You might be surprised to hear this, but free VPNs aren’t limited to computers. If you own an Android device, you can also use them to improve your privacy and security. A free VPN can help you accomplish a lot, like increasing your safety when using public Wi-Fi or bypassing geo-restrictions on most of your favorite streaming services.
However, the abundance of free VPNs in the Google Play Store makes it challenging to choose a reliable one. The question then becomes, how can you tell which ones are worthwhile? I’ve tested a ton of VPNs for Windows and Android, and I’ve compiled a list of the top free VPNs for Android that you’ll be happy with. View our preferred options down below.
For unlimited use, ProtonVPN is the best.
If you’re only concerned about protecting a single device, ProtonVPN is a great pick. You won’t have access to the 10-gigabit-per-second servers that paying customers do with this free service; instead, you’ll get what the company calls “medium speeds.” You won’t find any servers that support Netflix streaming, but the speeds are still acceptable. It’s another paid perk, but other streaming services aren’t as hostile to VPNs as Netflix is.
You’ll need to sign up for ProtonVPN even when the service is free, but it offers excellent privacy protections and no data caps. You get three different country options with ProtonVPN Free.
The Ultimate Multi-Device Security Solution—Windscribe Pro
For those who use Android, here’s another good option. You will not have access to unlimited data like with ProtonVPN. Alternatively, you can enjoy 10GB of monthly browsing—no device limits, though, and ten different countries to choose from for your connection.
For Windscribe’s free service to work, you must provide a verified email address. While Windscribe’s privacy policy is commendable, it monitors your bandwidth consumption to enforce those free limitations.
Hide. me – Best for no sign-up usage.
Hide. It has pretty good speeds, and like Windscribe, you’re limited to 10GB per month. Hide. me offers five connection choices, including two U.S. locations (east and west), Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. Hide. I doesn’t require an account for signing up, making it seamless and easy to use.
Speedify 10 – Best for leveraging both cellular and Wi-Fi
It is a solid VPN choice for anyone using the VPN on a phone. Speedify’s specialty is a seamless VPN transition between Wi-Fi and cellular. Typically, when you go between Wi-Fi and cellular, the connection drops and restarts, but with Speedify, it just keeps on going, which is nice. It also harnesses your Wi-Fi and cellular together to try and boost connection speeds.
Speeds are pretty good, with Speedify staying within the top 15 for speeds overall. The downside of this free offering is that you only get 2GB of data usage per month. That’s not much, which is why this is our last suggestion. But if you need something simple for basic web browsing, Speedify is well worth a look.
What to look for in a free VPN for Android
This will follow a lot of the advice we’ve already given for free stuff regarding Android. Google is doing a better job than ever at keeping harmful apps out of the Play Store, but there is still a chance of some random VPN app having malicious intent. Another problem is that even if the app is OK, the service itself may be up to no good.
For those reasons, we always advise using a well-known VPN service provider to reduce your chances of running into security issues.
Next, you want a free app that is truly free. Not some 7- or 30-day trial that will automatically start charging the card connected to your Play account after the trial period. It would help if you also read over the privacy policy to ensure there’s nothing you’ll have a problem with.
Finally, you want to ensure the VPN has data limits that suit your needs.
How we tested
Speeds were based on our tests for Windows using an Ethernet connection. The speeds will be very different on an Android device relying on Wi-Fi. Still, they give us an idea of how much slower the connection will be once the VPN is active. We also checked out the VPN’s privacy policy to ensure there’s nothing objectionable there, and we looked at the interface to see if it’s easy enough to understand how to use it.
