How to Use VPN to Access Blocked Sites & Apps

A VPN reroutes your internet traffic to bypass web filters and blocks. It hides your browsing and app activity from your network, so restrictions can’t be enforced.

Below, we’ll explain more about this process and show you how you can quickly setup a VPN to bypass any type of web restriction.

How to use VPN to unblock websites?

1. Sign up for a VPN subscription and download it for your device. (We recommend ExpressVPN).

   

2. Install it on your device.
3. Launch it to log in to your ExpressVPN account and verify it through email.

   

4. Connect to an appropriate server. (*).

   

5. Open a browser and access the website you want.

(*) – if you want to access a service that’s restricted outside of a specific country (for instance USA), you should connect to a server located in that country.

Why are some sites blocked?

Some sites are blocked because of restricting website access based on geographical criteria.

If a website got taken down, there’s nothing much you can do to access it any longer, besides checking for a cached version of it online, maybe.

However, if the site is blocked to specific regions, this limitation can be easily circumvented. We refer to this situation as geoblocking since that’s exactly what it is.

Some examples include the US version of Netflix, CBC, Hulu, and HBO GO. However, most of these entertainment platforms aren’t blocked because of political-social factors, but because of economic purposes.

Other ways to access blocked sites

1. Use a Smart DNS service

Using a Smart DNS service might prove to be more effective than using a VPN most of the time. Smart DNS services lack encryption, so it shouldn’t slow down your connection even one bit.

However, you should understand that using a Smart DNS service also exposes your connection to whoever might feel like listening to it.

Long story short, your public IP address is still the same, so your identity should stay the same. The only thing that a Smart DNS service modifies is, as its name clearly indicates, your DNS address.

It then routes all of your traffic through its private servers, tricking websites into believing that you’re accessing them from somewhere else.

Naturally, you have to make the right choice when choosing a server (e.g. select a USA server if you want to access a US-only website).

2. Use a proxy server

The good thing about proxy servers is that you can find a lot of free ones online and you can fix website is not accesible easily.

The downside is that you’re likely not the only one to use them, so you’ll have to share the same server with several other users.

This might lead to bandwidth throttling, which means that your connection will be terribly slow.

There’s also minimal protection, so you won’t benefit from the same level of security that a trustworthy VPN service would offer you.

3. Use a browser

Another option is to use a dedicated web browser that can unlock blocked sites and apps.

These browser are extra privacy feauters and often include some sort of proxy or VPN feature within their software. Good options include Opera and Brave.

Best free VPN for blocked websites

ProtonVPN is one of the best free VPN options out there.

However, keep in mind that the free plan has some restrictions with P2P applications, so if you want to do something like torrenting, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan or consider using I2P.

Wrapping up

To wrap it up, you can safely use VPNs to access blocked websites, but you should be aware that there are other ways to unblock geo-restricted content such as Smart DNS or proxy servers.

A VPN, however, will do much more than just circumvent geoblocking, including safekeeping your online privacy, boosting the security of your connection, curbing packet loss, and even improving ping while you’re playing games or streaming media.

Keep in mind that also your ISP can restrict you from accessing a website. But it’s no different than applying geo-restrictions. Not by much, anyway. Thus, using a VPN, Smart DNS, or proxy can easily circumvent ISP website restrictions.

Check out our best VPNs that can help you unblock websites easily. You can also visit our Unblocking Hub to discover more guides on using VPNs to unblock specific services.