VPN Says Connected but the IP Has Not Changed
The app is green and the address is still yours. Three things to check, in this order.
🔎 Check whether your VPN is working⚠️ Confirm it before you change anything
Every step below alters how your machine handles connections, and undoing a change you did not need is harder than not making it. Run the test first so you are fixing something that is actually happening, and run it again after each step so you know which one worked.
What this actually is
The gap between what a VPN client displays and what your traffic is doing can be wider than the interface admits. A client can hold a session open and report "connected" while the route that was supposed to carry your traffic is gone, and it can be genuinely connected while this particular application deliberately goes around it. Both look identical from the app. The address a website sees is the only reading that settles it.
The address websites see belongs to a consumer network rather than a VPN operator, which means this browser is reaching the internet directly. Everything else on this page describes an unprotected connection.
How it shows up
- A leak test shows your home provider while the VPN app says connected.
- Some applications appear protected and others do not.
- It works after a reconnect, then comes back later.
- A different browser gives a different result on the same machine.
Causes, in the order to check them
Work down the list in order. The first is the quickest to check and to undo, and the later ones only apply once it has been ruled out - which stops you disabling things you never needed to touch.
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1 The app is showing connected but the tunnel dropped
- Disconnect and reconnect in the VPN app rather than trusting the status text.
- Re-run this test. A reconnect that fixes it means the tunnel had dropped without the interface updating.
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2 Split tunneling is excluding your browser
- Open the split tunneling list in your VPN app and check whether this browser is on it.
- Anything excluded there reaches the internet directly by design - that is the feature working, not a leak.
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3 A browser extension or proxy is routing around the tunnel
- Check for a proxy or "secure connection" extension that routes traffic independently of the system VPN.
- Re-run this test in a private window with extensions disabled to confirm.
🔁 Check whether it worked
Run it again after each change rather than at the end. Two steps applied together tell you nothing about which one mattered - and one of them may have been unnecessary.
🔎 Check whether your VPN is workingNo tunnel is carrying your traffic - FAQ
The questions that follow from it.
Why does my VPN say connected when it clearly is not?
A client can report the state of its control session rather than whether your traffic is being routed. If the tunnel interface goes away - after sleep, a network change, or a silent drop - the session can stay nominally alive and the interface stays green while your traffic falls back to the normal route. This is why "connected" is a claim to be verified rather than an answer, and why testing after resuming from sleep is worth the habit.
Why is one app protected and another not?
Split tunneling is the first thing to check. The feature exists to let chosen applications bypass the VPN - for a banking app that blocks VPNs, or a local device that only works on your own network - and anything on that list reaches the internet directly by design. It is easy to add something during troubleshooting and forget it is there, and the list survives reinstalling the app in some clients.
Could a browser extension be the reason?
Yes, and it produces a confusing result because it affects one browser and nothing else. A proxy or "secure browsing" extension routes that browser's traffic on its own terms, independently of the system VPN, so the machine can be tunnelled while the browser is not - or the reverse. Testing in a private window with extensions disabled separates the two quickly.
Does restarting the VPN fix this permanently?
It fixes a dropped tunnel and does nothing for the other causes, which is diagnostically useful: if reconnecting restores protection, the tunnel had dropped and the question becomes why it keeps dropping - sleep, network switching, or an unstable server. If reconnecting changes nothing, stop reconnecting and look at split tunneling and extensions instead.
🧰 Test it yourself
The tests run in your browser. Where one needs to know whose network an address is on, our server looks it up and keeps no address. Nothing is stored unless you choose to share the result.
📚 Read next
The longer version: what this test is looking for, and what to do with the answer.