Frequently Asked Questions

SnowHaze

SnowHaze is the first browser that truly protects your data in combination with high usability and nice design. Many features, like blocking tracking scripts, the possibility to change the user agent, deleting website data and others, are highly effective in protecting your sensitive data when combined.
There are indeed a lot of browser that call themselves private browsers. However, we were looking for a browser that truly protects from tracking but failed. We created this browser because we wanted an honest browser focused on privacy. We wanted to create a product that really takes privacy serious. This means there are no affiliates, there are no scripts on our website, SnowHaze does not establish any connections to Google's servers and so on. There are many privacy focused companies (browsers and VPNs) which seem to offer technically great products. But then too often they engage in suspicious marketing strategies, lie to their customers (by telling them they can become 100% anonymous) or establish connections to Google which they apparently "hate sooo much". We can't take this seriously. That's why SnowHaze is different. We do care about the details like having no scripts on our website (not the blog!), offering PGP, having no affiliates, not white-listing pages, not allowing "acceptable ads" and so on.
We do believe that the size of a company does not matter when it comes to your privacy. However, larger companies tend to be more valuable targets and have therefore been the victims of the most severe data breaches. On our side, data breaches are no risk for us because there is nothing to breach. What we think is the most important, is not the size but honesty. If a company is honest, modest and acts in the best interest of their customers (therefore also in their own best interest) then we think it is trustworthy. It is our set goal to be such a company. Open, honest, direct and committed to high technical standards.
We want to make internet privacy pretty and accessible for all. We want to give everybody the tools needed to effectively protect personal data from data-addicted companies. We think that you are valuable and so is your data. By using SnowHaze, we empower you to be the master of your personal data again.
We try to apply the things we preach in every aspect - not just the product we deliver. For example, we do not use any analytics tool on our website. Sounds obvious? Well, many of our competitors use the word privacy on the same website as they use Google Analytics. (It is as ridiculous as it sounds). We try to do it like we wanted the others to do it. That's why we love encrypted communication with our customers through PGP encrypted mail. That's why we don't use any scripts on our website. That's why we are the first VPN that doesn't need any data from user to offer its services. That's why SnowHazes does not establish a single connection to our servers unless you have given your expressed consent! We think in the end the small things make the difference. This sounds all like the obvious steps for any privacy concerned company? For us yes, but we seem to be among few who do it.
Tor is a very private and secure browser and we respect and support this project. However, when it comes to usability, we think that for many people Tor is not an option for everyday browsing. That's why we wanted to create an alternative that allows everybody to have the privacy level they want. Using SnowHaze combined with a trustworthy VPN comes pretty close to using Tor. If you still want to use Tor, you can do easily through the SnowHaze browser.
We want to make good products and started by focusing on one platform. The VPN is available for all platforms. The browser is still iOS only, however, we have a new extension for Firefox that brings SnowHaze settings to your desktop or Android device.
Yes, you can use SnowHaze VPN on your Android device and install the SnowHaze extension for Firefox in your browser.

Browser

The browser is free. It costs you nothing to download and use SnowHaze to browse the web. SnowHaze VPN is a paid service because we have to run expensive dedicated servers all around the world.
We generate revenue with our VPN subscription, which also finances the browser development. We will never get nor save any of your data. The only data we currently get is whatever Apple provides us. This includes the number of subscriptions, number of downloads and similar stats that we do not really care about, but cannot deactivate. From users that additionally opted-in with Apple, we also see the total number of sessions and crashes. Check your opt-in status in Apple Settings → Privacy → Analytics → Share iPhone Analytics.
Yes, of course. SnowHaze is designed to be used like Safari. You can use SnowHaze as is without further knowledge. We chose the default settings such that you get the optimum between privacy and usability. Furthermore, every setting is explained in the app in case you want to customize SnowHaze.
SnowHaze is way simpler to use than it might seem. You can use it just as you are used to from other browsers. With the default settings of SnowHaze you browse the internet already much safer and much more private than the vast majority of people. Should you want a brief personal introduction, don't hesitate to contact us.
SnowHaze does not restrict any access to the Internet. Depending on your settings, SnowHaze might warn you from potentially malicious or unsecured content and ask you if you want to load it. For the sake of completeness: Content blockers do block some content, but you may always turn them off.

VPN

A VPN encrypts and redirects your entire Internet traffic over a server. This rerouting effectively hides your IP address and protects you from man-in-the-middle attacks. Combined with a strong private browser you can achieve an outstanding level of privacy and security. Furthermore, it is possible to circumvent censorship and access geo-specific content.
Yes. The traffic from all apps on your device is rerouted through the VPN. Unfortunately, Apple doesn't allow rerouting of some of their own services like iMessage or Mobile Hotspot through any VPN.
SnowHaze VPN has a strict no-log policy and zero-knowledge about its customers. We are the only VPN provider using Zero-Knowledge Auth (ZKA), enabling you to use the VPN fully anonymously. From the registration, over payment, up to usage, everything is designed with privacy by design. With ZKA, you can use the VPN fully anonymously and we will never know anything about you. Find out more about ZKA here.
SnowHaze VPN does not restrict speed, data amount, content, etc. Because we have no data about you we cannot communicate with you and refund may not be posssible if you get the VPN from our website. You have the option to let us know your email address if you want.
No, you can use the SnowHaze browser with any other VPN. Make sure that your current VPN provider is trustworthy and has an acceptable privacy policy. Unfortunately, there are many shady companies in the VPN business and some of them have been caught collecting and selling user data.
We assume that people usually use a VPN server that is located somewhat near where they live. Few people living in the Netherlands want to connect to a VPN in India for example. We always try to focus on the services that benefit our users the most and interestingly, we've only received relatively few requests for additional VPN server locations so far. However, we are happy to add more locations, should the need arise!
The VPN server has to temporarily store your IP address to maintain the connection. The server discards all information as soon as the connection ends. Additionally, we monitor from time to time the total bandwidth from all users together on our servers. This is not stored and only for us to know when we have to expand server capacity! We do not monitor individual connections, just total bandwidth. Other than the IP and the total bandwidth we never ever log, store or monitor anything.
This error message is shown when there is no connection to the server. Check your internet connection and check if there is an update available.
There is an option to check for updates in the settings of the VPN Clients. If this is not possible then there is the possibility to start the program "maintenancetool" which can be found in the installation directory (Windows: "C:\Program Files (x86)\SnowHazeVPN\", MacOS: "~/Applications/SnowHazeVPN/").

Privacy

We are not interested in knowing anything about our users. That's why we don't track you or log anything. That does not mean that we don't like you to reach out to us and share your thoughts, though! Apple still provides us with the number of subscriptions and downloads and from which country they originate. Furthermore, Apple provides us with the total number of sessions and crashes from opted-in users.
Yes.
The good thing about not storing anything, is that we have nothing to hand out. We have absolutely zero-knowledge about our customers and their use of SnowHaze. On top of that, our company is based in Switzerland, which has some of the best privacy laws in the world.
Yes, our code is open source. Everybody can have a look at the code and check it. You may find it here.
When you get a subscription from the App Store, Apple is processing the payments for us. Therefore, everything is strictly separated and we don't have to handle any of your data. If you get the VPN from our website the payment is processed by a payment provider, either Stripe or CoinPayments. They never share payment information with any vendor. We ask them to collect a certain amount and they communicate it the payment was successful. Therefore, we don't need to handle your payment details. And if you send us cash, we really have no information about you.
More and more services start to collect user data to "improve the service". Indeed, user data may be useful to improve services. Statistics about usage can give great insights about how a product is used and what changes might benefit the user. BUT, we chose to go a different route. There are already plenty of companies "improving their services" with user data. It is a bizarre feeling to know that your activities may be recorded and sent back. Moreover, the data often has not been properly anonyminized or can be deanonyminized easily. That's why we don't do it and never will. That's why SnowHaze only does make connections to SnowHaze's servers with your expressed consent. And that's why these connections are only for updating the lists of tracking sites, malicious sites and so on. Clearly, we do want to improve our services! But we do rely on you to tell us what is wrong and what we can improve. So please do reach out!

General

Please contact us either anonymously via our webform, through Wire (@snowhaze), or by email (PGP 3379108F46551D0A) and we will answer all your questions. We don't want to keep you waiting, so we usually get back to you within a few hours.
There's a german saying going "Ehrlichkeit währt am längsten...", meaning "Honesty lasts longest..." Just kidding, either turn off history saving or turn on "Forget Private Sites". Now you're good to go.
We are sorry to hear that. Please get in touch with us and we will find a solution. If you're still not happy we will give you a full refund.
The best way to support us, is to spread the word about SnowHaze. Share SnowHaze with three friends, two family members and one stranger :)

Ask us anything

Because we take our job seriously, we do not use any analytics tools or any trackers. Because we do not use these tools, we do not usually get to know our customers. We've been told several times that this is a marketing nightmare. Anyway, we still would like to get to know what our customers love and dislike about SnowHaze.

You can reach us on Wire and by email. We try to get back to you as quickly as possible.

Contact Form

Invalid email address
You must enter a message
The verification failed Your message was successfully sent
Your Email: Your Name: Your Message:

Contact Info

Ask us anything!

Wire logo @snowhaze

Want to hear more from us?

Success, you got an email. No email address was entered. Something went wrong with the spam protection request. Something went wrong with the spam protection entry. This email address was entered too often in a short period of time. Server Error, please try later.

Or follow us on

en