# iCloud Private Relay Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/icloud-private-relay/ 15 people recommended iCloud Private Relay in Hacker News comments, 7 had mixed feelings and 19 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 12 months, in 15 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. A two-hop relay that people say keeps neither Apple nor the exit node knowing both who you are and what you visit, and that many sites accept. Main caveat: it mostly works only in Safari. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Only works well in Safari (6 comments in the sample): "Tradeoff is that it seems to be a browser only thing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46281551)) "It's a very limited VPN as it only works for Safari/Mail and only anonymizes you to your region/country." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46275984)) "iCloud Private Relay for all apps (why only Safari?! and Mail and HTTP) as a start" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48615459)) - Breaks sites; often must be disabled (4 comments in the sample): "Sometimes I need to disable private relay to get it to work with all the switchovers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46668765)) "I can never edit Wikipedia when I have private relay enabled unfortunately" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46850391)) "I love iCloud private relay, but I need a way to turn it off." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49177131)) - Apple still learns sites visited (3 comments in the sample): "with the icloud "privacy" proxy they default enable on macos/ios users to slurp everything they do" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49228073)) "that shifts the trust even moreso onto Apple, and now they know every site you visit" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49950192)) "More concerning is that they're plugging private access tokens there, which allows Apple to vouch that you're a human running their hardware." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48772300)) - Triggers Cloudflare challenges (2 comments in the sample): "the amount of Cloudflare challenges I get is really annoying" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46259400)) "I can often stuck in tarpits on Safari for iOS with Wipr and iCloud Private Relay." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49610045)) ## Why people recommend it - Splits trust between Apple and exit node (4 comments in the sample): "neither Apple nor the exit node (Akamai, Cloudflare, Fastly) are supposed to know both who you are and what you’re doing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428219)) "neither party involved gets to be able to track the user, says Apple" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49230393)) "It uses a 2-hop architecture so it's probably more private than any single-hop VPN." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48923487)) - Sites accept it more than VPNs (4 comments in the sample): "Apple private relay is very flawed but on the other hand most sites that view connections originating from VPN as suspicious seem to be ok…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49183933)) "Thankfully almost nobody has ever blocked Apple's VPN, so I never have to turn it off." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48068151)) "many websites block all VPN except iCloud Private Relay" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49427795)) - Easy and seamless to use (2 comments in the sample): "make it EASY and SEAMLESS to use. No other company comes close." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46846589)) "I much prefer modern browser-centric solutions like iCloud Relay over VPNs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47470782)) - More private than typical VPNs (1 comment in the sample): "much more privacy preserving than most VPNs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46292048)) ## Other VPN services people recommend - [Mullvad VPN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mullvad-vpn/): 188 recommend, 39 mixed, 130 criticize - [Proton VPN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/proton-vpn/): 49 recommend, 8 mixed, 31 criticize - [Cloudflare WARP](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare-warp/): 12 recommend, 4 mixed, 10 criticize - [Firefox VPN](https://hackerapproved.com/p/firefox-built-in-vpn/): 12 recommend, 3 mixed, 22 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.apple.com/icloud/) ## 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, "iCloud Private Relay", https://hackerapproved.com/p/icloud-private-relay/ (15 recommend, 7 mixed, 19 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.