Shield
Protect your community against
Proxies, VPNs,
and bots.
You decide who needs to verify. Shield checks their connection and browser in seconds.
0
IP addresses stored, only scrambled fingerprints
Dozens
of VPN services on the lists, refreshed daily
1 link
for members: open it, press Verify, done
What Shield does
You pick who verifies; they check their connection in seconds.
- Catches VPNs and Tor
- Robot check first
- Set up in a minute
- Find anyone in seconds
- See who shares a network
- Private by design
Protect your community against proxies, VPNs, and bots. You decide who needs to verify: they open a one-time link in their browser, press Verify, and get the role you pick as soon as the check comes back clean. Put that role on the whole community, or only on the channels you want to keep safe.
Catches VPNs and Tor
- Server lists from dozens of VPN services, including NordVPN, Mullvad, Proton VPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN
- Networks VPN companies register themselves, refreshed daily
- Tor exits, browser proxy extensions like Hola and Browsec, and the hosting networks most proxies run on
- Members see what was found and how to fix it, then press Verify again
Robot check first
- Nothing runs until the member presses Verify
- Cloudflare Turnstile checks they're a person
- Then Shield looks for headless browsers, WebDriver, automation tools, and browsers that changed their name
Set up in a minute
- Pick the role Shield gives members who pass
- Make every channel need it, or only some: Root's channel permissions decide
- Decide whether iCloud Private Relay and hosting networks pass
- New members get a reminder to verify, if you want one
- Members Shield verified before get the role back when they rejoin
Find anyone in seconds
- Search members by name, VPN, or member ID
- Filter by status, result, country, network, and last check
- Sort by activity, last check, name, status, country, or same-network matches
- Approve someone without a check, reset them, or forget them
See who shares a network
- Shield links members who checked from the same address or the same block of addresses
- Matches stay inside your community
- Leaders see the match, never the address
Private by design
- IP addresses are never stored, only scrambled fingerprints, kept for 180 days
- Community leaders see results and countries, never addresses
- Only the community owner and the roles or members you pick can manage Shield
- Forget a member and their data is deleted from Shield and its verification service
- Shield is an independent app, not affiliated with Root in any way
A closer look
01 / 06
What's new
-
v0.2.1
New address
- Shield's check page and verification service moved to shield.rootapp.dev. Links members already have keep working.
- Settings now say automated browsers never pass, like VPNs, proxies, and Tor.
-
v0.2.0
Search, filters, and browser checks
- Search members by name, VPN, or member ID. Filter by status, result, country, network, and when they last checked, and sort by activity, last check, name, status, country, or same-network matches.
- The check page now runs the robot check first, when a member presses Verify, then looks for automated browsers and changed browser names as well as VPNs, proxies, and Tor.
- Forgetting a member also takes the verified role away, so they have to check again to get it back.
-
v0.1.0
First version
- Members check their connection in their browser with a one-time link. Shield gives them the role you pick once the check shows no VPN, proxy, or Tor.
- Leaders see every check on the Members tab, including members who checked from the same network, and can approve or reset anyone.
- Choose whether iCloud Private Relay and hosting networks pass, and whether new members get a reminder to verify.
Shield is an independent app, not affiliated with Root in any way.