Help understanding IP address sites giving wrong result VPN on

It sounds like it's just the page caching the last IP it saw from your connection before the VPN was up.

such pages are normally not cacheable.

one way to make sure is to query the same site through the command line using curl or wget

i doubt cache would be the issue but that is not entirely impossible. maybe you have some local proxy that does caching. maybe an av.

chances are the vpn is not set or not working at the system level. in that case chances are the vpn is actually a proxy if some sort and is configured at the application level.

note that unless you need to access resources that are forbidden in your country, such services mostly degrade your security and your privacy.

Hi, thank u!

Can u give an example of using command line using curl or wget?

curl whatsmyip.com

wget -O- whatsmtip.com

you may consult the man pages or other docs before asking.

Please excuse, but I don't understand what you mean by "you may consult the man pages or other docs before asking".   I in my question I stated I used pages similar to whatsmyip.com like https://whatismyipaddress.com - (if that what you meant)

i meant that i will happily respond to most questions but i had rather help you if and where you get stuck after you give it a try.

In your entry u gave 2 website, similar to the one I used, same results in browser  (thank u for your patience and I am very sorry I don't understand what u want me to try, but what you want me to try?)

I think u meant to run curl and wget in command line (command line is in Windows 10, wget I guess is a download).  I just searched both on what they are, but in you entry you state "one way to make sure is to query the same site through the command line using curl or wget", using these 2 command how do I assess my situation?

you would check the ip address while not using a browser.

sorry i assumed macos since you mention safari but you actually meant your iphone.

on the iphone, you probably never actually got the new page. worst than caching, this is just the last page being displayed on screen.

--

if you suspect the browser is caching stuff, you need to query the whatsmyip site with a tool that does not feature cache. curl and wget are such tools. both have windows versions.

Yes, my question referencing my iPhone and it's 3 browsers within the device: Safari, Chrome and Firefox.

And as stated, with the VPN on, I go to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ it displays my real public IP, not the VPN assign IP address (it's the same resulting all three browsers of Safari, Chrome and Firefox).

However, when I reset the iPhone in app Safari settings pressing “clear history and website data”, it fixes the problem; that is, when I visit the IP sites again (https://whatismyipaddress.com/), it displays the VPN assigned IP address, not my public IP -  and all 3 browsers now displays the VPN assign IP address.

Going back to my question,

• If the problem was cache, why Chrome and Firefox browsers NOW display the VPN assign IP address, when I didn't go got their settings to clear chache (only reset Safari)?
• If the "cache" was the problem, it means the VPN is using the cache values not it's own?

Hope I crear a bit my question

should i understand this behavior is repeatable even when you never disabled the vpn ?

if yes, the conclusion is simple : it does not always work which means it just does not.

if it occurs after disabling and reenabling the vpn, chances are a common component does caching. as far as i now ios itself does not feature a shared cache and rather enforces isolation which is why i was wondering about a separate component such as an antivirus. many antiviruses do feature a web proxy.



an external proxy might produce similar results in more convoluted ways since the vpn migjt not preempt preexisting tcp sessions

if you do have a caching issue, the vpn is not using anyhing. the apps merely respond from cached data withput using the vpn



it might help to know which vpn you are using and what you are trying to achieve.

should i understand this behavior is repeatable even when you never disabled the vpn ? ... if it occurs after disabling and reenabling the vpn, 

This issue is so strange, doesn't make sense why when I reset cache in Safari, it also fixes 'My IP address' in Chrome and Firefox (prior clearing safari cache, Firefox, Chrome and Safari displayed my real public IP address)).

I am still searching

so you did not. then when does the issue arise ?

The issue of the VPN not hiding my public IP when using IP address sites like https://whatismyipaddress.com/, happened a couple of hours prior placing the questions.

What I find strange or unexplained is that when resetting iPhone Safari cache, also Firefox and Chrome worked (VPN hid my real public IP)

if it only occured once, chances are the issue is entirely different. resetting safari may have triggered a network reset. since it is the builtin browser, it has tight system integration. it is fairly possible the vpn was simply down and the reset got it to mount again.

we probably won t know for sure without a trigger event or some debug while the issue is occuring.

maybe you can google a little mentionning the mysterious vpn solution and see whether there is a known issue.

will do

Hi, didn't find anything regarding this issues.

But you said "we probably won t know for sure without a trigger event or some debug", is there some sort of tool that we can observe trigger or a debug sequence I can use?

no. observation over time may let you figure out when it occurs. ios is known for agressively unloading apps. maybe you hit some corner case where the vpn got unloaded or dome weird network reset that made the vpn inopperant until safari waked it up

Ok.  Will leave the question open for couple days prior closing (I'm still searching)

Thank u!

What happens if you turn off your phone's data so you are only using wifi?  

There are several sites that show your external IP.  When the issue happens, try it with different sites.  If other sites show the VPN IP then you'll know that something is cached somewhere.

if you have access to a PBX, you may be able check a VOIP login for the IP address that did the login.

When it happens, use ANOTHER website to double check, a site you didn't use often. Ex. https://www.myipaddress.com/
If the result has changed (from public IP nr to VPN address), it was indeed a cached page (probably didn't send out request to the server).

Thank u guys for the follow-up, as per entry:

HI Scott Fell,

What happens if you turn off your phone's data so you are only using wifi?

HI Daryl Ponting,

There are several sites that show your external IP.  When the issue happens, try it with different sites.  If other sites show the VPN IP then you'll know that something is cached somewhere.

HI noci,

if you have access to a PBX, you may be able check a VOIP login for the IP address that did the login

HI Kimputer,

use ANOTHER website to double check, a site you didn't use often. Ex. https://www.myipaddress.com/

This is so strange

Kimputer, u sais "it was indeed a cached page", does that mean the VPN doesn't look at where the actual VPN server IP rather my computer IPS IP?

I saw above there was a question about which VPN you're using, but couldn't find your reply. Which VPN is it?

speedtest.net, myexternalip.com and ismyinternetworking.com are showing the correct VPN IP address (tested with NordVPN).

noci,

1st you need to establish if there is "cached obsolete info" or " current active info" shown

Gerwin Jansen,

Which VPN is it?

Kimputer,

customers of this VPN solution are surfing unsafely every day (they're definitely not going to clear Safari cache every time they connect).

I still think that if all you're doing is clearing cookies/cache to get the desired result, it can't be the VPN that's the issue.

Have you tried the extended test on the DNS Leak Test website?

It doesn't make sense clearing cache.

Ok will try ProtonVPN 

It worked! I disable the ProtonVPN  and it's my ISP IP, i reenable the ProtonVPN , its the ProtonVPN   Server IP...

I'm going to take another look at this 

Conclusion:

• It was AtlasVPN
• I installed ProtonVPN  and didn't have to clear cache or restart the device
• But I thought the problem was Cloudflare which I also have installed.

I will close the question, and keep testing.

Thank uuuuuu!!!!