- Windscribe adds IP pinning and IP rotation for easier IP control
- Users can block their preferred IP or change to a new one
- They will reduce login issues, CAPTCHAs, and transmission errors.
About two weeks after Winscribe launched the next-generation server stack, FreshScribe, the company is delivering on its promises of greater VPN innovation.
Right around that time, Windscribe launched IP Fixation and IP Rotation. These two innovative features, the provider explains in a blog post, are set to give you more freedom and control over how you use your VPN IP address, allowing you to block your connection to a particular IP or get a shiny new one without needing to disconnect the VPN.
Together, their goal is to dramatically reduce the interruptions (think site and stream bans, CAPTCHAs, IP blocks, and frustrating security questions) you face while browsing online.
In addition to convenience, Windscribe has made sure that both features respect the company’s commitment to privacy. That’s why they are designed to always work with a zero-knowledge API, which, in simple terms, means that even Windscribe doesn’t keep any logs of the IP addresses you use, so your browsing remains private.
What is IP pinning?
Although all of the best VPNs, including Windscribe, have thousands of IP addresses in their list, not all of them are created equal. Depending on server load, ISP routing, and whether certain services have already flagged an IP, some work better than others.
With IP Pinning, you can now “pin” an IP that you have found works perfectly from your location. It will be useful for sites that expect consistency and don’t appreciate you logging in from a new location every time, such as banking apps and remote work portals.
To set your IP, click on the three dots next to your connected IP and press the Heart icon. It is important to remember that you “fix” the IP, not “reserve” it, as these addresses are still part of a shared pool and are not assigned exclusively to you.
You can think of IP Pinning as a lighter version of owning a dedicated IP, giving you an IP address permanently reserved just for you.
Additionally, this feature works on a best-effort basis, meaning Windscribe will keep it set as long as the IP is available, although you can always set another one.
What is IP rotation?
IP rotation is essentially the opposite of IP pinning. Allows you to switch to a new IP address without disconnecting from the VPN.
This is useful if your current IP is causing problems, for example if a website keeps throwing CAPTCHA challenges or if that particular IP has been banned.
It also helps in situations where you don’t want to (or can’t) change your VPN location, such as when you’re trying to unblock a foreign Netflix catalog and changing locations would prevent you from watching it.
Rotating your IP in Windscribe is also just a two-step process: simply click on the three dots next to your connected IP and press the circular arrow.
While Windscribe’s IP pinning is a genuinely unique feature that we haven’t seen offered by other major private VPNs, rivals like ExpressVPN and Surfshark also offer some forms of IP rotation.
Both ExpressVPN’s ShuffleIP and Surfshark’s Multi IP give you a new random IP address for every website, app, service, or web server you access within the same session, without changing your VPN location. These features are designed to break linkability between destinations and significantly strengthen privacy.
Windscribe’s IP rotation, on the other hand, keeps things simple. Instead of automatically assigning a different IP for each site, it allows you to manually rotate your IP throughout the session across all the websites you visit.
So while ExpressVPN and Surfshark focus on maximum anonymity with seamless IP changes per site, Windscribe’s method is based more on convenience: a quick two-click way to get a new IP without reconnecting or switching servers.
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