Many (if not all) of the benefits on the landing page are available in Mullvad too, which is a more mature and reputable product, has all clients fully open-source, and powers the exit servers for Obscura.
We think Mullvad is a great privacy tool, which is why we partnered with them!
As for what's different: We're a Multi-*Party* Relays (vs. traditional VPNs which are Single-Party Relays): <a href="https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2024/11/17/where-are-all-the-mprs/#a-solution-multi-party-relays" rel="nofollow">https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2024/11/17/where-are-...
With Multi-Party Relays you no longer have a trust a single entity not being malicious or compromised. More on this here: <a href="https://obscura.com/#how" rel="nofollow">https://obscura.com/#how
Also, all our apps are open-source as well: <a href="https://github.com/Sovereign-Engineering/obscuravpn-client" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/Sovereign-Engineering/obscuravpn-client
We're heavily inspired by them (see our original blog post which is a bit more technical here: <a href="https://obscura.com/blog/bootstrapping-trust/" rel="nofollow">https://obscura.com/blog/bootstrapping-trust/)
The differences are:
- We allow you to choose an exit location (I believe iCloud Private Relay restricts you to the same location)
- Our exit hop is Mullvad instead of Cloudflare+Fastly+Akamai
- We use QUIC for transport instead of HTTP/3 (which is built on QUIC and has a bit more overhead)
Same country at least - the iCloud Private Relay options, iOS:
“1: Maintain general location
2: Use country and time zone
Maintain your general location to receive localized content, or enhance your privacy by using a broader IP address based on your country and time zone.
Safari Private Browsing always uses an IP location from your country and time zone.”
maxloh · · focus · HN ↗
Many (if not all) of the benefits on the landing page are available in Mullvad too, which is a more mature and reputable product, has all clients fully open-source, and powers the exit servers for Obscura.
Why should I choose this over Mullvad?
dongcarl · · focus · HN ↗
As for what's different: We're a Multi-*Party* Relays (vs. traditional VPNs which are Single-Party Relays): <a href="https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2024/11/17/where-are-all-the-mprs/#a-solution-multi-party-relays" rel="nofollow">https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2024/11/17/where-are-...
With Multi-Party Relays you no longer have a trust a single entity not being malicious or compromised. More on this here: <a href="https://obscura.com/#how" rel="nofollow">https://obscura.com/#how
Also, all our apps are open-source as well: <a href="https://github.com/Sovereign-Engineering/obscuravpn-client" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/Sovereign-Engineering/obscuravpn-client
Disclaimer: I'm the creator of Obscura.
frizlab · · focus · HN ↗
dongcarl · · focus · HN ↗
The differences are:
- We allow you to choose an exit location (I believe iCloud Private Relay restricts you to the same location)
- Our exit hop is Mullvad instead of Cloudflare+Fastly+Akamai
- We use QUIC for transport instead of HTTP/3 (which is built on QUIC and has a bit more overhead)
Barbing · · focus · HN ↗
“1: Maintain general location
2: Use country and time zone
Maintain your general location to receive localized content, or enhance your privacy by using a broader IP address based on your country and time zone.
Safari Private Browsing always uses an IP location from your country and time zone.”