How to Check if Your VPN Is Working

You connected your VPN, the app says “Connected,” and everything looks normal. But how do you know it’s actually doing what you expect?

Knowing how to check if your VPN is working is the easiest way to be sure. A working VPN should generally route your internet traffic through the VPN connection and make websites see the VPN server’s public IP rather than your normal public IP.

But checking only your IP address isn’t the whole story. For a more complete test, you can check your public IP, your location, DNS requests, IPv6, WebRTC, connection behavior, and whether the VPN reconnects properly. Here’s how to check your VPN step by step.

Quick Answer: How to Check if Your VPN Is Working

The quickest test is: turn off your VPN, check your public IP, write down the result, turn on your VPN, check your public IP again, then compare the two addresses.

If the IP changes to the VPN server’s IP, your VPN is routing your connection through a different public IP.

1. Check Your IP Address Before Connecting to the VPN

First, disconnect your VPN completely. Then check your public IP.

Write down your IP address, approximate location, ISP/network, IPv4 address, and IPv6 address if shown. For example:

This is your baseline. You’ll compare it with what appears after connecting to the VPN.

2. Connect to Your VPN

Now open your VPN app and connect to a server. You might see something like Connected with a server location such as United Kingdom — London, or United States — New York. Wait a few seconds for the connection to establish, then open your IP checker again.

3. Check Your IP Again

Now compare the new result with the result you recorded earlier.

The exact addresses above are examples. What matters is that your destination is now seeing the VPN server’s public IP rather than your original public IP. If your IP changes when the VPN connects, that’s a good first indication the VPN connection is working.

4. Check the Location

The next thing to check is the approximate location associated with the IP. Suppose you connect to a VPN server in the UK — your IP checker might now show something associated with London, United Kingdom rather than your normal location.

However, don’t treat IP geolocation as an exact GPS location. IP databases can sometimes identify the wrong city or region, particularly with VPNs, mobile networks, large ISPs and other network configurations. So the IP address itself is more important than the exact city displayed.

5. Check Whether Your ISP IP Is Still Showing

This is one of the most useful checks. Disconnect the VPN and record your normal public IP. Then reconnect the VPN. If the same public IP continues appearing, investigate further.

That’s not the result you’d normally expect when using a VPN to mask your public IP. Try disconnecting and reconnecting, switching VPN servers, restarting the VPN app, checking another browser, and checking your IP again. If the original public IP keeps appearing, contact the VPN provider or investigate its configuration.

6. Check for DNS Leaks

Your public IP isn’t the only thing worth checking — there’s also DNS. DNS translates domain names such as etemora.com into IP addresses that computers can use.

When you’re connected to a VPN, you generally want your DNS traffic handled according to the VPN’s intended configuration rather than unexpectedly bypassing it. A DNS leak can reveal information about the DNS resolver being used even when your public IP has changed. This is why a proper VPN test shouldn’t stop at “my IP changed” — you should also check DNS behavior.

7. Check for WebRTC Leaks

If you’re testing a VPN in a browser, WebRTC is another area worth checking. WebRTC is a browser technology used for real-time communication, and WebRTC-related behavior has been investigated as a possible way for websites to discover IP information that users didn’t expect to expose while using VPNs.

The important thing isn’t simply whether WebRTC is enabled. The useful question is: does a WebRTC test expose your real public IP while your VPN is connected? If a test shows only the VPN-related address rather than your normal public IP, that’s a different result from exposing your actual IP. Mozilla’s support documentation covers WebRTC leak testing with VPNs in more detail.

8. Check Your IPv6 Connection

This is an important test that many people skip. You may have IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity at the same time — for example 203.0.113.42 (IPv4) and 2001:db8:1234::1 (IPv6).

If your VPN handles IPv4 but your IPv6 traffic isn’t handled as expected, you could end up with different behavior than you intended. That’s why checking both protocols matters when testing a VPN for IP privacy.

9. Change VPN Servers and Test Again

Don’t test only one server. Connect to one VPN server and check your IP, then switch to another server — for example London, then Amsterdam, then New York.

Your visible public IP should normally change when you switch between different VPN servers. The location shown by IP databases may also change, although geolocation isn’t always perfectly accurate. This is a simple way to verify that the VPN is actually routing your connection through the selected server.

10. Test Your VPN on Another Website

If one IP checker gives you an unexpected result, don’t immediately assume the VPN is broken. Try another IP-checking service. You can also check a DNS leak test, a WebRTC test, and an IPv6 test. Using multiple tests gives you a better picture than relying on a single website.

11. Check Whether the VPN Disconnects Cleanly

There’s another test that’s easy to overlook. Turn the VPN on and browse normally, then temporarily disconnect the VPN and watch what happens.

If your VPN has a kill switch, it may block internet traffic while the VPN connection is unavailable, depending on how the feature is configured. This can help prevent applications from continuing over your normal connection during an unexpected VPN disconnect. The exact behavior varies between VPN providers and operating systems, so check your provider’s documentation before assuming the feature works in a particular way.

12. Test Your VPN on Your Phone Too

Don’t assume that because the VPN works on your computer, everything is configured identically on your phone. Test each device separately.

On Windows or Mac: disconnect VPN, check IP, connect VPN, check IP again, test DNS, check IPv6 if applicable.

On Android or iPhone: turn VPN off, check your public IP, connect VPN, check your public IP again, switch VPN servers, test again.

This is particularly useful if your VPN has separate settings or protocols for mobile devices.

VPN Working vs VPN Not Working

Here’s a quick way to interpret the results.

Don’t expect every test to look identical across every VPN. The exact behavior depends on the provider, protocol, operating system and network configuration.

What If My IP Doesn’t Change?

If your IP is unchanged after connecting to the VPN, try these steps:

Disconnect and reconnect — the VPN connection may not have established correctly. Change servers — try another VPN location. Restart the VPN application — close it completely and reopen it. Check another browser — a browser extension or local configuration can behave differently from the main VPN application. Check IPv4 and IPv6 — you may be seeing different behavior across the two protocols. Test DNS and WebRTC — an IP change doesn’t necessarily answer every privacy question. Check split tunneling — if enabled, some applications or destinations may intentionally bypass the VPN. If the behavior remains unexpected, contact your VPN provider.

If the VPN changes your IP but DNS looks different, don’t immediately assume the VPN is broken — different VPN providers handle DNS in different ways. The important thing is understanding which DNS resolver your system is using and whether that matches the VPN’s intended configuration.

What If WebRTC Shows an IP?

A WebRTC test showing an IP doesn’t automatically mean you have a privacy leak. The important question is: which IP is being exposed? If the test shows your VPN server’s address, that’s very different from showing your normal public IP.

If your goal is specifically to hide your public IP from websites, then seeing a different public IP is an important part of verifying that behavior. But a VPN can provide other functions too, such as creating an encrypted connection between your device and the VPN server. So a different IP is an important test, but a different IP alone isn’t a complete VPN privacy test — that’s why the full checklist matters.

Can I Trust the VPN App’s “Connected” Status?

It’s a useful indication, but don’t treat it as a complete test. A VPN application can tell you it has established a connection to a VPN server. But if you want to verify the result yourself, checking your public IP and testing for potential DNS, WebRTC and IPv6 issues gives you additional evidence.

In other words: don’t just trust the button — test the connection.

How Often Should You Test Your VPN?

You don’t need to test your VPN every time you connect. A practical approach is to test it when you first install a VPN, after a major VPN app update, after changing VPN protocols or network settings, after enabling split tunneling, after changing devices, if your IP suddenly appears unchanged, or if you’re troubleshooting a suspected leak. Once you understand how your setup behaves, occasional checks are usually enough.

Which VPN Should You Use?

If your current VPN fails basic tests, or you’re choosing one for the first time, look beyond the monthly price. Things worth comparing include independent audits, privacy policy, device limits, VPN protocols, kill switch, IPv6 handling, DNS leak protection, server network, refund period, and long-term renewal price.

Etemora’s current VPN comparison lets you compare providers using factors such as device limits, free plans, refund windows, jurisdiction and independent audits.

For background on how a VPN affects your IP in the first place, see Does a VPN Change Your IP Address? and VPN vs Proxy: What’s the Difference?

Final Checklist: Is Your VPN Working?

This final checklist covers everything involved in how to check if your VPN is working. Before you finish testing, run through it: public IP changes; VPN server location appears as expected; different VPN servers produce different IPs; DNS behavior matches the VPN’s configuration; WebRTC doesn’t expose your normal public IP unexpectedly; IPv6 behavior is accounted for; split tunneling isn’t bypassing traffic you intended to protect; kill switch behaves as expected if enabled.

If those checks look right, you have a much better indication that your VPN is functioning as intended. And remember: a VPN being connected doesn’t mean every privacy setting is automatically perfect. Testing it yourself takes only a few minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions