Is my VPN working? Check your VPN location, WebRTC leaks and time zone in one test

How do I know if my VPN is working?

Your VPN is working when sites see an IP address in the country of the server you picked and your browser reveals no other address. To check, connect the VPN, pick that country in the tool above and let it run. If the country is still your own, the VPN is off or is not covering this browser. A streaming service can still block a VPN that works, which is a separate problem.

The check looks at your location, WebRTC and your device clock

The check runs three tests in your browser and turns them into one result. Each looks at something a streaming service can see.

• The location test reads the country of the IP address our server sees, from the location data Cloudflare passes us , and compares it with the server country you pick. If you pick nothing, it falls back on the time zone test below and treats a different time zone as a sign the VPN is on. The page on your IP address and its location explains each field.
• The WebRTC test looks at WebRTC, the part of your browser that runs video calls. Any page can ask it for your addresses. An internet standard notes that with a VPN on, WebRTC can find both the VPN's address and your provider's address underneath .
• The time zone test compares your device clock with the time zone of your IP address. Proton VPN's help says some services may not work when the two differ .

The result appears in the box beside the title within a few seconds, and Check again runs all three tests a second time after you change server.

This is the second of our IP and VPN checks to run, after you know your address without the VPN and before the WebRTC leak test.

How to read your VPN check: Working, Leaking or Not connected

The box names one of five results when the check finishes, and only Working means the VPN is doing its job. While it runs it says Checking, and No answer if our server cannot be reached.

The results the whatworks.tech check can show. Checked October 2026.

The time zone line can warn you without failing the check. Set your device to the server's time zone only if a service refuses to play.

A working VPN can still be blocked by Netflix or iPlayer

This check shows whether your VPN changes what sites see, not whether a streaming service accepts the VPN's address. A VPN that leaks lets your real address out, while a VPN that is detected shows the right country, but the service still treats the connection as a VPN.

The streaming services whose help pages we read do not say how they spot VPNs , but IP data sellers and VPN providers describe the signals. MaxMind flags addresses as VPN, hosting provider, proxy or Tor exit , and says an address from a data center is a sign of a VPN in itself . NordVPN says its customers normally share each server's address, and that a dedicated address lets you avoid blocklists of addresses tainted by misuse . What you see then depends on the service:

• Netflix shows error E106, "You seem to be using a VPN or proxy" , or only the titles it licenses worldwide . Netflix also says VPNs are not supported on its ad-supported plans .
• BBC iPlayer says it will not play a program when it detects a possible VPN or proxy .
• YouTube TV says you cannot stream it while connected to a VPN or proxy .

To check whether your VPN address is flagged as a VPN or data center, run our VPN IP checker with the VPN connected. It looks the address up in public VPN and data-center lists, the kind of flag IP data sellers use . A clean result is no guarantee, because the services do not say how they decide .

Which VPNs get past these blocks changes from service to service. Our research scores for each VPN and service show where each one works.

When your VPN doesn't change your location

If the check shows your own country with the VPN on, one of these causes is usually behind it. The most common come first.

Sources: UK NCSC; ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark help pages; CyberGhost, NordVPN and ExpressVPN on Smart DNS; YouTube TV and 7plus help. Checked October 2026.

NordVPN's extensions work as proxies for one browser, and NordVPN says they secure only browser traffic . A streaming app on the same device never goes through them.

Kill switches differ by device. Surfshark's Appstore listing says its Vega OS app has no kill switch , while IPVanish offers a separate kill switch app for Fire OS and Android TV .

How to run the check on any device, including a TV, Fire Stick or phone

Run the check on the device you watch on, because each device has its own connection. Use these steps on any device with a browser.

1. Turn the VPN off and open this page, so you know which country your own address shows.
2. Connect the VPN to a server in the country you want.
3. Open this page again on the same device and pick that country under Server country you chose.
4. Wait for the result. If it says Leaking or Check, open the WebRTC leak test in the same browser.
5. Open the streaming app and play something. If it refuses, switch server.

A Fire TV shows no key icon or other sign that a VPN is on, IPVanish notes . On Fire OS, IPVanish suggests opening an IP-check site in the Downloader app's browser while connected . The Fire TV install guide's final check walks through it step by step.

Source: the providers' Fire TV and Android TV help pages. Checked October 2026.

ExpressVPN's Fire TV guide relies on the Connected message alone, so open this page on the device to see what sites get. On a phone, run the check in the phone's browser with the VPN app connected.

What this check does not test

This check covers what your browser shows. Three things can still give you away, and each needs its own test:

• DNS leaks. A DNS leak sends the lookups for site names outside the VPN, usually to your provider . Proton describes the test: connect the VPN, run a DNS leak test and check that every server listed belongs to the VPN . Netflix also asks internet providers to check DNS when the country looks wrong .
• IPv6 outside this browser. An IPv6 leak happens when a VPN carries only IPv4 and does not block IPv6, so IPv6 traffic leaves with your real address . Two academic studies, by Perta and colleagues in 2015 and Khan and colleagues in 2018, found many VPN apps leaking or failing to block IPv6 . Proton suggests comparing your IPv6 address with the VPN off and on .
• Other apps and devices. Each phone, TV or console on your network has its own connection and needs the check on its own.

The check also cannot tell whether a provider's website is blocked in the country you travel to. Our internet censorship index shows which countries block VPN websites, and it matters most if you have not installed the VPN yet.

How this check works and what it sends

The location test reads your IP address and the location Cloudflare derives from it, from the request your browser sends to our server . The WebRTC test asks your browser for its addresses through Cloudflare's public STUN server, stun.cloudflare.com, which Cloudflare says is free and unlimited . A STUN server tells a device which public address it sees .

The addresses are compared in your browser, and the server country you pick stays there too. We store none of it, apart from the technical logs our privacy policy describes. Our privacy policy lists what each tool handles.

Where to go next

• Netflix with a VPN, library by library: which VPNs work with each Netflix library in our research.
• Fix Netflix error E106: what to do when Netflix says you are using a VPN.
• VPN setup on a Fire TV Stick: install, sign in and the settings worth changing.