Yandex goes by your IP
Yandex sets your region from your IP address. With everything going through the PROXY, it sees the server’s address, so the weather, news and search results switch to that country. Some Yandex services also behave differently outside Russia.
You can pin a city at yandex.ru/tune/geo. Keep in mind that a PROXY only changes your IP. If the browser is allowed to use your location, Yandex can still find your city from nearby Wi-Fi networks or a phone’s GPS.
In Russia, turn on For Russia
Tap Tunnel on the app’s main screen and pick For Russia. Russian services, Yandex among them, then go direct, while foreign sites use the PROXY. Yandex’s networks are on that list, which the app pulls from our server.
In this mode Yandex Internetometer (yandex.ru/internet) may show your real address. That’s by design, since Yandex is reached directly. Test the PROXY on a foreign site such as ipinfo.io instead, where the country should match the one in Location.
Abroad, pick Russia
Outside Russia it works the other way around. Some Russian sites and services are fussy about foreign addresses, so pick Russia under Location, and Yandex will see a Moscow address along with them.
What a Russian IP is good for, and where it falls short, is covered in our article on the Russian server.
YouTube next to Yandex
With For Russia on, YouTube goes through the PROXY, so videos load while Yandex search still sees your usual address. The YouTube slowdown in Russia has its own article, and so does watching on a computer.
CAPTCHAs, add-ons and phones
Why does Yandex keep asking for a CAPTCHA over the PROXY?
Lots of people reach Yandex from the same PROXY server address, so it plays it safe. In Russia, turn on For Russia and Yandex sees your own address, which should calm it down.
The add-on catalog has PROXYs. Why not use one?
Those add-ons only route what happens in the tabs, while Telegram, games and everything else go around them. The app already covers the whole device, and a second PROXY inside the browser only gets in its way.
And Yandex Browser on a phone?
Install VanyaPROXY on the phone, and Yandex Browser is covered along with everything else, Tunnel and For Russia included. Setup for each phone is in our phone guide.
Using Chrome or Edge alongside Yandex? They have quirks of their own, each on its own page.