VPNs cannotprotect against browser fingerprinting– but this new web browser could be the fix

Developed by two privacy researchers, Psylo introduces a one-of-a-kind isolated tab system powered by a proxy network.

Jun 21, 2025 - 17:30

VPNs cannotprotect against browser fingerprinting– but this new web browser could be the fix

Two privacy researchers have just unveiled a one-of-a-kind private web browser
Psylo offers anti-tracking and anti-fingerprinting features that promise to go beyond VPN protection
Psylo is currently available on iOS and iPadOS only

Two privacy researchers have just unveiled a "new kind of private web browser" that promises to fix an issue afflicting the industry – browser fingerprinting.

Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk built Psylos with an innovative isolated tab system powered by a proxy network. This means each tab is open in its own "silo," with isolated storage, cookies, and even its own IP address.

Psylos' anti-tracking and anti-fingerprinting features promise to go way beyond the protection of the best VPN services, too. The app is currently available for iOS and iPadOS only.

Getting where VPNs cannot

Screenshot of two fingerprinting report from Fingerprint.com — (Image credit: Mysk Inc.)

Recent research conducted by Texas A&M University found the first hard evidence that many websites use browser fingerprinting to track people for online advertisement purposes.

Browser fingerprinting is a technique to track internet users across apps and websites. It does so by collecting details about their devices and browsers to create a unique digital fingerprint.

More users have been turning to virtual private networks (VPN) to minimize online surveillance. Yet, while a VPN can mask your real IP address, it cannot do the same for your device model, system timezone, language, and other identifiable bits of metadata. All these details, however, can still be enough to reveal the user's identity.

Bakry and Mysk built this proof-of-concept web page to show how your real location can be revealed by details such as the system’s timezone settings, even when you are connected to a VPN

"This is one place where Psylo really shines. Not only does every silo get a unique IP address through our proxy network, but it also matches the locale and timezone of its associated proxy server," Bakry and Mysk explain in a blog post.

How Psylo works

As mentioned earlier, Psylo works via a system made of web silos, or isolated web sessions, that runs within a no-log proxy network – the Mysk Private Proxy Network.

This means that every Psylo tab becomes completely customizable and detached from each other, making it even harder to track you across the apps and websites you visit.

For example, you can configure one tab to connect to your X account with a Canadian IP, while configuring another for Instagram, connecting via Germany. Psylo will also automatically spoof the browser's language and timezone accordingly.

At the moment, you can choose among 40+ servers dotted across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the UK, Japan, and the US.