How does ‘private relay’ interface with ‘DNS’ and ‘VPN’ and ‘private’ ?

Hello RH43,

Can you let us know more about your question? If you would like information on how iCloud Private Relay works, and helps protect your privacy, the link you came from has some great information: About iCloud Private Relay

How Private Relay works

Normally when you browse the web, information contained in your web traffic, such as your DNS records and IP address, can be seen by your network provider and the websites you visit. This information could be used to determine your identity and build a profile of your location and browsing history over time. iCloud Private Relay is designed to protect your privacy by ensuring that when you browse the web in Safari, no single party—not even Apple—can see both who you are and what sites you're visiting.

When Private Relay is enabled, your requests are sent through two separate, secure internet relays. Your IP address is visible to your network provider and to the first relay, which is operated by Apple. Your DNS records are encrypted, so neither party can see the address of the website you’re trying to visit. The second relay, which is operated by a third-party content provider, generates a temporary IP address, decrypts the name of the website you requested and connects you to the site. All of this is done using the latest internet standards to maintain a high-performance browsing experience while protecting your privacy.

If you want to set up iCloud Private Relay on all your devices, please check out this link that explains how to do that: Set up iCloud Private Relay on all your devices

Set up iCloud Private Relay on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Your device must have iOS 15, iPadOS 15, or later.

1. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.

2. Tap Private Relay, then turn on Private Relay.

iCloud Private Relay automatically protects you on all networks you join, but you can turn it off for any Wi-Fi network or cellular plan (SIM).

If you disable iCloud Private Relay for a network, it’s disabled on all your devices with Private Relay turned on.

3. To change your location settings, tap IP Address Location.

Take care!

iCloud Private relay is not a VPN. It only protects Safari and sometimes other apps. There is no guarantee that any app other than Safari will use iCloud Private relay. Most of them do, but not all.