If you’re seeing the “Please disconnect VPN” message, but don’t think you have a VPN installed, it's likely that an app or network setting is making your connection appear similar to a VPN.
This can include:
- Ad blockers or privacy-focused apps
- Antivirus or security software with web protection
- Parental control settings
- Work or school networks
- Public or corporate Wi-Fi connections
These tools or networks can mask or filter your connection, which prevent us from confirming your location accurately.
Why it matters
Curious Cat needs to confirm your location so we can match you with relevant surveys and tasks. You're matched to tasks based on a variety of factors, including demographics, location and the advertising you may have seen.
VPN usage means we're unable to accurately match you to tasks. This can cause screenouts and poor quality survey answers. As a result, your quality score will fall due to VPN usage and the experience you get (and your earning potential) will reduce over time.
To protect your quality score - and ensure we're offering you the best possible experience and points for the time you spend on the app - we've introduced the VPN notification.
In addition, many of our survey partners automatically block access when a VPN or masked connection is detected. This will result in you having access to significantly fewer tasks, so it's something we want to proactively stop happening.
Even though it may have appeared that the app was previously working as normal while a VPN was connected, your quality score and task matches will have been suffering behind the scenes.
Please note that while we’ll always do our best to help, the VPN block can’t be removed or overridden by our Support Team.