Fingerprinting Evasion: How to Use User-Agents to Protect Your Browsing Privacy
Learn what the User-Agent header is, how websites use it to identify you, and how altering it helps mitigate online tracking.
Fingerprinting Evasion: How to Use User-Agents to Protect Your Browsing Privacy
Every time you access a website, your browser makes a formal presentation by sending a text header known as User-Agent. This string contains exact details about your computer's architecture, your operating system, and the exact version of your browser.
The paradox of personalization and Fingerprinting
Originally designed to serve web content adapted to your device, the User-Agent has become a key piece of browser fingerprinting.
Advertising trackers record these headers. If you use unusual combinations of software, your User-Agent makes you stand out from the crowd, making it easier to identify you across multiple pages, even if you clear your cookies or use private browsing.
Periodically modifying or toggling your User-Agent is a highly recommended active defense for security analysts and privacy enthusiasts.
To get updated User-Agent strings from different devices and operating systems for your privacy scripts or extensions, you can use our catalog:
Instantly generate valid and clean headers from Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Android and iOS devices for your secure browsing.
