only needed for the smooth work of a VPN service and technical support.

Built-in browser VPNs: A quick and easy alternative

If you don’t want to install standalone software, using a browser with a built-in VPN is one of the most effective free and easy ways to unblock porn sites.

• Opera Browser: This is the most popular choice for the “free VPN” segment. Opera features a built-in, unlimited VPN-proxy that requires no subscription. You can access adult platforms with a single click.

• Brave Browser: Brave is highly regarded for its privacy features. It offers a “Private Window with Tor,” which routes your traffic through the Tor network. This effectively hides your IP and allows you to unblock porn websites while maintaining high anonymity. Brave also provides a premium, system-wide VPN for those seeking advanced protection.

Use the Tor browser to unblock porn

Tor is a powerful browser, which looks almost like other popular browsers, but it works on completely different principles, providing users with high anonymity, privacy, and personal data protection. If you are undecided between this method and a VPN, you can read a detailed comparison of the Tor browser vs VPN to see which fits your needs better.

Using Tor is completely free. Everyone can download it safely from the official website. There are versions for all popular platforms and devices. Also, the company has developed additional methods to get Tor for those users who can’t download it from the official website. It’s GetTor service and official mirrors.

Let’s see how to unblock porn sites with the Tor browser. Tor browser encrypts all your traffic. This means that neither your ISP, nor anyone else between you and the Internet can see or interfere with what you are doing online. And particularly can’t prohibit accessing porn.

On other hand, as the traffic is routed through a chain of Tor nodes, websites and web services can’t see your real IP address and can’t geo-block you (though they might not be friendly to IPs associated with Tor nodes either).

The most important disadvantage of using Tor is that it significantly slows down your connection speed. That’s why Tor doesn’t seem a perfect choice for circumventing porn blocking — it just will take forever to download content. Also, Tor traffic is closely monitored and even blocked by governments of some countries because only with Tor it’s possible to get access to the DarkNet, which is often associated with illegal activity.

Use Smart DNS for high-speed access

Smart DNS is another popular method that is often simpler than a VPN and works exceptionally well for streaming and unblocking content. Unlike a VPN, which encrypts all your traffic and routes it through a remote server, Smart DNS only redirects the specific parts of your DNS queries that reveal your real geographical location.

The way it helps to unblock porn sites is quite straightforward: when you attempt to access a restricted platform, Smart DNS replaces your local DNS address with a server from a location where the content is available. This effectively “tricks” the website into granting you access without the overhead of heavy encryption.

The most significant advantage of this method is connection speed. Because there is no encryption involved, your bandwidth remains untouched, which makes Smart DNS a perfect choice for watching high-definition adult videos without any buffering or lag. Furthermore, it can be easily configured on devices that do not naturally support VPN software, such as Smart TVs or gaming consoles.

To set up Smart DNS, you generally need to obtain the DNS server addresses from your provider and manually enter them into your device’s network settings. However, you should keep in mind that Smart DNS does not hide your IP address or encrypt your data. While it is excellent for accessing content around the world, it doesn’t provide the same level of anonymity as a VPN or Tor, meaning your ISP might still be able to see which domains you are visiting.

Use a proxy server

Another way to unblock porn is to use a proxy server. It might be a cost-free solution, because it is not hard to find a free proxy (putting aside questions of stability and privacy). To unblock porn with this method, you need to manually set up a proxy server on the desktop or your phone.

When you use a proxy, your browser transmits your traffic through a proxy server in a different country and your visible IP address gets replaced with an IP address of the proxy server, which definitely helps to circumvent server-side restrictions.

However, a proxy is not a silver bullet and it has its own drawbacks. For instance, proxies do not add an additional level of encryption, like VPNs and Tor do, so network equipment might keep seeing the domains you visit, and restrictions may stay in place. This lack of security is the main reason why the protection levels of a VPN and a proxy differ so significantly.

Use web proxies or anonymizers

A web proxy is a web page through which a user can anonymously visit another website. Web proxies are easy to use because they don’t require any additional settings, unlike proxy servers. All you need to unblock access to a porn website is to paste its address into the address box of an anonymizer. Given that an anonymizer provides HTTPS access and is not blocked in your network, you’ll probably circumvent even severe access restrictions.

Although the use of web proxies is convenient, they don’t guarantee privacy to their users. Also, anonymizers are often blocked by governments or ISPs, along with porn sites. Another disadvantage is that anonymizers are usually full of pop-ups, pop-unders and other types of annoying ads. And finally, not all functionality is guaranteed to work smoothly when going this way.

Use the Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine is an internet archive service that stores old versions of websites so that they could be viewed later. It’s an interesting experience to see how your favorite website looked several years ago. One can use Wayback Machine to get access to adult content from the past. Here is how to do it:

1. Go to the Web Archive official website.
2. Type URL of the required website in the search bar.
3. Select a date. On the calendar you’ll see the dates when your website snapshots were made. You can view only these snapshots.
4. After you pick the date you can explore an archived version of the website.

To summarize, you can use the Wayback Machine to unblock porn, or at least some of it, for free from anywhere in the world. But be prepared that the speed will be really slow. Besides, the Wayback Machine archives images, not videos.

Change your DNS server

The Domain Name System (DNS) maps the domain name people use to locate a website to the IP address that a computer uses to locate it. This allows you to access websites by domain names instead of IPs, which is obviously more comfortable.

However, it’s possible to monitor your DNS requests and block your access to porn. You may try replacing a DNS server in your system preferences, with DNS from Google or Cloudflare, and check if it helps to unblock Pornhub, for example.

Modern technology has made this method even more reliable through DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) and DNS-over-TLS (DoT). While standard DNS requests are sent in plain text, these protocols wrap your requests in a layer of encryption. Most popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge now support encrypted DNS. By enabling this feature in your browser's security settings, you can ensure that your ISP cannot easily intercept your requests, making it a much more robust way to bypass DNS-based blocking.

Here is how to change the DNS server from the one assigned by your ISP to Google’s public DNS server on different devices:

Here is how to change the DNS server from the one assigned by your ISP to Google’s public DNS server on different devices:

Windows

1. Go to the Control Panel → Network → Internet and Network Connections.
2. Click the network you use. Select Properties.
3. Double-click Internet Protocol Version (TCP/IPv4/IPv6). A new pop-up will open where you can modify the IP and DNS server addresses.
4. The current Google’s public DNS server IPv4 addresses are “8.8.8.8” and “8.8.4.4.”. Enter them in the Use the following DNS server addresses section. You should always double-check your DNS server address.

macOS

1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner → System Preferences → Network.
2. Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS.
3. Click Advanced → DNS.
4. Click + to enter the Google IP addresses. For IPv4 use “8.8.8.8” or “8.8.4.4”. For IPv6 use “2001:4860:4860::8888” or “2001:4860:4860::8844”.
5. Click OK → Apply.

Android

1. Go to Settings → Network & Internet → Private DNS.
2. Select Private DNS provider hostname.
3. Enter dns.google or 1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com and tap Save. This will automatically encrypt your DNS queries across all networks.

iOS

1. Go to Settings → Wi-Fi and tap the i icon next to your network.
2. Scroll down and tap Configure DNS → Manual.
3. Tap Add Server and enter the IP addresses (like 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1).
4. Tap Save in the top right corner.

For some users, it might seem too complicated and time-consuming. Also, this method is not a hundred-percent solution. Unlike VPN, it does not encrypt your traffic, so if the network is monitored your browsing history will be recorded.

Comparison of unblocking methods

FAQ

Upd. This promotion is over. If you didn’t get a chance to buy AdGuard Ad Blocker, AdGuard VPN or AdGuard DNS at a discount, don’t worry — we often run other promotions. Not to miss the next one, subscribe to our newsletter — we’ll keep you in the loop!

We often think of self-care as something that happens offline — mental health walks, the treasured eight hours of sleep, guided meditations. But sometimes we forget that feeling in control online matters just as much.

Constant notifications, ads, and endless scrolling can make spending time online overwhelming. Thankfully, there are simple steps you can take to streamline your digital experience.

Take care of your passwords

Reusing the same password (or slight variations of it) is common — I’ve definitely done it and then struggled to remember which tiny symbol I changed.

A password manager can help by generating and storing strong, unique passwords, so you only need to remember one master password. There’s no need to keep track of every tiny change you made.

Clear your browser regularly

Another simple thing you can do right away is clear your browser’s cache and cookies. Doing this on a regular basis limits tracking and makes your browser run more smoothly. Just use a shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Delete on Windows/Linux or Cmd+Shift+Delete on Mac.

If you want to block tracking cookies but keep your login sessions, AdGuard can help. Just click Delete third-party cookies in Tracking protection.

Delete apps you don’t use

Unused apps take up space and can become security risks if they’re outdated. Make sure to delete your account if you no longer use the app. Then delete the app from your phone altogether — and breathe a little easier.

Block notifications you don’t need

Most phones are filled with notifications you don’t really need — you may receive dozens of push messages urging you to subscribe to a new service, order fast food, or keep playing a game that’s been taking up too much of your time.

Take a few minutes to turn off non-essential notifications. While you’re at it, check app permissions in Settings. Some apps may be tracking your location or accessing more data than necessary in the background.

Get rid of ads

Imagine trying to close an ad before a video, but it opens another popup, then another. Suddenly, you’re on the verge of a mental breakdown in the middle of your lunch break.

An ad blocker like AdGuard can help clean up your browsing experience by removing intrusive ads and banners and making it much harder for companies to track your activity.

Use a VPN to protect your privacy

If you’re worried about websites and advertisers tracking your activity, a VPN can help hide your IP address and encrypt your connection.

Try AdGuard VPN — it is designed to protect your connection without logging your activity or selling your data.

Set up DNS filtering

Some devices, like smart TVs, don’t support ad blockers. This is where DNS filtering comes in handy — it can protect all devices on your home network from ads and trackers.

You can also set up security features to block harmful content or reduce the risk of phishing.

Special discounts for AdGuard digital self-care week are valid through April 28.

And remember: small steps are enough. It’s impossible to block every single ad or tracker, or protect yourself from every single password leak. But what matters is knowing you are making your online experience safer.

Performance and interface improvements

We’ve added a notification that appears when PCAP (packet capture) is enabled. Although this feature is useful for diagnosing and analyzing network traffic, it may slightly affect performance. The notification informs users of this in advance.
We’ve also polished the interface by refining the spacing and colors of several UI elements, making the app look cleaner and more consistent.

Bug fixes and security improvements

We’ve fixed an issue with the Connect button on the main screen. Previously, it could disappear if you returned to the main screen from other parts of the app using the system Back button. Now it remains visible as expected.
We’ve also removed a potentially vulnerable feature that allowed domains to be added to Exclusions through a browser, making the app more secure.

Your feedback matters

As always, if you have ideas, suggestions, or requests, don’t hesitate to share them on social media or on GitHub

A 7-day first look

If you’re just getting started with AdGuard VPN Unlimited, version 2.10 gives you a full 7‑day trial with access to all premium features. During this period you get access to all available locations, up to 10 connected devices at the same time, and no traffic limits. This way, you can try AdGuard VPN in everyday scenarios — from streaming and gaming to constant background protection on the go — and understand how the service fits your routine.

Ongoing improvements behind the scenes

Also this release brings several practical improvements: the VPN client has been updated, and issues with exporting exclusions from Mac to iOS and AdGuard VPN’s appearance in Siri Suggestions have been fixed. These changes remove small but noticeable friction points and make the app more stable and predictable in daily use.

Share your first impression

We’d love to hear what you think about the trial and the overall experience with AdGuard VPN for iOS v2.10. Leave your feedback and suggestions on our social media channels or open an issue on GitHub — it helps us decide what to improve next.

Interface language selection

Changing your extension’s language used to mean fiddling with your browser settings. Not anymore. Now you can switch languages directly in the extension settings. This means fewer steps, more control, and a smoother, more personalized experience.

More accurate server information

We’ve improved how ping data is collected, so you’ll get a clearer view of available servers and locations. This makes your connection experience more predictable and aligns what you expect with actual performance.

Extra free traffic

We’ve added a new way to earn 1 GB of free traffic. Share a post about AdGuard VPN on Facebook or X, go to Settings → Free GBs → Promote AdGuard VPN on socials, and fill out the form. We’ll check everything and add the extra traffic to your account.

This is on top of our existing offers — a small thank-you for being part of the AdGuard community.

We hope these updates make your AdGuard VPN experience smoother, more transparent, and even more rewarding.

The decision — which Yoti plans to appeal — is striking not because of the total amount of the penalty (it’s nowhere near the record-breaking fines imposed on Big Tech giants like Meta), nor even because of the nature of the violations.

What makes this case genuinely unsettling is the line of work Yoti is in: age verification.

As governments around the world push through laws requiring websites — from adult platforms to mainstream social media — to restrict access based on age, companies like Yoti are rapidly becoming gatekeepers of the internet. They are no longer niche service providers; they are infrastructure.

And that’s exactly why every failure matters more.

When a company tasked with verifying identities at scale mishandles sensitive data, the implications aren’t contained. They multiply. These systems are designed to operate continuously, silently processing millions of checks. If something goes wrong, it doesn’t just affect a handful of users; it has the potential to impact entire populations. And that’s exactly what makes this case so significant.

How does Yoti check identity

Before we go into the thick of it, there's an important nuance to mention. Yoti doesn’t operate in just one way. It offers a variety of identification solutions, starting from simple age estimation checks based on a quick facial scan, to reusable Digital ID credentials you can store and share, all the way to full document-based identity verification. The latest ruling only pertains to one of Yoti’s products — the Yoti app, one of the most fool-proof identity verification methods that YoTi offers.

To get started with the app, you must upload a government-issued ID, such as a passport or a driver’s license. Next, you must take a face scan, which can involve capturing a sequence of images while moving the phone towards your face, or a video in which you’ll need to say a few words to allow for “liveness detection” or “anti-spoofing” checks. This ensures that the face being scanned is a real, live person and not just a photo, video, or mask. The app then compares the face from the selfie to the face on the ID. If the match passes, the system creates a biometric template — a reusable digital fingerprint of your face.

The key difference between some of the other methods and this one is that this template doesn’t disappear after verification. It stays on Yoti’s servers. Yoti keeps it so it can re-identify you later if you log in again, change your PIN, or recover your account. In other words, what starts as a one-time age check quietly becomes a long-term biometric identity system.

Not every Yoti-processed check requires uploading a passport and taking a selfie, though. Sometimes the system can estimate your age just from a facial scan. In these cases, Yoti acts as a data processor, handling information on behalf of another organization. But when you use the Yoti ID app itself, that changes: Yoti becomes a data controller, deciding what data to collect, why, and for how long to retain it. In simple terms, it’s both the operator and the rule-maker.

However, while the ruling technically applies only to the Yoti ID app, it raises a bigger, more uncomfortable question: if this is how data is handled when Yoti is fully in control, what confidence should users have in the wider ecosystem it powers? Look past the technical details of the Spanish regulator’s decision, and a clear pattern of overstepping comes into focus — not a one-off misstep, but a broader approach that may arguably extend well beyond a single product or feature.

Too much data collection, too little real choice

If you strip away the legal language, Yoti’s violations come down to something very simple: it collected too much sensitive data, gave users too little real choice, and held on to that data for far longer than it should have.

Under the GDPR, Yoti’s app makes the company both a data processor and a data controller, which means it’s held to a higher standard for handling sensitive information — including biometric scans, which the regulator considers special category personal data.

These biometric scans are stored on Yoti’s servers for as long as the account is active and three years after the last activity. Yoti says this is needed to let users change their PIN or recover their account. The regulator argues that keeping this data for years is way more than necessary. In its view, the main purpose — verifying that a real person is in front of the camera — is already fulfilled at account creation. It also points out that PIN changes and account recovery are rare events, so keeping everyone’s biometric data “just in case” amounts to overkill and is disproportionate.

When it comes to user consent, Yoti was accused of employing what sounds like a typical dark pattern. Users are automatically opted in to hand over their biometric data for internal research, unless they actively untick the box. This isn’t small-scale data. It covers facial images, videos, birthdate, gender, document type and a country of issue.

It even also includes estimated race or ethnic origin for bias testing.

In short, users are nudged into sharing a massive amount of sensitive data without a meaningful choice.

One of the other data collection practices the regulator flagged is Yoti collecting and storing geolocation data. This includes your country, state, and even city, and it’s kept for five years. Yoti says it needs this to figure out which local age rules apply to each user. The regulator, however, argues that once the app knows which rules to enforce at account creation, keeping your location data for years on end serves no real purpose, and a five-year retention period sounds like a massive overkill.

On top of that, Yoti says it can manually review your ID internally for up to 28 days after verification. During this time, staff in their Security Centre in India can manually check your documents for fraud or use them for training. While Yoti keeps the files on its UK servers and calls them “secure,” they must still be viewable by employees to perform these checks, so at this point they cannot be presented in an encrypted form. After the 28-day window, staff access ends, but the documents aren’t necessarily deleted, meaning your sensitive ID can linger further on their system.

This raises obvious privacy concerns. There have been multiple cases where human reviewers for outsourced verification services leaked or mishandled sensitive personal information, including ID documents and biometric data. One high-profile example was Roomba, where contractors exposed private data on Facebook. Even with policies and encryption in place, any human access creates a window for potential misuse, and, suffice to say, Yoti’s setup is no exception.

In response to the ruling, Yoti said it rejects the decision “in the strongest possible terms” and claimed it “takes data protection very seriously”

Yoti as a global blueprint

Yoti is not just another age verification company — it’s one of the industry leaders, and its influence extends far beyond individual apps. According to reporting by Ars Technica, Yoti arguably helped pave the way for new US laws attempting to age-gate the Internet. A March report from Georgia Tech’s Security, Privacy, and Democracy Research Laboratory — described as “the first large-scale exploration of age verification providers” in the US — found that Yoti is the dominant provider, used in over 60 percent of compliant sites in US states where age checks have become mandatory. The report also found that Yoti “often requires end users to share sensitive data — photos of their face, government IDs, credit card details, browser fingerprinting data, the website being accessed, and more. Such data may be entrusted not only to the contracted provider, but also to several “fourth parties” that are significantly less visible to users.”

The company’s reach is staggering: Yoti reportedly runs a million age checks per day, dwarfing competitors like Privately, which handles roughly 100,000 a day at most. When the US Supreme Court ruled last summer that online age verification does not violate the First Amendment, the court relied in part on technical information provided by Yoti.

This dominance shows that Yoti isn’t just a participant in the age verification market — it shapes the rules, sets the technical standards, and quietly expands the footprint of biometric and identity data collection across the internet, making its data-handling practices a concern for millions of users far beyond the UK and Spain.

Implications: A preview of a no-privacy era

This case confirms what privacy advocates have been warning about for years: there is hardly a safe way to build mass-scale age verification on top of sensitive personal data.

Behind the scenes, Yoti doesn’t just verify identities; it repurposes the data to train and refine its systems, sweeping users into research and algorithmic improvements they never actively agreed to. Even after getting stripped of names and addresses, the remaining faces, videos, and ID-derived attributes are permanent and deeply personal.

Regulators may call for minimal collection, limited retention, and avoidance of tracking, but the reality is the opposite — systems like Yoti’s collect more than necessary, store it longer than justified, and reuse it for secondary purposes, all under the guise of “safety” and for the sake of convenience.

Age verification, as currently designed, creates centralized, high-risk data environments that privacy laws were meant to prevent. Yoti is not an outlier, it’s a blueprint. Unless the underlying model changes, it won’t be the last company to overstep these boundaries. This fine isn’t just about one company failing compliance; it’s a warning about an entire system that normalizes biometric surveillance, incentivizes data hoarding, and asks users to trust it blindly that it will all be handled responsibly.

Unsurprisingly, these proposals have sparked strong criticism from the public, privacy advocates, and digital rights organizations. But recently, the debate gained a new voice: more than 400 security and privacy scientists from around the world signed an open letter outlining the risks of mandatory age-verification systems. In the letter, the researchers summarize many of the concerns that technologists, civil society groups, and privacy-focused companies — including AdGuard — have been raising for years.

The number of signatories alone would be enough to draw attention to the letter. But then you take into account that these are the same experts in cybersecurity, privacy engineering, cryptography, and online safety who helped design the technologies now being proposed for age verification — and their statement gains even more weight.

What the open letter warns about

The signatories address their letter to regulators and policymakers — those who are directly responsible for new legislation around age verification. And at the core of these laws often lies the concern about the negative effects that exposure to harmful content online has on children. To better understand the point of this letter, it is important to note that the privacy experts are not opposed to age verification in principle. Age checks have existed for decades in the offline world — for example, when showing an ID at a store or venue. In those cases, verification typically happens locally and temporarily, without leaving permanent digital records.

Online age verification, however, is fundamentally different. Implementing it at scale requires building a complex digital infrastructure capable of verifying millions of users across countless online services. According to the researchers, this infrastructure introduces serious privacy, security, and effectiveness risks that lawmakers often overlook.

Easy to bypass

One of the central points of the letter is that digital age verification is surprisingly easy to circumvent. Children already use a variety of methods to bypass online restrictions, and age verification systems would likely face the same problem. It can be as trivial as purchasing verified accounts or credentials from online marketplaces, or using a VPN service and connecting to a server located in a jurisdiction without age-verification requirements. But there are also other, more inventive ways, such as using AI tools or deepfake technology to trick biometric verification systems — something that has already been demonstrated in practice.

In other words, determined users will likely find ways around these controls — especially once bypass tools become widely available. And there is little doubt they will, because where there is demand, there will always be people willing to capitalize on it. Meanwhile, ordinary users who simply want to access legitimate online services may be forced to repeatedly verify their identity.

More data collection, less privacy

The researchers also warn that age verification systems inevitably require users to share more personal information online. Depending on how these systems are implemented, users may have to provide government identification documents, biometric data (such as facial scans), phone numbers, or payment credentials. Even when systems claim to verify age without storing personal data, they still rely on processing highly sensitive information.

At scale, this creates new risks: databases containing identity documents or biometric data become attractive targets for hackers, data brokers, or government surveillance. Even if you rule out ill intent, data leaks happen, due to human error or system flaws. And the more platforms require you to confirm your identity, the more sensitive data you upload, the higher are the chances it will end up in the wrong hands one way or another. You don’t need to go far to find examples of users’ data being mishandled: in October 2025, Discord suffered an attack that resulted in the leak of age verification IDs of estimated 70,000 users. And this is not some isolated case. In another example of major data breach, drivers’ licenses, selfies, and other sensitive information which may at one point had been used for verification purposes, were leaked by The Tea app. It is unclear how many records have been leaked exactly, but the app boasts over 6.2 million users.

Security risks and unintended consequences

The researchers argue that mandatory age verification could reduce overall online safety, too. If large platforms begin enforcing strict verification requirements, some users may turn to alternative or unregulated services that do not require identity checks. These platforms may offer fewer safety protections and may be more likely to host scams, malware, or illegal content. When 18 US states adopted laws requiring websites that display sexually oriented content to essentially check IDs of all visitors, the affected users simply switched to other adult platforms that were non-compliant with these laws.

Age verification can also create new opportunities for fraud. For example, scammers may impersonate verification providers and trick users into submitting identification documents or biometric data. In this way, a system intended to make the internet safer could unintentionally create new attack surfaces for cybercrime.

Barriers for legitimate users

Another issue highlighted in the letter is that age verification systems often assume that users have access to certain technologies or documents. In reality, this is not always the case. There are entire groups of people who, despite being over the required age threshold, will not be able to prove it to the system. Some adults may not possess government-issued IDs suitable for digital verification — immigrants, asylum seekers, visitors from countries whose identification systems are not integrated with the verification infrastructure. Others — particularly older users — may struggle with complex verification processes or lack the necessary digital skills. And many people simply do not own smartphones capable of running verification apps. Introducing age verification systems will inevitably exclude some legitimate users from online services.

Not a guaranteed solution

There are many more arguments that support the researchers’ claim — the open letter is six pages long. But perhaps the most important point raised in it, which emerges from the individual concerns, is that age verification does not guarantee the protection policymakers hope for. Children may still bypass restrictions, while adults may find themselves repeatedly verifying their identity across multiple platforms — or failing verification altogether for various reasons. At the same time, the technologies used for age estimation — such as facial analysis — can be unreliable, invasive, harmful to privacy, and can be exploited by bad actors. They may facilitate collecting significant amounts of personal data about users, including minors.

Without extensive and thorough prior research, the letter’s signatories warn, there is no guarantee that the benefits will outweigh the harms. Poorly designed age-verification systems could create a situation where users lose privacy and security without actually improving child protection.

However, the authors of the letter are not calling for abandoning efforts to protect minors online. Instead, they urge policymakers to carefully study the technical risks and limitations of large-scale age verification before mandating it through legislation. Without this work, they warn, governments may end up deploying systems that are ineffective, easy to bypass, and harmful to both privacy and online safety.

Will this letter actually change anything?

Open letters from experts are a common tool in tech policy debates. They act as signals of expert consensus, making it harder for policymakers to ignore concerns from the technical community. That said, they rarely stop legislation outright. The UK’s Online Safety Act, for example, faced extensive criticism from experts, but ultimately still passed. The same can be said for many other initiatives where technical communities raised serious concerns, only to see policymakers move forward regardless. But that doesn’t mean these efforts are pointless — they can influence how policies are implemented and shape future debates.

In the case of mandatory age verification, we’re likely to see the same pattern. Laws in places like the UK and Australia are already in full swing, and it’s unlikely that the arguments in this open letter will lead to their repeal or completely prevent similar ones from being adopted in other countries. Where it can make a difference is in how these systems are implemented. The researchers have clearly outlined the risks, from privacy violations to security vulnerabilities and ease of circumvention, which lawmakers and companies who bring these policies to life will have to justify now. The letter also strengthens the position of those pushing for less intrusive approaches. If age verification becomes inevitable, the conversation may shift toward how to minimize harm, rather than whether to introduce it at all.

There are also more longer-term effects to consider. If the age-verification systems fail to deliver on their promises or create new risks, this letter will likely be one of the first places critics point to. Its true impact may become apparent only well into the future, when it will be used to question or challenge the new laws after they begin to show their real-world consequences.

Our stance on age verification: Privacy first

At AdGuard, we fully support the privacy experts and researchers who raised concerns in the open letter. While it may not lead to the revision of age verification laws in the UK and Australia or directly stop them from going into effect in other countries, it’s still important that the privacy community’s voice is heard. Even if lawmakers don’t always listen, getting these risks into the public conversation is crucial.

For us, the privacy of our users is always the top priority. We want our readers to understand the privacy risks they’re facing and, where possible, give them the tools to stay safe. If mandatory age verification becomes the new reality, we want you to be prepared. While we can’t add much to the arguments already presented in the open letter, we want to reiterate what we see as the biggest concern: the risk of your private data falling into the wrong hands.

The more personal data you’re asked to share — IDs, face scans, payment info — the higher the chance that something could go wrong. Data breaches happen all the time, and the more you upload, the more vulnerable you become. Whether it’s a company getting hacked, a scammer getting ahold of your details, or just poor handling of your information, the risks grow with each new piece of sensitive data you give out.

So, what can you do? Always think twice before you give out any data. Ask yourself: do you really need to go through this age verification? Are there alternatives to this website or service that don’t require it? Or maybe you can access the service you need without handing over so much personal information? But if you decide to look for alternatives, be cautious. Scammers love exploiting people looking for ways around these systems. Only use trusted tools and make sure they’re from reputable developers and well-reviewed by the community. In short, always do your research.

One solution to avoid age verification laws — if they’re local — is to use a VPN. By connecting to a server in a region where age verification isn’t required, you can bypass these checks. And of course, VPNs don’t just help with age verification, they also protect your privacy in general. Whether it’s hiding your location, protecting your data from tracking, or encrypting your traffic, VPNs are an essential tool for online privacy in today’s increasingly crazy world. As age verification becomes more and more common, VPNs remain one of the easier and more reliable ways to keep your data safe and ensure you maintain control over your online experience.

After implementing age checks in compliance with the UK’s Online Safety Act and Australia’s Online Safety Amendment Act — which bans social media access for users under 16 — Discord attempted to preempt similar legislation in the EU, the US, and elsewhere by expanding its age assurance program globally.

On February 9, Discord announced that “all new and existing users worldwide will have a teen-appropriate experience, with updated communication settings, restricted access to age-gated spaces, and content filtering that preserves the privacy and meaningful connections that define Discord.”

The phrasing did not land well.

Many users interpreted the announcement to mean that everyone would be downgraded to a “teen experience” by default unless they verified their age — either through a face scan or by submitting a government-issued ID. Panic spread quickly across forums, social media, and YouTube commentary channels.

Discord later clarified that the “vast majority of people can continue using Discord exactly as they do today, without ever being asked to confirm their age.” But by then, the damage was done. The backlash had already snowballed into a full-blown public trust crisis.

Discord breaking its promise of on-device processing

Throughout its announcement, Discord emphasized privacy safeguards. Among the key features highlighted was “on-device processing,” with the company stating that video selfies used for facial age estimation “never leave a user’s device.”

Notably, it did not make the same explicit claim about ID-based verification.

The overall impression many users took away was that sensitive personal data would remain local — processed on-device and never transmitted to third parties. That reassurance was meant to calm privacy concerns.

Instead, it fueled them.

Discord’s old support page (it can now be accessed through web archive) revealed that users in the UK “may be part of an experiment” involving the age-verification vendor Persona.

The disclaimer read:

“Important: If you're located in the UK, you may be part of an experiment where your information will be processed by an age-assurance vendor, Persona. The information you submit will be temporarily stored for up to 7 days, then deleted. For ID document verification, all details are blurred except your photo and date of birth, so only what's truly needed for age verification is used.”

Persona is a cloud-based identity verification service. By definition, that means user data is transmitted to and processed on external servers, not purely on-device.

While the admission did not directly contradict Discord’s earlier messaging — after all, the company never explicitly promised that all age-verification data would be processed on-device — it made one thing unmistakably clear: the system was not purely local after all. Even if limited to a UK experiment, it created the perception that Discord had been speaking in half-truths or at the very least communicating extremely poorly.

Concerns deepened due to Persona’s broader data practices. Internet sleuths examining its policies pointed out references to checks against “third party databases, government records, and other publicly available sources.”

Persona CEO Rick Song later told Ars Technica that data from verified individuals in Discord’s test was deleted immediately. However, the fact that data could have been stored for up to seven days, combined with Persona’s external processing model, only intensified skepticism.

Matters worsened when reporting revealed that a Persona frontend had been left exposed, potentially allowing unauthorized access to sensitive verification data. According to Malwarebytes, the exposure stemmed from a misconfigured web component that made internal resources accessible from the internet before being secured. Though there was no confirmed evidence of exploitation in the Discord case, the timing amplified public distrust.

Meanwhile, critics pointed to a far more damaging episode: a September 20 breach in which attackers accessed data held by Discord’s third-party customer service provider. The compromised information included government ID images submitted by users who were appealing failed age determinations, along with usernames, emails, limited billing details, IP addresses, and support messages. For many observers, the incident confirmed their worst fears — that even if ID checks are meant to be a one-off occasion, forcing users to resubmit sensitive documents in edge cases dramatically increases the risk of real-world exposure.

Although references to Persona were quietly removed around February 15 — as noted by The Verge — the damage was already done. For many users, the mere fact the partnership existed contradicted the spirit of Discord’s privacy-forward branding.

Apologies and belated clarifications: Will they be enough?

With backlash mounting, Discord’s CEO Stanislav Vishnevskiy published a lengthy post on February 24 aimed at calming fears.

He reiterated that for roughly 90% of users, nothing would change. Most users, he said, do not access age-restricted content or modify default safety settings.

Vishnevskiy also revealed that Discord already uses an internal system to estimate age based on account-level signals, stating:

“Age determination works the same way, using the same category of account-level signals: how long your account has existed, whether you have a payment method on file, what types of servers you're in, and general patterns of account activity. It does not read your messages, analyze your conversations, or look at the content you post.”

He acknowledged that “trust us” is not sufficient reassurance and promised to publish a technical blog post explaining the methodology before a global launch.

As for the Persona partnership, Vishnevskiy confirmed it was a limited UK test conducted in January and stated that Discord no longer uses the service because it “did not meet the bar for entirely on-device processing.”

The question remains whether these clarifications came too late, or if they are enough.

Bottom line

Age verification is one of the most contentious issues facing online platforms today. Regulators see it as a necessary safeguard for minors. Users often see it as a slippery slope toward surveillance.

Even when implemented with privacy protections, age verification inherently introduces new risks. It creates additional data flows, expands the number of entities handling sensitive information, and increases the attack surface for potential breaches. Every additional verification vendor becomes another possible point of failure.

Discord’s experience illustrates a broader tension: platforms are trying to navigate tightening regulatory requirements without alienating privacy-conscious users. But in doing so, they risk eroding the very trust that made them successful.

Whether Discord’s delayed global rollout reflects a lesson learned — or simply a pause before renewed controversy — will depend on how transparently and cautiously it proceeds next.

AdGuard and Meta: Our first steps

Since early 2024, Meta has been going through the important milestone of adding third-party extensions to their VR browser. Around 10 extensions are supported by the platform so far, and AdGuard VPN Browser Extension is one of the very few VPNs on this list. We are proud and flattered to be included, and we’re ready for the challenge.

After thorough testing, we made sure that our VPN extension functions as well in the Meta Quest Browser as it does on desktop browsers. This release contains minor fixes and improvements for smoother performance and a better user experience.

AdGuard VPN Browser Extension for Meta Quest Browser works just like our VPN extensions for other browsers. Whatever you choose to do in your Meta headset, be it shopping, watching content, or just browsing — AdGuard VPN helps you enjoy your experience and shields your privacy.

AdGuard VPN is compatible with the range of headsets powered by Meta Horizon OS starting from Oculus Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3, and Quest 3S.

AdGuard VPN goes beyond privacy protection — it enables true digital freedom. Now, users can securely and seamlessly access the open internet in VR, maintaining full control wherever they are.

–Denis Vyazovoy, Head of Product

How to install AdGuard VPN Browser Extension on Meta Quest Browser

Follow these simple steps:

1. Open the Browser app on your Meta Quest device.

2. In the top-right corner, select the three-dot menu icon.
   

3. Select Extensions from the menu.
   

4. Find AdGuard VPN in the list and press on it.
   

5. Press Install and complete the installation process.
   

You’re all set!

Once installed, AdGuard VPN will work like any standard browser extension.

And note, AdGuard Browser Extension for Meta Quest Browser is also available now! Enjoy a cleaner, faster, and more private web experience with AdGuard’s products in VR.

What is new, and far more consequential, is that similar logic has begun to take root in Western democracies that traditionally positioned themselves as defenders of digital liberties. The catalyst for this shift has been a succession of legislative efforts framed around child protection, particularly shielding minors from exposure to harmful or explicit online content.

The most prominent example is the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act (OSA). The Act was passed into law in October 2023, but it did not take effect at once. Its implementation came in stages, and began in earnest in July 2025, when provisions around illegal content and child protection started being enforced. The law imposes sweeping obligations on online platforms, including requirements to implement robust age-verification mechanisms to prevent minors from accessing adult material. In practice, this pushed websites toward intrusive identity checks, including those that entailed uploading government ID, facial age estimation, or third-party verification services.

Age checks for all

Predictably, this has fuelled a surge in demand for VPN services, as users seek to bypass age-verification gates. Policymakers did not, however, sit idle. Rather than reconsidering the proportionality of blanket verification mandates, some have begun contemplating restrictions on VPN access itself, especially for minors. In January 2026, the UK House of Lords voted to pass amendment 92 to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools BIll.

The amendment explicitly prohibits the provision of VPN services to anyone under 18. Crucially, in order to enforce this ban, VPN providers, according to the amendment, have to introduce age checks that are “very effective at correctly determining whether or not that person is a child.”

In other words, to prevent children from evading age verification, everyone — including, and first and foremost, adults — would have to verify their age before using privacy tools, if the amendment were approved by the House of Commons.

At this stage, however, the proposal remains part of the parliamentary process. Having passed in the House of Lords, it must now be considered by the House of Commons. Under the UK’s legislative procedure, the Commons may accept the Lords’ amendment, reject it, or replace it with an alternative proposal. The expectation is that the Commons will reject the outright prohibition on providing VPN services to under-18s and instead back a government-proposed alternative: a three-month consultation period, scheduled to begin in March.

The scope of that consultation is notably wide. It will “confront the full range of risks children face online,” explicitly including “options to age restrict or limit children’s VPN use where it undermines safety protections and changing the age of digital consent.” VPNs are not an afterthought here; they are clearly within the government’s regulatory sights.

The consultation should allow for the assessment of the evidence, the technical feasibility, and the proportionality of any future restrictions, and, at least on paper, it should also include discussions with VPN providers themselves. So far, however, there is little sign of that reaching out. According to TechRadar, representatives from NordVPN, Surfshark, Windscribe, and ExpressVPN all said they were open to dialogue with the government, yet at the time of the initial announcement, none of these providers had actually been contacted about the proposed restrictions. We at AdGuard VPN haven’t been contacted either.

Age checks will make VPN use risky and even pointless

If VPNs are pulled under the same umbrella as platforms covered by the Online Safety Act, they will be expected to roll out the same “robust” age-verification systems. In practice, that means outsourcing checks to third-party providers, asking users to upload passports or driver’s licences, or submit to facial scans and biometric age estimation.

That fundamentally changes what a VPN is. Yes, users already share some data — typically an email address and payment details. But for most, that is the absolute maximum they are willing to disclose. Regular VPN users are often privacy-conscious by nature. Moreover, some are journalists, activists, dissidents, or simply people in vulnerable situations who rely on anonymity for their safety. Forcing them to hand over government IDs or biometric data in order to use a privacy tool would strike at the very core of what that tool is meant to provide.
And the risks are not hypothetical. In October 2025, Discord confirmed that attackers had accessed government-ID images submitted as part of its age-verification appeals process after breaching a third-party support provider. In other words, users who followed the rules and uploaded their documents ended up exposed.

We want to be clear about our position also. Under our EULA, minors are not allowed to use AdGuard VPN. Our concern is not the principle of restricting access for children. Our concern is enforcement and whether it is realistically possible to enforce such a ban without gutting user privacy in the process. For now, it seems to us that these two are fundamentally incompatible.

If no privacy-preserving solution emerges, providers may be forced to make difficult decisions. In our case, that could mean restricting certain features for UK users, including but not limited to increasing prices to account for compliance costs and legal exposure. None of these options are desirable, but neither is turning a privacy tool into an ID checkpoint.

For now, nothing has changed. And while the rules remain as they are, we’re offering our UK users an 80% discount on two-year VPN subscriptions — valid until 27 February (inclusive).

Now available in Firefox for Android

Proceeding to the bigger news of this release — we added support for Firefox for Android! Our users have different approaches to VPN, and we are trying to cater to all of them. Now, if you don’t want to use the full-fledged app, you can switch AdGuard VPN Browser Extension on right in your favorite browser.

We would really appreciate it if you could try the new version of our VPN extension on Firefox for Android and leave feedback — this way we will be able to address any possible issues and clear them up fast, to make the usage of the app enjoyable for everyone.

UI improvements

As for UI, now the locations best suited for streaming have their own separate icons and can be easily identified. The locations are clickable: you can see which streaming services are available for each of those locations.

We also fixed a glitch that affected the display of notification messages and cleared out all the visual clutter.

You can check out the full changelog on our website.

Feedback is important

We make our products better with your feedback: please don’t hesitate to contact us on social media or suggest features or changes on GitHub.

Upd. This promotion is over. If you didn’t get a chance to buy AdGuard Ad Blocker, AdGuard VPN or AdGuard DNS at a discount, don’t worry — we often run other promotions. Not to miss the next one, subscribe to our newsletter — we’ll keep you in the loop!

Protecting your privacy and getting to the ad-free Web can be a challenging discipline. Just like an athlete needs the best gear to succeed, you need the right tools to glide through the Web without any hurdles. To help you out, we’re offering special prices on AdGuard products through February 10. Take advantage of these discounts to stay protected no matter what the Web throws at you!

Getting Ad Blocker is a winning strategy

AdGuard Ad Blocker is your first line of defense against ads and trackers. It removes annoying banners, popups, and video ads, so you can focus on what really matters when you’re online.

Lifetime licenses are 40% off, 1-year licenses are 30% off. Already have a license? You can upgrade it to cover more devices or extend it in your AdGuard account.

Skating freely through Web with VPN

AdGuard VPN lets you break through digital barriers — watch your favorite shows and live streams, find lower prices, and protect your connection in public Wi-Fi from hackers.

The most advantageous plan is the 2-year subscription, which is 80% off right now. You can extend your existing subscription at a discount — it’s cheaper than auto-renewal. Simply purchase a new subscription using the same email address.

Defending your home with DNS

AdGuard DNS acts as a protective shield for your devices, blocking malicious websites and unwanted content. Everything at your home that connects to the Internet will stay safe.

The Personal and Team plans are 55% off. If you’re already using AdGuard DNS, now’s the perfect time to extend your subscription — it’ll cost less than auto-renewal.

Securing your inbox with AdGuard Mail

AdGuard Mail is the perfect tool for receiving emails without sharing your personal address. With AdGuard Mail, you’ll get temporary addresses and aliases that you can use instead of your personal email on any service. This way, you can receive promo emails, newsletters, and anything else you want, while keeping your personal address away from prying eyes.

Since the product is new, you can join early and get a subscription for less than half the price.

For a long time, we’ve wanted to make the protocol public. Many of you asked for it, and we always said: yes, we will, it’s only a matter of time. Well, the time has come.

What is TrustTunnel?

At its core, TrustTunnel is a modern, secure, mobile-optimized VPN protocol. It’s the very same technology that has been running inside all AdGuard VPN apps: on mobile, desktop, and browser extensions.

Why TrustTunnel? Because we needed something better

There are plenty of VPN protocols out there, so why create our own, some might ask. That is because we’ve seen in practice the faults of popular VPN protocols, especially in countries with tight restrictions on internet access. Protocols like OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IPSec share common weaknesses: they are easy to detect and block at the network level, and attempts to conceal VPN traffic often reduce speed. Traditional approaches “wrap” VPN data in a TCP connection and mimic normal web traffic, but TCP’s way of confirming every piece of data creates delays and makes the connection slower.

Unlike those conventional VPN protocols, TrustTunnel is engineered to blend in with regular HTTPS traffic, making it far harder to throttle or block and helping it slip past deep-packet inspection, all while preserving strong privacy and security. It achieves this through TLS-based encryption, the same standard that secures HTTPS, and by leveraging HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 transport, which are ubiquitous on the web. Each connection runs on its own dedicated stream, which combines packets for faster, more efficient transmission. It is also optimized for mobile platforms and performs well even in unstable network conditions.

A protocol you can use, run, tweak, extend, and build upon

By releasing TrustTunnel, we hope to achieve two things. First of all, we want to finally show our users what protocol is powering AdGuard VPN, thus allowing them to audit it openly. At AdGuard, we have always been staunch supporters of the idea of open-source software, and many of our products have long been open source. AdGuard VPN was lagging behind in this regard, but with TrustTunnel being released publicly, it is starting to catch up.

But most importantly, we want to change the status quo in the world of VPN protocols and offer an alternative to existing solutions. That said, we do not want it to be just a PR stunt, when the protocol’s code is de-facto ‘open source,’ but only one VPN service actually runs it. We believe in free and open-source software (FOSS) and want TrustTunnel to be used widely, including by other VPN services. We believe this is the right way to go about open source development, and we hope the community will participate in the TrustTunnel evolution. We welcome any contribution, whether it is a feature request, a bug report, or even a direct contribution to the app’s development.

What have we done to make this possible?

1. We are publishing the first version of the TrustTunnel specification.
2. We are releasing the complete code of our reference implementation of the TrustTunnel server and its clients under a very permissive license.

You don’t have to install AdGuard VPN to use TrustTunnel. You can configure your own server and use open source TrustTunnel clients:

• Command-line TrustTunnel clients support Linux, Windows, and macOS

• We are also releasing two client apps for iOS and Android

TrustTunnel clients already have a lot of functionality, they allow you to:

• Use flexible routing rules to decide which requests go through the tunnel and which stay on the local network

• Exercise fine-grained control, separating work and personal traffic, routing specific domains or apps, and tuning network behavior without complicated setup

• Benefit from a real-time request log that provides full transparency into where the device sends traffic, how routing rules apply, and which connections use the tunnel

Useful links

This is a long-awaited moment for us. We promised to open-source our protocol, and today we’re delivering on that promise. With TrustTunnel now open source, users and developers alike can explore, self-host, and build on the technology.

To get started, check out the following resources:
TrustTunnel website
TrustTunnel open-source repository on GitHub
TrustTunnel app for iOS
TrustTunnel app for Android