An extension or an app

PROXY extensions in the Chrome Web Store send nothing but the browser’s tabs to their server. To do that they need a permission Chrome flags on install as “Read and change all your data on all websites”. And Chrome keeps extensions off in Incognito until you allow each one there yourself.

VanyaPROXY works at the system level. Chrome, Telegram, games and software updates all go through the PROXY, and sites see the address of a server in your chosen country. Its protocols for getting past blocks are VLESS + REALITY, XHTTP, Hysteria2 and Shadowsocks.

To be fair, extensions have their perks. One installs in a minute, while the app needs administrator rights on Windows because it installs for the whole computer. And on a computer you can’t send only Chrome through the PROXY and leave the rest direct. If you’re in Russia, the nearest option is the For Russia mode, which sends Russian sites around the tunnel.

Setting up a PROXY for Chrome

  1. Install the app

    Windows gets an installer, Mac a DMG, and Linux an AppImage, listed on the apps page. The app offers a subscription the first time you connect.

  2. Pick a country

    In Location, pick a country, or tap Fastest if any will do. Then press Connect.

  3. Switch off other PROXY extensions

    If one is already installed, it grabs the tabs for itself and sites get its server’s address instead. Open the three-dot menu, go to Extensions → Manage Extensions and turn it off. Reload any tabs that were open before you connected.

Chrome on Android

Chrome usually comes preinstalled on Android phones. VanyaPROXY for Android sends the whole phone through the PROXY, browser included. Get it from Google Play, or as an APK if there’s no Play Store, with details on the phone page.

App main screen on Android: PROXY connected, location Netherlands

Android is also the only system where the app can let chosen apps bypass the PROXY. You pick them under Tunnel, in Manual mode.

Google, DNS and YouTube

Why did Google switch languages?

Google reads your location from the IP, which is now the server’s. Set the search and interface language in Google’s settings and it stops following the country.

Should I turn off Secure DNS in Chrome?

No. Its lookups go inside the tunnel too, out of your provider’s sight. The Edge page shows a one-minute check, and Edge has the same setting.

And YouTube in Chrome?

Videos load through the tunnel along with every other tab. What’s behind the slowdown in Russia is covered in PROXY for YouTube, and the desktop side in a separate guide.