# Cover Your Tracks by EFF

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/cover-your-tracks/

11 people recommended Cover Your Tracks by EFF in Hacker News comments and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 12 months, in 6 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free EFF test showing what your browser reveals and how identifiable it is. Critics say its uniqueness scores only compare against visitors to the same site.

Summary written by Claude from 20 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 18 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Rated better than similar tools (3 comments in the sample): "does the same or better, without AI regurgitation and a WordPress theme" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48066653)) "Cover Your Tracks is the spiritual ancestor of this whole piece." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064552)) "This is better than the OP in practically every conceivable way" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49431838))
- Shows what browsers reveal to sites (2 comments in the sample): "it still gives a nice summary of bits of info your browser leaks and how fingerprinting basically works" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46588652)) "if you really want to know what your browser is sending" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48067216))
- Breaks down each identifying attribute (2 comments in the sample): "shows the individual uniqueness of each attribute" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46087806)) "breaks down a lot of the bits of data used" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47269642))

## What people warn about

- Only compares against its own visitors (2 comments in the sample): "The EFF test is very flawed because it only tests your uniqueness among the other visitors to that site" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50062646)) "that EFF site only checks against other people who visited the same site, so the results are skewed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47241131))
- Gives false results on iPhones (2 comments in the sample): "It will give ridiculous and easily provably false results for iPhones." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46088954)) "giving probably false numbers that are several orders of magnitude off" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46092987))
- Poorly explained results, unclear tracking risk (1 comment in the sample): "this test doesn't really communicate the results very well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46245460))

## What people recommend instead

- [AmIUnique](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amiunique/): 5 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/)

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Cover Your Tracks by EFF", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cover-your-tracks/ (11 recommend, 0 mixed, 8 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.