Help
Frequently asked questions
Getting started
Is TrickyBird a free web proxy?
- Yes. TrickyBird is free to use: opening a site needs no payment and no card. Paste a link and the site opens in your browser tab.
Do I need an account?
- No, not to use TrickyBird for free: there is no name, email, or password to create, and no sign‑up step. Free sessions are short‑lived and expire on their own, so there is nothing to sign out of on a shared or borrowed device either. Only Premium comes with an account: buying it creates one, and you sign in with a one‑time email link rather than a password.
Do I need to install anything?
- No. TrickyBird runs entirely in your browser, from a single link, on a phone, a laptop, or a managed device you cannot install software on. Open the link, paste the address you want, and the site loads in the same tab. There is an optional Chrome extension that hands the current tab to TrickyBird with the address already filled in, and you never need it.
Does this work on a locked‑down device with no admin rights?
- Usually yes: there is nothing to install and no admin rights to ask for. TrickyBird runs in the browser the device already has, so you can use it on a managed Chromebook or a work laptop. The unblock guide shows each step.
What it is and your privacy
Is TrickyBird a VPN?
- No. TrickyBird is a web proxy, not a VPN. It opens 1 site at a time in your browser tab, rather than routing your whole device through a tunnel, and there is no app to install. That difference is why it can work on locked‑down devices where you cannot install a VPN app. If you are deciding between them, TrickyBird next to a VPN puts the differences in a table.
Does the site I open see my IP address?
- The site sees our server’s address instead of yours, and your browser still identifies itself to that site in the usual way. TrickyBird does not handle WebRTC. If a page uses it, that traffic runs outside the proxy and can give the page your real IP address. Security and logging has the detail.
Do you keep logs?
- TrickyBird keeps a small access log for at most 48 hours. The log writes one line for every request the proxy handles on your behalf, including the ones it turns away, so it holds the hostname of each site or service a page loads from, not only the address you typed, together with a shortened form of your IP address and basic response details.
Does TrickyBird change the pages I open?
- Yes: TrickyBird rewrites the addresses inside a page so its links and requests come back through the proxy, and it adds a small toolbar. It does not secretly inject ads, pop‑ups, or trackers into the pages you open through it. Any advertising on a page you open comes from that site itself.
What is a web proxy, or online proxy?
- A web proxy, also called an online proxy or a proxy site, is a website that fetches another site and shows it in your browser. You open it from a link, so there is nothing to install, and it runs on a phone, a laptop, or a managed device you cannot install software on. TrickyBird is a web proxy you can use for free.
Are free web proxies safe?
- It depends on the one you pick, because every page you open passes through its server. TrickyBird keeps a small access log for at most 48 hours and shows what it records on its security page. Before you trust any free web proxy or proxy site, run these 3 checks on it.
What works through it
Which sites work through TrickyBird?
- Many major sites render and play video through TrickyBird. Rather than promise a list, we check sites ourselves: the status page names sites that open, with the date we last looked. Each site there links to its own guide.
Can I sign in to my account through it?
- You can sign in on many of the sites we have checked, the same way you would normally. You sign in on the site itself, and TrickyBird holds the cookies that site sets in a store tied to your session, which goes when the session ends. The status page lists the sites we check, each with its own guide.
Do video and music play?
- Video and music play through TrickyBird on many of the sites we have checked, without an app and without a download. The site’s own player runs in your tab, so the controls are the ones you already know. The status page carries the list, and it grows as our checks cover more sites.
While you are using it
The site sent me back to the home page. What happened?
- A free session lasts up to 60 minutes. When it ends, the tab returns to our home page, and opening the site again from there starts a new session. Opening another site from the home page also ends the session you had. See what a session is, and the 3 limits that can stop it. If neither fits what you saw, tell us what happened and we will look.
Is using a web proxy legal?
- Usually, yes. Reaching a public site your network blocks is more a question of that network’s or your employer’s rules than of the law. Do not use TrickyBird to get around paywalls, logins, or copyright protection, or for anything unlawful. Some countries restrict circumvention tools, so check the guide on proxies and the law and the policy of the network you are on. This is general information, not legal advice.
How does WebMCP work with a web proxy?
- TrickyBird is a web proxy, and it registers its own WebMCP tools on its own pages: open_site on the home page takes an address, and the tab navigates to the proxied page. Through a proxy every frame of a proxied page becomes same‑origin, so WebMCP’s default self policy would let a frame of the site you opened register tools into the page an agent is reading. TrickyBird therefore sends tools=() on every document it serves, so a proxied page can register no tools. The WebMCP page lists the tools and shows how to try them.
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