Get Windscribe
Why was SOCKS5 discontinued?
Winder SMar 3, 2025
Divider
Help
>About

As of April 30, 2022 Windscribe no longer supports or hosts SOCKS5 servers. This is because SOCKS5 is an insecure protocol that does not support encryption, and should not be used for anything sensitive. We are also a VPN provider, not a proxy provider, and many people would use our SOCKS proxies for abuse against other websites/services.

Secure Alternatives for SOCKS Proxies

Split Tunneling:
Our Windows, Android and MacOS 10.12 - 10.15 apps support split tunneling, so you can route a specific process/application or domain/IP to go over the secure VPN tunnel, without interfering with your regular connection. You can access your split tunneling settings in Preferences > Connection > Split Tunneling. You can click here to learn how to use this feature. 

Proxy Gateway:
Our desktop apps support the Proxy Gateway feature, which allows you to setup your own SOCKS5 server, right on your machine that's running Windscribe. Go to Preferences > Connection > Proxy Gateway to use this feature. 

Get in touch

r/Windscribe

Find solutions, discuss ideas and share your feelings on our subreddit.

Contact Support

Feeling completely lost? Contact Support.
Windscribe
Company
forground_icon
© 2025 Windscribe Limited