Changing the public IP address is one of the most visible effects of using a VPN, but it represents only one part of the connection. Several less obvious processes happen before traffic reaches a website: domain names must be resolved, data travels across a local network, applications decide where to send their requests, and the VPN infrastructure processes the connection before forwarding it. For that reason, evaluating online privacy requires more than checking whether a different IP appears in a browser. The underlying handling of traffic and account data deserves attention as well.

What an IP Address Can and Cannot Tell You

When internet traffic reaches a website directly, the destination normally sees the public IP associated with the user's current connection. Routing traffic through a VPN changes this arrangement because the remote VPN server becomes an intermediary.

The external service consequently sees the server's IP rather than the ordinary public address used by the device. A resource such as https://toggle.org/ illustrates this approach alongside a network of more than 1,400 servers in locations including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

Changing this visible address is useful for understanding routing, but it should not be mistaken for a complete description of privacy. Other parts of an internet session, particularly DNS requests and provider-side data handling, involve separate mechanisms.

DNS Adds Another Piece to the Privacy Picture

Before a browser can contact many websites, it needs to determine where the requested domain is located. DNS performs this lookup in the background, translating a human-readable domain into information that network systems can use.

The VPN described on the source page operates its own private DNS servers. This means DNS requests can remain within the VPN environment instead of being handled as an unrelated part of the connection.

That distinction matters because changing an IP and processing DNS are different operations. One affects the address presented when traffic reaches an external destination; the other concerns how that destination is located in the first place.

Looking at both provides more context than relying on a simple IP check after connecting.

Encryption Protects Traffic While It Travels

Another layer concerns the information moving between the device and the VPN server. The source specifies 256-bit ChaCha20 for encryption and lists WireGuard and Shadowsocks among the supported protocols.

These terms describe related but distinct components. Encryption is responsible for protecting data carried through the tunnel, whereas a VPN protocol defines how the connection itself operates.

This separation becomes useful when comparing technical specifications. Seeing an encryption algorithm on a feature list does not explain DNS behavior, server selection, logging practices, or what happens if the tunnel unexpectedly disconnects. Each issue requires its own mechanism.

Privacy Questions Continue After the Tunnel

The encrypted portion of a VPN connection ends at the remote server. Consequently, another relevant consideration is how the service handles information associated with connections passing through its infrastructure.

According to the source, online activity is not tracked or stored, and the account model does not rely on conventional usernames and passwords. These practices address a different privacy question from encryption: not how information is protected in transit, but what activity records are retained by the service.

Client-side transparency provides another point of consideration. The VPN's client code is publicly available on GitHub for inspection and contribution. Open-source client software does not reveal every operational detail of a server network, but it gives technically experienced users an opportunity to examine how the application itself is implemented.

Routing Can Be Selective Rather Than Universal

There are situations where sending every application through a remote server is unnecessary. A program may need to communicate with something on a local network while a browser or another application uses the VPN.

Split tunneling is designed for this type of arrangement. It lets users choose which applications use the VPN and which remain on their normal connection.

This changes the privacy discussion in an important way. Once split tunneling is enabled, the relevant question is not simply whether the device has an active VPN connection. It is also necessary to know which applications are actually using that route.

Traffic excluded from the tunnel continues to follow its ordinary network path, while selected applications use the VPN server.

Disconnections Require Their Own Safeguard

VPN privacy is easiest to understand while the protected tunnel is functioning normally. Real connections, however, can be interrupted. Wi-Fi may disappear temporarily, a computer can reconnect after waking, or the underlying network can change.

The available feature set includes a Kill Switch, intended to address a loss of the VPN connection. Its purpose differs from encryption: rather than protecting traffic inside an active tunnel, it deals with traffic behavior when that tunnel is no longer available.

This illustrates why connection continuity belongs in a privacy assessment. A secure tunnel and a mechanism for handling its unexpected failure solve two different problems.

Residential and Standard Routes Are Not Identical

Server selection introduces another distinction. Alongside its broader server network, the VPN offers residential IP access. These addresses are intended to resemble IPs associated with ordinary household internet connections rather than conventional data-center infrastructure.

The distinction concerns how an external service may perceive the origin of a connection. It does not override the rules established by websites or online platforms, which can maintain their own geographic, account, and network restrictions.

For users comparing routes, it is therefore useful to separate three questions: where the server is physically located, what type of IP it uses, and what policies the destination applies to incoming connections.

Privacy Is Better Evaluated in Layers

A VPN does not create online privacy through one isolated function. IP routing, encryption, DNS processing, logging practices, connection safeguards, and application-level routing address different stages of internet communication.

This layered view also makes individual features easier to interpret. A changed IP indicates that traffic is leaving through another server, but it says little about DNS handling. Encryption protects data in transit but does not describe retention practices. Split tunneling offers routing flexibility while making it important to know which applications are included.

Evaluating these mechanisms separately produces a more useful picture of how a VPN handles an internet session. Rather than relying on one visible result, such as a changed location or IP address, it becomes possible to consider what happens throughout the connection from the initial request to the remote server and beyond.