A fingerprint is a snapshot of signals
A website does not need your name to notice that two visits look similar. Screen dimensions, language preferences, graphics capabilities, timezone and rendering behaviour can form a recognisable combination. Browser fingerprinting is the practice of collecting some of those characteristics and comparing them. The individual pieces are usually ordinary features required to make websites work; their combination is what creates the privacy concern.
This scanner shows the signals available to this page and calculates a SHA-256 digest of that snapshot. It does not contact a database of visitors or calculate a percentage describing how unique you are. A long digest can look impressive, but its length says nothing about the number of people who share your configuration. Treat it as a convenient label for the measured data, not a personal identifier or an anonymity score.
Take a baseline before changing settings
Run the scanner in the browser profile you normally use. Open the measured data and look at the language list, timezone, screen group and graphics information. Download the report with a filename that describes the setup, such as a standard profile or a privacy-focused profile. The report includes a measurement time so that you can distinguish a new observation from a saved one.
Next, change one condition: enable a privacy setting, switch hardware acceleration, resize the display environment or open a different profile. Select the earlier JSON report in the comparison field and scan again. The result names the signal groups that changed. Changing several conditions at once makes it difficult to explain a difference. A browser update can also alter fields, so record the version and avoid treating a later digest mismatch as evidence that a specific extension worked.
A useful experiment repeats the same configuration twice before making any changes. If the baseline itself is unstable, first examine why. An external display, a changing pixel ratio, language settings, rendering noise or a virtual desktop can affect the snapshot. Stable and unstable signals need different interpretations.
The deeper audit adds two silent offline audio renderings and the current site's queryable permission states. It does not play audio, record a microphone, or request new permission grants. Keep this option the same when comparing baselines: turning it off removes the audio and permission groups and therefore changes the snapshot.
The Overview tab explains the findings. Measured data lets you search individual fields and values, while JSON report shows the complete export. Export JSON to retain a baseline, or print the findings for your own records. Review the report before sharing it: browser characteristics, token claims, and file names can reveal information about your setup.
Read the fields before trusting the digest
The scanner includes browser-reported platform information, language preferences, timezone, screen dimensions, available screen area, colour depth, pixel ratio, logical processor count, reported device memory and touch support. Some values are reduced, rounded or absent because browsers deliberately limit exposure. A processor count is not a reliable model number, and a memory value may represent a coarse bucket rather than the physical RAM installed.
The graphics group contains WebGL information where supported. The canvas digest summarises a controlled image rendered using this page’s drawing instructions. These measurements are affected by the browser, operating system, fonts and graphics stack. They are not separate proof of your identity. The scanner records privacy signals such as Global Privacy Control when exposed, but the presence of a preference does not establish that every website respects it.
The digest changes when its serialised input changes. That behaviour is useful for comparison, yet it also means that small differences can produce completely different-looking hashes. Compare the measured fields when diagnosing a change; counting matching characters in two hashes has no meaningful security interpretation.
Reduce exposure without creating a stranger profile
Disabling every available feature is not always the best privacy strategy. A very unusual mixture of settings can itself become distinctive, and aggressive changes can break websites you depend on. Prefer a browser’s supported anti-fingerprinting mode and evaluate its trade-offs as a whole. Browser developers can coordinate how fields are standardised; a collection of unrelated extensions may not.
Separate activities into profiles when that helps your threat model. Signing into the same account remains a direct link between sessions even if a fingerprint changes. Similarly, a VPN changes the network path but does not automatically change display dimensions, language preferences or canvas output. Use this report to understand exposed characteristics, then choose measures that address the tracking mechanisms relevant to your activity.
Do not post an unredacted fingerprint report on a public forum unless you intend to disclose those characteristics. The report is designed for your own comparison and troubleshooting. If you need help with one field, share that field and enough context to reproduce the problem instead of the entire snapshot.
What the observation can establish
| Observation | Reasonable interpretation |
|---|---|
| Same digest twice | The measured inputs serialised identically in these runs. |
| Different canvas hash | Rendering output or readout changed; inspect conditions before assigning a cause. |
| Missing device memory | The browser did not expose the optional value to this page. |
| Matching reports across profiles | These measured signals match; cookies and account state were not compared. |
Strengths and limitations
What this is useful for
A repeatable baseline makes browser changes easier to explain. You can inspect the input behind the digest, export the result and compare it without an account or a shared visitor database. The report groups related fields, so a display change does not get mistaken for an unexplained change in identity.
What to keep in mind
This is one implementation of fingerprinting, not a reproduction of every tracker. It does not measure installed extensions directly, inspect account sessions or determine uniqueness across a population. A stable result is not automatically bad, and a changing result is not a guarantee that sites cannot recognise you.
Common questions
Does this scan collect my physical fingerprint?
No. “Fingerprint” here means a collection of browser and device characteristics exposed through web APIs. The scan does not access a fingerprint reader, request biometric authentication, record your camera or read your operating system’s biometric templates.
Does incognito mode produce a different result?
It may change some fields, but private browsing primarily separates browsing history and temporary site storage. The underlying hardware, operating system and display often stay the same. Run and compare actual reports rather than assuming that a private window makes every exposed characteristic different.
Is the report sent anywhere?
The snapshot and comparison are processed locally in the tab. The scanner does not upload its report or use a visitor database. If you download, copy or share the report, it becomes a file or text under your control and may contain identifying characteristics.
Why is my browser brand or hardware masked?
Browsers can reduce user-agent details and graphics exposure to limit passive identification. Some values also reflect compatibility layers or software rendering. “Not exposed” means the measurement was unavailable; it should not be interpreted as a broken device, a security failure or evidence of a bot.