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Unblock Pinterest and get back to your boards

A board you saved is no use if pinterest.com will not load on the network you are sitting on. TrickyBird gets you back to it from a browser tab: paste the address or search for Pinterest, press Launch, and the site opens through TrickyBird’s own address, with nothing to download and no account to create.

Filters rarely have anything against Pinterest in particular. It sits in the social media and image-sharing category, so when a network switches that category off, Pinterest goes down with it, recipe boards and study moodboards included. Because the network only ever sees a connection to TrickyBird, there is no pinterest.com request left for the filter to match.

Pinterest is a site made of pictures, so the thing worth checking is whether the pictures arrive. They do: the feeds fill with pins rather than grey placeholders, a pin opens to its close-up at full size, and a search brings back a grid you can actually look at. We watched that on a desktop. While you look, your browser does not connect to pinterest.com: that address is carried inside one of ours, encoded rather than spelled out.

What to expect from Pinterest

Pinterest arrives with its pictures rather than grey placeholders: feeds fill with pins, a close-up shows the full image, and search returns a grid you can browse. That is what we saw on a desktop.

Is pinterest.com blocked on your network?

The check asks pinterest.com for one small file directly from your connection, not through TrickyBird, so your network can see that request like any direct visit.

One of our addresses, with the site’s encoded into it

The site loads in the tab you are already in, and this address will not always look the same, since sometimes it is only numbers.

How does TrickyBird open Pinterest?

When you launch Pinterest, your browser talks to TrickyBird, not to Pinterest. TrickyBird fetches the page, rewrites its HTML, CSS, and JavaScript so every link, image, and request points back through its own address, and streams the result into your tab. A small script stays behind to catch what Pinterest loads as you scroll and click.

Pinterest is a good example of why proxying a modern site is more than fetching HTML. It guards its own requests with a token split between a cookie and a header, and its code reads that cookie the instant it starts, before anything is on screen. TrickyBird has the cookie in place by then, so the feed fills with pins instead of staying blank.

What works on Pinterest through TrickyBird?

You can browse the whole site logged out, and the pins load as pictures. Open a board, open a single pin for its close-up, follow it through to the profile behind it, or run a search from the same tab. The sign-in form loads through the proxy as well, if you want your own account. Pinterest is not the only image site we test: Imgur opens through TrickyBird too.

Logged out, Pinterest lays its own signup prompt over some pins. That is Pinterest’s behavior everywhere, not something the proxy adds, and you meet the same prompt opening the site directly. Our checks run on a desktop, which is why this page says these parts render rather than promising every device the same result.

Is your Pinterest browsing private through TrickyBird?

Pinterest sees TrickyBird’s server connecting rather than your IP address, so your address stays away from Pinterest. And since your browser does not connect to pinterest.com, with that address carried inside one of ours, encoded rather than spelled out, a filter watching your network for it has nothing to catch.

On our side, the edge keeps a short access log 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. Which pins you looked at is not in it, and there is no account for any of it to attach to.

Questions

Is unblocking Pinterest legal?

This is general information, not legal advice. Opening a public site like Pinterest is usually a question of your network’s or your employer’s rules rather than the law, and those rules differ by place. Check the policy of the network you are on, and do not use TrickyBird to get around paywalls, logins, or copyright.

Does Pinterest search work through TrickyBird?

Yes. Run a search from the same tab and the results grid fills with pins, and clicking one opens the pin, the board it sits on, or the profile behind it. Searching needs no account, and your address bar shows one of our own addresses rather than the site’s while you look; sometimes it is only numbers.

Does this work on a managed or locked-down computer?

Yes. Nothing installs and no admin rights come into it, so a school or work machine that refuses new software still opens Pinterest in the browser it already has. That is the step the usual advice trips on: a VPN cannot install itself on a device you are not allowed to change.

Do I need a Pinterest account?

Not to look. Boards, pins, profiles, and search all open logged out through TrickyBird, though Pinterest lays its own signup prompt over some pins whether or not a proxy is involved. The sign-in form loads through TrickyBird as well, so the login page is there if you want your own account.

Do the images and feeds load?

Yes, and on a site made of pictures that is the thing worth checking. In our own desktop checks the feeds fill with pins, a board grid draws, and a pin close-up shows the full image rather than a grey box waiting on something that never arrives.

Other sites people unblock

Open Pinterest now

Press the button and the site opens in this tab. You do not need to install anything or create an account.