Group links

Starting with Shadow client v1.15.0, one can access a Shadow group via a group link. The group link is just an HTTPS link. Despite its being tied to our domain, it is not intended to bring the Shadow client anywhere on our website or other servers. Instead, it is used by the Shadow client to parse information encoded in the link itself (even without resolving it into an IP address) – which subsequently allows it to access the group in question. During this process, the Shadow client does not hit our servers at all (and hence your IP address is not revealed to us).

The only case when you would hit our website using the group link is when you open it with a web browser – the obvious scenario for that, of course, being when you do not have a Shadow client installed (and the web page where you land will tell you exactly that). If you have Shadow installed, then Android is instructed to open group links with Shadow, not with your web browser.