If ten years ago virtual private networks were the lot of system administrators and paranoids, today they have become an urgent necessity. Regardless of what a smartphone user wants to do—look for a job on LinkedIn, watch Netflix, or read about politics—one of the free VPNs on Android will come in handy.
Another thing is that free VPNs are very conditionally free. Creators of virtual private networks for public use must somehow maintain their servers. Therefore, any service with varying degrees of intrusiveness will force the user to buy a subscription. You don’t need to blame him for this, but you should think about what you are willing to sacrifice for the sake of free stuff.
Minus privacy: Hola
Perhaps the most scandalous example of how users who are greedy for free things are exploited. Hola VPN is a great app for Android that provides access to a virtual private network. Using it, you can send traffic from various popular Android applications through a VPN.
The application allows you to tunnel traffic through a huge number of countries, there are no ads, the service works very quickly (usually a VPN slows down the connection somewhat), and no one even asks you to buy a Premium subscription. Perhaps, at first glance, this is the best free VPN for Android.
Hola VPN However, for all this splendor, you enter into a tacit agreement with the service that the traffic of other service clients - and those who pay - will be passed through your device. You automatically become a member of the P2P network. The developers hid this fact until it was scandalously revealed by researchers. However, the service is justified by the fact that it uses your device only in background and passes through you no more than 6 MB per day. But do you want free and fast? anonymous surfing It's up to you to tunnel different scammers through yourself.
Minus speed: ZenMate
An excellent extension for Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari browsers, which allows you to bypass blocking of all kinds, has a version as an Android application. ZenMate VPN after a simple registration procedure, it will give you access to a VPN, which can be turned on at any time with one click.
The app can redirect traffic from your device through the USA, Romania, Hong Kong or Germany. It doesn't limit in any way the traffic you can pass through the tunnel, doesn't bother you with ads, and is very easy to set up - in fact, with the click of one big button.
ZenMate VPN However, when using free version The speed of the service will be significantly reduced. Users with a wide channel may feel uncomfortable. Thus, the service hints at purchasing a paid subscription, which will increase the connection speed and expand the list of countries through which traffic can be tunneled. If connection speed is not critical for you, the application, of course, will be great. But watching movies in 1080p will have to be sacrificed.
Minus traffic: TunnelBear
Tunnel Bear VPN- creative and convenient application A VPN for Android that can explain even a novice user how virtual private networks work. In addition to a funny animation showing how a growling bear “breaks through” a tunnel from one country to another, the application offers traffic redirection through 18 countries in Europe, Asia and America, decent speeds that even allow you to watch movies, and a complete absence of advertising.
Tunnel Bear VPN However, if you use the service for free, the total amount of traffic you can pass through the VPN is limited to 500 MB per month. You can additionally bargain for another gigabyte by talking about the application on Twitter. Thus, only one and a half gigabytes per month. You won’t watch much movies - buy a paid subscription or wait until next month.
Traffic limitation is present not only in TunnelBear, but in other services, for example Rocket VPN or VPN Master.
Minus time: Hideman VPN
Another convenient VPN service for Android enables the user to receive time-based services. Application Hideman VPN supports a lot of specific settings and provides an extensive list of servers for tunneling in the countries of the former USSR, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and the Netherlands. And in each country there are several. And in addition to this, on each server you can choose a specific IP. And plus, all your transmitted data will be protected by 256-bit encryption.
Hideman VPN However, this “armored” security will have to be paid for in time. The application can be used for free for only 7 hours per week. If you need more, then welcome to a paid subscription! There is also a free version of the application, Hideman Free, full of advertising.
Minus place: VPN Proxy Master
A way to offset service costs free users, which is used by many VPNs on Android - affiliate program for installing applications. As an example, here is a great application: VPN Proxy Master. It offers approximately 30 servers in the US, Canada, UK, France, Netherlands and Singapore. One of the main bonuses of the application is that you can not encrypt all traffic, but configure which specific applications on your Android smartphone the VPN will be used for.
VPN Proxy Master However, here, too, there is the already mentioned traffic quota of 500 MB, like TunnelBear. It can be expanded by liking the application on social networks, sharing it with friends, or installing applications from the developer’s partners. Some of them are really useful (for example, Speedtest is an indispensable thing for those who use VPN), others have already set the teeth on edge with their constant flashing in advertising, for example, the same UC Browser or Yandex.Taxi. And they don’t give much traffic for an extra application that takes up space in the phone’s memory: from 50 MB. Well, advertising, where would we be without it?
Minus variety: Hotspot Shield
Hotspot Shield- another application from the VPN series on Android. It offers to tunnel traffic through 10 different countries and also allows you to configure the use of VPN only for certain applications. Traffic in the application is not limited: it hurts in a different way.
Hotspot Shield Free VPN One of the most important functions for a VPN - selecting the country through which traffic will pass - is only available in the premium version. That is, when you use it for free, the application itself randomly selects a server for tunneling for you, and after leaving Russia, you end up back in Russia (why did you install a VPN?) In addition, the application is thoroughly filled with advertising.
The answer to this strange solution lies in the very name of the application: “shield” for WiFi points. If you are not going to bypass blocks, but just want to protect your data when connecting to WiFi in public places, then this application is for you.
Minus friends: VyprVPN
One of the most advanced VPN services on Android - VyprVPN. A huge number of servers around the world, data encryption using OpenVPN protocols, the proprietary protocol of the application itself (Chameleon), as well as 256-bit encryption. The transmitted data is protected to the maximum and even more. You can configure VPN for individual applications on Android, add trusted networks, and choose when to turn on VPN.
VyprVPN Every month the application, again, gives up to 500 MB for free. However, in order to increase your quota, you are encouraged to invite your friends to the application - a sort of network marketing in the world of virtual private networks. Particularly annoying users can achieve up to 2 GB monthly. The only question is, is it worth it?
Minus the nerves: Rocket VPN
VPN app for Android that can reach the dead. Many of the apps described show ads, but Rocket VPN does this with particular sophistication. Actually, this is a good application - simple, without unnecessary settings, with decent speed, a built-in browser, running VPN for individual applications and tunneling traffic through the Czech Republic, Holland, Sweden, UK, USA, Japan and Singapore. But there is one thing.
Rocket VPN Ads in the free version pop up every 20 seconds. With such a frequency of scrolling through advertisements, the user simply has no time to surf. Four different videos are shown per minute. There is also a notorious traffic quota of 500 MB, and it cannot be expanded by anything other than purchasing a paid subscription. By the way, the paid version also removes advertising.
Cheetah Mobile is China's leading mobile software development company and one of the popular providers mobile internet, who managed to become famous throughout Google Play with an abundance of programs whose names often contain the abbreviation “CM” and today’s candidate in the form of an application for Android is no exception to general rules and provides a convenient platform for comfortable use of VPN technology without the need for preliminary configuration.
Free app CM Security VPN is free.
VPN instantly stands out from the competition thanks to its beautiful interface and abundance interesting features. For daily login to the program, a certain number of points are awarded, which, thank God, are used not for connecting to servers, but for donating to the development of new functions that will be added in subsequent updates of the program. Clicking on the icon with with a magic wand, you can see the functions that the developers are going to implement, but they will only do this when the indicator is 100%. The list of servers itself pleased with their varied locations, but the main “trick” for which it is definitely worth installing this program- this is the absence of any restrictions on Bittorrent and P2P networks.
This means that absolutely any user can download anything and as much as they want from torrents, without fear of getting banned from the server. After a successful connection, a special widget appears in the notification panel, which allows you to instantly disconnect from the server, without having to open the main program. Also, the developers did not forget to build in a speed and security test, so testing the real speed will be much easier. The program also has a built-in function for selecting the optimal server based on your current location, but manual selection is also available without restrictions. The last feature worthy of attention is auto-connection. The program will monitor the applications that you launch and if among them there is one that has been added to a special list, it will automatically connect to the VPN servers.
This way, if you use some game or program that blocks users by location, you won’t have to manually launch the VPN every time.
In the settings, you can enable the permanent display of the widget in the notification panel, and also configure auto-connection. Let's summarize: android app has already defeated most competitors only by allowing the use of P2P technologies.
For some reason, I have repeatedly heard the opinion that there are no normal free VPN services, they say, how can you keep servers and at the same time earn nothing. Actually this is not true. Anyone free service There is also a paid version and many people use them. This allows developers to pay for servers and at the same time make good money.
For a simple user, the functionality and free programs. Yes, the number of countries available to choose from, whose IP addresses can be used, or monthly traffic will be limited, but this will be enough to provide security against many forms of attacks or bypass site blocks.
Many people prefer to pay in order not to have any restrictions, and thanks to this, developers develop and support free versions. And it is in this article that we will talk about them.
I want to point out something. For speed testing I used the Speedtest app. You should understand that the countries with servers are different for the services presented in the review, so for each I indicated exactly where my traffic was redirected.
Tunnelbear VPN
To work with Tunnelbear you need to create account. After registration you will receive 500 MB for a month for free. You can also tweet information about the service and get another 1GB of data. That is, every month 1.5 GB is free.
The choice of country is carried out in a very funny way. On the map, you click on the desired region, after which the bear “breaks” the path to the country with the server and your traffic begins to pass through it. All this happens with beautiful animation and is accompanied by the roar of the beast. In general, the developers took a really creative approach to creating the application.
Available countries: USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Ireland, UK, Netherlands, Norway, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
With Tunnelbear's VPN enabled, I accessed the Netflix website normally, and IP address detection services showed that I was in Canada. As for the tests: ping - 232 ms, incoming traffic speed - 3.52 Mbit/s, and outgoing traffic - 13.26 Mbit/s. This is a normal indicator, you can even watch movies online quite comfortably.
Tunnelbear for Android has no settings as such. You can only turn off the bear's growl. Overall, this is an easy-to-use, popular VPN for Android that is a pleasure to use.
TunnelBear VPN on Google Play
ZenMate Security & Privacy VPN
I've been using it for over a year now Zenmate extension for your loved one Firefox browser. The same is true for Chrome, Opera, and Safari. There are a lot of fans of such solutions: you must agree, it is much more convenient to turn on VPN at the right time directly from the browser in a couple of mouse clicks instead of using separate program. And I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Zenmate also has a version for mobile devices.
To use the program you will have to create an account. The countries available in the free version are Romania, Germany, Hong Kong or the USA. At the same time, the amount of traffic passing through Zenmate is not limited, but the speed is reduced (although tests have shown that it is already decent). In the paid version, the speed is higher and the number of countries is greater.
Activation of protection is done by pressing the huge button in the center. There are also few settings and they are of little interest. Really useful, like increased protection against malware, is only available in the paid version (although I personally have not tested it).
Speedtest showed excellent results: ping - 280 ms, receiving - 14.41 Mbit/s, transmission - 14.56 Mbit/s. I connected to the American server without any problems and went to Netflix, everything worked perfectly.
Zenmate is good: unlimited traffic, most major servers are available for free, high speed of receiving and transmitting data. I definitely recommend it.
ZenMate Security & Privacy VPN on Google Play
Hideninja. But no, now Supernet
When trying to use VPN from Hideninja, a banner appeared informing that the application is now only available with a premium account, and the free version has been replaced by a new Supernet application.
Let's not dwell on it for long. Only 2 countries are available: the USA and the UK, no settings and only an unobtrusive offer to support the project by installing some sponsored applications.
I never connected to the American server; English worked more or less. According to the tests, a good result: ping - 113 ms, receiving - 2.36 Mbit/s, transmission - 5.99 Mbit/s. I went to Netflix and everything worked. Sites like MyIP determined that I was in the UK.
Obviously not the most interesting option in our selection, let's move on.
Supernet: VPN Free Fast, Proxy on Google Play
A very cool VPN for Android with a considerable number of available servers in different countries and cities. The free version is available in: Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and Ukraine. In many of these countries, Hideman has several servers. In addition, after connecting to the server, you can also select an available IP address.
By purchasing a monthly or annual subscription, the list of servers will expand significantly. The time limit will also disappear. The free version offers 7 hours per week and you can get more by installing partner apps or watching ads.
Hideman has a fairly extensive list of options, I recommend you take a look there too. Under each setting there is a description explaining what it does.
I connected to the Canadian server and ran Speedtest: ping - 248 ms, incoming traffic - 3.68 Mbps, outgoing - 2.14 Mbps. When I used Dutch, I got a ping of 76 ms, a receiving speed of 10.94 Mbit/s, and a transmitting speed of 10.08 Mbit/s.
Hideman is a good service that offers high-quality VPN services and encrypts data transmitted over the network using 256-bit encryption! Definitely one of the best of its kind. Highly recommend.
Hideman VPN on Google Play
Rocket VPN – Free Proxy Shield
Developers of this service are Liquidum. By the way, we reviewed their cool apps: and . Yes, and Rocket VPN is also quite good.
On home page you can select the server. Rocket has them in the following countries: Czech Republic, Holland, Sweden, Great Britain, USA, Japan and Singapore.
Every month you have access to free 500 MB of traffic, there are no other restrictions. There are also no settings. But there are advertisements that open every 20 seconds. Although how long will you use that application? When I went in, I turned it on, and when I needed it, I turned it off. In general, advertising in this application doesn't bother me.
I tested the American Rocket VPN server, the results are as follows: ping - 245 ms, receive - 2.95 Mbps, transmit - 4.56 Mbps.
If it weren’t for such a strict restriction on free traffic, then there would be no complaints about Rocket VPN at all. And so we just move on.
Rocket VPN – Free Proxy Shield on Google Play
In many ways, a great service, but with one significant drawback - the country selection only works in the premium version. But if you need a VPN just to protect yourself when connecting to unknown access points, then best option you won't find it.
You can also use Hotspot Shield to activate protection when running certain applications. Traffic is not limited, there are simple settings. I did not test the speed, since it was not much different from that without using a VPN (after all, the server is located in my country). Advertising is present, and you can enable Hotspot Shield directly from the notification shade. Really convenient.
It’s a pity, of course, that you can’t use servers in other countries and here the advertising is already slightly annoying, but there are many other positive aspects. As I said, if you are interested in a VPN service primarily for protection, then you should take a look at Hotspot Shield VPN.
Hotspot Shield VPN on Google Play
A very cool solution with 500 MB of monthly traffic, which can be expanded by installing partner applications. There are about 30 servers in Canada, USA, UK, France, Singapore and the Netherlands. If you want to purchase premium, you will get about 15 more servers marked “Turbo” (if I understand correctly, their connection speed is higher).
In the settings, you can choose for which applications you need to enable VPN and for which not, you can display a widget that will show how much traffic each application uses. The curtain also displays information about the speed of incoming and outgoing traffic.
For the test I used an American VPN. Speedtest showed this interesting result: ping – 293 ms, receiving speed – 4.52 Mbit/s, transfer speed – 28 Mbit/s.
To be honest, for the first time while testing free VPNs, I even wanted to purchase a paid subscription. The VPN Master premium account is relatively cheap, the VPN is quite fast, the service encrypts data using OpenVPN protocols, there are many servers and the functionality itself is very pleasing.
In the free version, only 500 MB of available traffic is disappointing, and it can not be increased as significantly as, for example, with Tunnelbear. But still the service is decent, I definitely recommend it.
VPN Master (Free Unblock Proxy) on Google Play
SuperVPN Free VPN Client
The free version of SuperVPN is full of ads, but it works well. You can continuously use the application for 20 days after the first launch, and after this period, for 60 minutes each session.
SuperVPN servers are located in France, Canada, the USA and Germany, with Japan and England available in the premium version. Apart from the VPN on/off button and selecting the server country, there is essentially nothing: no settings, no other options.
Having tested the connection speed in Speedtest, we can say that according to this indicator, SuperVPN turned out to be a very good VPN service on Android. The results are below.
To summarize, we can say that if you are not put off by the abundance of advertising in the application, then SuperVPN is quite possible to use.
SuperVPN Free VPN Client on Google Play
Hola Free VPN
Hola doesn't work quite normally. On the main screen, you select one of the popular applications or applications installed on your device, go to it, select the server country and then the VPN will be activated for it.
But the coolest thing is that there is simply a huge number of countries available here, the traffic is not limited, there are no advertisements, no one asks to buy premium and it all works quickly and is absolutely free!
Unfortunately, I was not able to test the speed in Speedtest; for some reason the VPN did not work in this application. But I was able to open Netflix and similar foreign sites without problems, and online services By definition, the IP showed that I am in the USA.
Here it seems to be the first truly completely free VPN on Android: without any restrictions, without advertising, without eternal offers to install a paid version. The desktop free version of Hola has traffic restrictions, and those who want to get rid of them can do so paid subscription. But on Android there are no restrictions at all. Yes, you can download Hola Premium on Google Play, but at first I still didn’t understand what the difference was from the free version.
But it turned out that not everything is so simple. Later, I decided to google and found out the real reason why Hola is free. The fact is that experts discovered that Hola sells user traffic. This was followed by an official statement from the developers, in which they justified themselves, citing the fact that they are not the only ones making money from this. According to them, they pass traffic through user devices in the background only when those devices are not in use. 6 MB per day is like 15 seconds of playing a video on YouTube. And if this is too much for you to pay for a completely free unlimited service, then switch to a paid account.
As a result, the situation is ambiguous. It is unknown to which clients Hola sells our traffic, although they claim that their moderation is extremely strict and that clients are only trusted. But, on the other hand, a huge number of servers, lack of advertising and unlimited traffic very captivating. Therefore, I still recommend the Hola service and left its application on my smartphone for now.
Hola Free VPN on Google Play
VyprVPN Free Secure VPN
To use VyprVPN, you need to create an account. After this, you will receive a link by email, by clicking on which you will activate your account. After that, log in to the application and you can start using it.
Every month you are given 500 MB for free, which is quite low. But this can be fixed by inviting friends, thereby increasing this limit to 2 GB. In all other respects, this is one of the most advanced VPN services. There are a huge number of servers in dozens of countries around the world, the application encrypts data using OpenVPN and personally developed Chameleon protocols, and also encrypts it using 256-bit encryption. Experienced users will love these features and the many other options available.
The main screen displays the country of the server being used, a graph of the current speed and logs. You can navigate between these three tabs using swipes. You can also configure VPN for individual applications, add “trusted” networks, and choose when to turn on the VPN.
Speed testing showed very good result. For this I used an American server. Netflix also worked without problems.
VyprVPN is a decent app that I would happily use in a paid version. I definitely recommend trying it.
VyprVPN Free Secure VPN on Google Play
SurfEasy VPN: Proxy Server
A very simple VPN service for Android smartphones and tablets. However, to use it you need to create an account. Available countries include Australia, Brazil, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Canada, Netherlands, USA, Norway, Singapore, France and Japan.
Every month you have access to free 500 MB of traffic, which can be increased by inviting friends, installing affiliate applications, etc. And there is no advertising itself. There are also no settings; below it shows how many megabytes you have used.
In Speedtest, the indicators are as follows: ping - 235 ms, receive - 3.31 Mbps, and transmit - 20.20 Mbps. I can’t say anything bad about SurfEasy, but I won’t recommend it either.
A VPN is a tool that every web surfer needs. When you are connected directly, requests go directly to the provider's server, and from there to the network. If you use a VPN for Android, the request goes to the VPN provider's server, where it is encrypted, and only then sent to the network. That is, if you use good service, all data is securely hidden.
FAQ about VPN services for Android
Are there VPNs specifically designed for Android?
Most VPN services are available for installation on PCs, tablets and mobile phones.Does VPN for Android protect devices connected to my phone or tablet?
Most paid VPN services provide protection for multiple connected devices. You can read more about this in the characteristics of a specific VPN service.When installing a VPN service on a mobile phone, you are asked for an access code. What it is?
The passcode is the PIN code you use to unlock mobile phone. The provider does not provide an access code.Recently, a lot of VPN applications have appeared on Google Play. And it’s not surprising - given the current situation on the Internet. First one site will fall victim to Roskomnadzor, then another. Recently, WhatsApp was blocked in Brazil, and there not only the popularity of its competitors jumped, but also interest in various VPN services grew. So we decided to look at what services Google Play generally has related to bypassing blocking and changing jurisdictions.
Introduction
On Google Play, all the applications that we will consider are marked as free, but this should not be misleading - in practice, either a “free” VPN is given for a certain period, or its functionality is somehow limited (for example, the ability to connect only to specific ports). However, often this is quite enough for users who only need to “bypass site blocking”.
Let's take a look at the review criteria. We will compare the following characteristics:
- ease of use (everything is trivial here - how many actions do you need to perform to connect to the VPN);
- supported encryption algorithms;
- principle of operation;
- connection speed and stability;
- Payment Methods;
- traffic exit points.
This service provides VPN with exit points in France, Canada, USA, Germany, Japan and England (the last two are paid only). It's very easy to use: install the application, press the big round button... that's it! You don't even need to register. The trial period is 20 days, then continuous access will be only for an hour with the possibility of reconnection. It is unknown who provides this VPN - the application does not have a website. There are also no user agreements.
You can select your country and no other advanced settings are offered. For ordinary users, of course, this is not really necessary - it is important for them that the VPN just works, without any dancing with a tambourine. However, it was possible to provide at least the ability to select a port.
Inside, this is the most ordinary StrongSwan. Profile data is generated on the server side based on device information (such as Android ID and IMSI) - but it is transmitted unhashed, which is fraught with consequences.
There are practically no exit point addresses on any blacklist - the exception is an address in Germany included in one of the spam lists. The connection speed is surprisingly very decent - however, perhaps this is due to the trial period and after its end the speed will drop to a minimum. The cost of a month of VPN is $5. Payment methods include Google Wallet and PayPal.
In general, a VPN is suitable for bypassing simple blocks. You should not use it to register anywhere, because it is not known who owns the VPN servers. The abundance of advertising in the free version is annoying - but that’s why it’s free, and you’ll only see ads when you connect to the server. If you really want, you can extend the trial period indefinitely - to do this, just tinker with the disassembled bytecode so that instead of system identifiers, the application takes them from somewhere in a file. However, given the availability of alternatives, this makes little sense.
TouchVPN
TouchVPN provides VPN access through the following countries:
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