Most people think VPNs are only for corporate and home networks. But the truth is VPNs are equally essential for your Android phones as well because hackers can steal your personal information if they hack into your phone. That’s definitely the last thing you’d want!
Before going on to the best free VPNs for your Android phone, let’s briefly see what a VPN is in the first place.
A virtual public network, or VPN in short, connects your device to the Internet over a secure connection. When you browse through this secure connection, none of your personal details including your IP address will be visible to anyone. In turn this means, all your online activities will remain anonymous and it will be really hard for anyone to steal your personal data.
As a bonus, you also get to by-pass geo-restrictions, access torrent files and stay away from online spies.
Now that you know what a VPN is, let’s jump into some of the best free VPN services available for Android devices today.
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is one of the most trusted names in the world of VPNs and for good reason too. It is fast, super safe, comes with 256-bit SSL encryption and unlimited bandwidth and speed. With servers located in more than 100 destinations around the world, this VPN service gives you a great experience every time.
To top it, ExpressVPN maintains no log whatsoever and your activities are mixed with other users. This way, singling out the activities of a particular user is close to impossible.
What makes it most suitable for Android phones over other devices is its well-developed mobile app that works across a variety of installations, ranging from Oreo all the way back to Jelly Bean. In addition, you can connect on demand, so this app doesn’t run in the background and suck your battery life.
NordVPN
One of the first things you’ll see about NordVPN is its high rating in Google Play. This app has a rating of 4.3, which is one of the highest for VPN apps.
There are a ton of reasons for such a high rating. First off, it gives access to more than 5000 servers located across 62 countries, and you can connect to any of these servers with a single tap. In most cases, connection is fast and makes for a pleasant browsing experience.
A unique aspect about this VPN service is its extra-secure double VPN feature. With this feature, your traffic is routed through two VPN servers instead of one, to give double encryption for your data.
The bonus is its ad-blocker feature that blocks all ads, so you can use the Internet more freely without worrying about data usage.
CyberGhost
CyberGhost is one of the more recent entrants to the world of VPNs. The biggest selling point is the location of its operations, which is in the city of Bucharest in Romania. This simply means, you will not be in the prying eyes of the members of Five-, Nine- and 14 eyes alliances.
Besides the location advantage, CyberGhost offers excellent features too. It hides your IP address, encrypts your Internet activity, gives you anonymity on the Internet and keeps you secure.
To top it, this service supports all major protocols such as L2TP, IPSec and OpenVPN. AES-256 bit encryption keeps you secure as well.
One downside of this service is its sporadic presence in Asia. Though its network spans across 59 countries, it only has a handful of servers in Asia, with all of it located in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong alone.
TunnelBear
Though the logo might look like a character out of a cartoon show, TunnelBear is in fact, one of the best free VPN for Android devices today.
The best part about this service is the app itself. It is fun to use and is full of cute bears and graphics. And the VPN is great too. It comes with 256-bit OpenVPN encryption that provides a stable connection and decent speeds.
In the free version, you are restricted to about 500MB of data, which is not really the most ideal. But the good news is their paid plan is one of the cheapest, at just $5 a month.
Windscribe
Windscribe is a secure VPN service that comes with a generous data cap of 10GB every month. Another highlight of this service is its top-notch privacy policy that reflects the commitment of the company to protect your online privacy.
As with many other VPN services, it stores no connection logs, IP stamps or even visited sites. However, it does store your username and the amount of data transmitted. But this is also erased three minutes after your session ends.
It comes with a built-in ad blocker and firewall as well.
To conclude, there is a growing increase in threats to online privacy and the recent repeal of net neutrality complicates Internet access and undermines certain liberties that we tend to expect from the Internet. While VPN is not the solution for all these problems, it is nevertheless a fantastic option for online privacy, safety and security.
So, try one of these today and let us know which of these is your favorite!
