Does LinkedIn detect your Chrome Extension?
LinkedIn ships a built-in list of extension fingerprints in its own frontend code. If it matches, LinkedIn knows exactly what you have installed.
We didn't ask the vendors — we downloaded and read the code of 100+ of these tools. Every verdict traces to LinkedIn's own source. See how we test →
Popular LinkedIn automation tools — all detected
See full statsThe LinkedIn outreach & automation extensions people compare to Linked Helper — every one is on LinkedIn's detection list. Click to inspect.
What the AED list is — and why it matters
AED — Active Extension Detection — is a hardcoded roster of extension IDs buried in LinkedIn's own page code. On every visit LinkedIn quietly checks whether each one is installed, so landing on this list means your account is flagged before you click anything. This checker queries that exact list (6,153 entries in the Jun 2026 snapshot).
38 extensions in 2017, 6,153 by mid-2026 — someone maintains this list as their day job.
Installed = visible
On every page load LinkedIn fetches chrome-extension://<id>/<file> for each ID on the list. A successful response flags your account — before you click anything.
Not on the list ≠ safe
A second scanner needs no list at all — it catches any extension that injects into the page. This checker covers the list; it can't clear you of the rest. Two HIGH-risk tools we tore down — Expandi and HeyReach — aren't on the list at all, yet both upload your session. See the teardowns →
Chromium only
The scan fires in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc and Opera — gated by a literal userAgent check inside LinkedIn's bundle.
Being on the list is only half the question
The other half: where does your session go? “Reads your cookies” and “uploads your login” are completely different risk levels. Two architectures dominate the market — and the safer-looking one isn't always the one with the nicer marketing.
Stays on your machine — local scrape
The extension reads data inside your own browser and uploads only the results — your LinkedIn login never leaves. Your IP and device stay consistent. (The cleanest example we found doesn't even ask for cookie access.)
Leaves for a vendor's cloud — cookie-bridge
The extension copies your LinkedIn session itself to the vendor's servers, which then act as you from their own datacenter IP — one login live on two IPs at once. This is the highest-risk design, and we found it, in code, in 21 of the tools we read.
How to tell which one you're using? Follow where the cookie's value actually goes. That's exactly what we did — see how we test →
Watch where your session actually goes
The same data-flow maps we publish in every teardown — reconstructed from each tool's code. Hover to pause, or follow the full teardown link to open the audit.
Where your session and data actually go, reconstructed from Waalaxy Alien Copilot's code. Waalaxy Alien Copilot keeps your session in your browser — it calls LinkedIn's Voyager API using your own csrf token, and only uploads results.
red = your session/data leaving your machine · blue/green = stays local or only results leave · dashed = LinkedIn's own detection probes
Runs locally — session stays in your browser · not on the AED list (still detectable)
Red nodes = your LinkedIn session or data leaving for a vendor's cloud. Grey = it stays in your browser.
You're not the only one worried
Across 9 markets, about 12,050 people a month search whether LinkedIn will restrict, limit or ban them — steady, high demand for the past three years. Most never check the one thing they can: their own extension.
Not a fad — a constant, high-volume concern, quarter after quarter.
- “linkedin account restricted”2,140/mo
- “linkedin identity verification”1,180/mo
- “linkedin verify identity”1,180/mo
- “linkedin connection limit”1,020/mo
- “why is my linkedin account restricted”770/mo
- “linkedin weekly invitation limit”620/mo
- “linkedin restricted account”500/mo
- “linkedin temporarily restricted”400/mo
Source: DataForSEO — Google Ads monthly search volume · 2023-07 — 2026-06 · theme: LinkedIn restrictions, limits & account safety.
A red verdict isn't a ban — it's points on a scorecard
LinkedIn doesn't flip a switch. It adds up signals: a known extension installed, traces it leaves in the page, a mismatched device fingerprint, and how you behave. Each adds points toward a restriction — which is why no “safe daily limit” can rescue a tool with a detectable architecture. The honest goal isn't a magically undetectable tool; it's the smallest possible surface.
We read their code. Here's what we found.
129 LinkedIn tools, torn down line by line — where your session goes, and whether LinkedIn already detects them.
Uploads your LinkedIn session to its cloud · on LinkedIn's detection list
Uploads your LinkedIn session to its cloud · not on the AED list (still detectable)
Uploads your LinkedIn session to its cloud · not on the AED list (still detectable)
Uploads your LinkedIn session to its cloud · on LinkedIn's detection list
Uploads your LinkedIn session to its cloud · not on the AED list (still detectable)
Uploads your LinkedIn session to its cloud · not on the AED list (still detectable)
Not every risky tool is on LinkedIn's list — Expandi and HeyReach aren't, yet both upload your session. “Not listed” ≠ safe.
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The one tool we tore down that isn't a browser extension at all — so it leaves LinkedIn the smallest surface to detect.