Guide
How to unblock websites without a VPN
Last updated
A site you need is blocked on the office network, the school Wi-Fi, or by your ISP, and the device in front of you will not let you install anything. No admin rights, no VPN app, sometimes not even a browser extension. That is the situation TrickyBird is built for. It is a web proxy that runs inside a browser tab, so you paste a link or search for a site, press Launch, and the page opens in the same tab through TrickyBird’s own address. Nothing to download, and no account to create.
It runs on any device that has a browser: a work laptop, a library computer, or a phone. Not every site works through a proxy, though, so we publish a live status list of the sites our own tests show working. It is also worth knowing how to check a free web proxy before you trust one, ours included.
Unblock a specific site
Each site here has its own page because we tested it through the proxy ourselves. Paste any address into the launch box and it opens.
Music and audio
Why a VPN app will not install on a work or school computer
Locked-down devices are locked down on purpose. A corporate laptop or a school computer is managed by an IT policy, so there is no permission to run a new installer, and often no permission to add a browser extension either. A VPN needs 1 of those 2 things, an app or an extension, and that is exactly the permission a managed device withholds. Blocking the install step is enough to block the VPN, before the network filter even comes into play.
A web proxy skips that step. TrickyBird is a website, so opening it is the same action as opening any other page. There is nothing to install and no admin rights to ask for. That is the reason it can work on a device where a VPN often cannot.
How a web proxy works
When you launch a site through TrickyBird, your browser talks to TrickyBird, not to the site. TrickyBird connects to the site on your behalf, rewrites its HTML, CSS, and JavaScript so every link, image, and script points back through TrickyBird instead of the original address, and streams the rewritten page back to your tab. A small script in the tab catches what the page loads afterward, clicks, further requests, and video, and routes those back through TrickyBird too, so the rest of the page travels the same way the first request did.
This is not a redirect or a DNS trick. The page is actually fetched and rewritten, not pointed somewhere else. It is also narrower than a VPN by design, because only the 1 site you launched runs through the proxy while the rest of your browsing and the rest of your device are left alone.
What your network sees, and what the logs keep
Wherever TrickyBird has to carry the address of the site you open, it carries it encoded rather than spelled out. To be exact, the gateway connects to the site for you, so it does reach the site and records its hostname. What your network cannot see is which site that was. Your own tab is a different matter, because TrickyBird’s own toolbar on the page prints the address on purpose so you know where you are. The same step hides your IP address from the sites you open, because the site sees the request arriving from TrickyBird rather than from you.
The logs are small and short-lived. What the edge keeps to run the service and stop abuse: a shortened form of your IP address, the hostname of the site you connected to, and basic response details, kept for at most 48 hours. It does not record the specific pages you open, and there is no account for any of it to attach to.
How to open a site, step by step
Opening a site takes 3 steps, and the console is a single page with a box and a button.
- Open the TrickyBird home page and find the launch box near the top.
- Paste the address of the site you want, or type a few words to search for it.
- Press Launch. The site opens in the same tab, on one of our own addresses rather than the site’s, and that address will not always look the same, since sometimes it is only numbers.
Is this legal?
This is general information, not legal advice. Reaching a public website that your network blocks is usually a question of your network’s or your employer’s rules rather than the law, and those rules differ by place. Check your local law and the policies of the network you are on. Do not use TrickyBird to get around paywalls, logins, or copyright protection, or for anything unlawful.