For some reason, I have often heard the opinion that there are no normal free VPN services, they say how you can keep the server and still not earn anything. This is actually not the case. Any free service has a paid version and many use it. This allows developers to pay for the server and at the same time make good money.
Functionality and free programs are quite enough for a simple user. Yes, the number of selectable countries whose IP addresses can be used or monthly traffic will be limited, but this will be enough to ensure security from many forms of attacks or bypass site blockings.
Many people prefer to pay 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 note something. For speed testing, I used speedtest app . You should understand that the services presented in the review have different countries with servers, so for each I pointed out exactly where my traffic was redirected.
I have been using the Zenmate extension for my favorite Firefox browser for over a year now. The same is for Chrome, and for Opera, and for Safari. There are a lot of fans of such solutions: you must agree that it is much more convenient to enable a VPN at the right time directly from the browser in a couple of mouse clicks instead of using a separate program. And I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that Zenmate is also a version for mobile devices .
To use the program you will have to create an account. Romania, Germany, Hong Kong or the USA are available from countries in the free version. At the same time, the amount of traffic passing through Zenmate is not limited, but the speed is cut (although tests have shown that it is already decent). In the paid version, both speed is higher and the number of countries is larger.
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 ones, such as increased protection against malware, are only available in the paid version (although I personally haven’t tested it).
Speedtest showed an excellent result: ping - 280 ms, receiving - 14.41 Mbit / s, transmission - 14.56 Mbit / s. I connected to the American server without any problems and logged on 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.
When trying to use a VPN from Hideninja, a banner appeared informing that the application is now available only with a premium account, and the new version has replaced the free version Supernet.
Let's not dwell on it for a long time. Only 2 countries are available: USA and UK, no settings, and only an unobtrusive offer to support the project by installing some kind of sponsorship applications.
I never connected to the American server, English worked more or less. According to tests, a good result: ping - 113 ms, receiving - 2.36 Mb / s, transmission - 5.99 Mb / s. I went to Netflix, everything worked. Sites like MyIP have determined that I am in the UK.
Obviously not the most interesting option in our selection, go further.
Very cool VPN for Android with a rather large number of available servers in different countries and cities. The free version includes: Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and Ukraine. Hideman has several servers in many of these countries. In addition, by 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 be lost. In the free version, 7 hours are available weekly and you can get additional ones by installing affiliate applications or watching ads.
Hideman has a fairly extensive list of options, I recommend that you also look there. Below each setting is a description explaining what it does.
I connected to a Canadian server and launched Speedtest: ping - 248 ms, incoming traffic - 3.68 Mb / s, outgoing - 2.14 Mb / s. When I used Dutch, I got ping - 76 ms, receive speed - 10.94 Mbit / s, and transmission - 10.08 Mbit / s.
Hideman is a solid 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.
The developers of this service are Liquidum. By the way, we looked at their cool applications: Hexlock and The cleaner. Yes andRocket VPN is also quite good.
On the main page you can select a server. At Rocket, they are located in the following countries: Czech Republic, Holland, Sweden, Great Britain, USA, Japan and Singapore.
Every month, free 500 MB of traffic is available to you, there are no other restrictions. There are also no settings. But there is an ad that opens every 20 seconds. Although how much will you use that application? I went in - turned it on, when necessary - turned it off. In general, advertising in this application is not annoying.
I tested the American Rocket VPN server, the results are as follows: ping - 245 ms, receiving - 2.95 Mbit / s, transmission - 4.56 Mbit / s.
If it weren’t for such a strict restriction on free traffic, then there would be no complaints about the Rocket VPN at all. And so just move on.
In many ways, a cool service, but with one significant drawback - the choice of the country only works in the premium version. But if you need a VPN just to protect yourself by connecting to unknown access points, then you will not find a better option.
A very cool solution with 500 MB of monthly traffic, which can be expanded by installing affiliate applications. There are about 30 servers in Canada, USA, UK, France, Singapore and the Netherlands. If you want to purchase a premium, you will get about 15 more servers marked " Turbo"(If I understood correctly, then their connection speed is higher).
In the settings, you can choose for which applications you want to enable a VPN, and for which not, you can display a widget that will show how much traffic each application uses. Also in the curtain displays information about the speed of incoming and outgoing traffic.
For the test, I used an American VPN. Speedtest showed such an interesting result: ping - 293 ms, receiving speed - 4.52 Mbit / s, transmission speed - 28 Mbit / s.
Honestly, for the first time during testing of free VPNs, I even wanted to purchase a paid subscription. Premium account VPN Master is relatively cheap, VPN is quite fast, the service encodes data using OpenVPN protocols, there are many servers and the functionality itself was very pleased.
In the free version, only 500 MB of available traffic upsets, and it can be increased not so significantly, as, for example, with Tunnelbear. But still, the service is decent, I definitely recommend it.
A very simple VPN service for smartphones and tablets on Android. True to use you need to create an account. Of the available countries there are Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, the USA, Norway, Singapore, France and Japan.
Each month, free 500 MB of traffic is available to you, which can be increased by inviting friends, installing affiliate applications, etc. And there is no advertising itself. There are also no settings, the bottom shows how many megabytes you used.
In Speedtest, the indicators are as follows: ping - 235 ms, receiving - 3.31 Mbit / s, and transmission - 20.20 Mbit / s. I can’t say anything bad about SurfEasy, but I won’t recommend it either.
VPN download for Android free. Total
Choosing the best free VPN service for Android has proven to be a daunting task. An unambiguous favorite in terms of features is VyprVPN, followed by VPN Master and Hideman. If you are interested in a huge number of countries with servers and unlimited traffic, then take a look at Hola, but remember that your device will be used as a P2P network node.
VPN or Virtual Private Network - A tool for a truly free and secure internet. It is a virtual private intermediary network between the end user and the World Wide Web. The technology allows you to access the network from a foreign IP address, which is required to access resources blocked in the home region. In addition, a VPN should be used in public Wi-Fi networks to anonymize and protect against the interception of transmitted data. VPN applications are the easiest way to evaluate all the advantages of the technology, about them under the cut.
Opera VPN - A client from the notorious Opera Software, created after the takeover of SurfEasy - one of the leaders in this field.
The appearance of the application is up to the mark: it looks modern, it works smoothly. I was pleased with the talisman - the Scandinavian warrior, which symbolizes the security of VPN networks and notifies about the state of the application.
Connection to a secure network is carried out in one click. By default, the nearest VPN server is used. The list of available regions is as follows: Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Singapore and the USA.
A separate section is devoted to Wi-Fi connection security. Developers recommend activating a VPN on public Wi-Fi networks to anonymize and prevent traffic interception.
An interesting feature of Opera VPN is the blocking of ad trackers that collect user network activity for advertising purposes.
The service is provided absolutely free of charge, without restrictions on the volume of traffic. Paid rates are not provided. Unobtrusive advertising is built into the application.
To test the service, we used the recommended VPN network located in the Netherlands.
Speed \u200b\u200bmeasurements were carried out using the Speedtest.net service in two stages. First of all, we tested the speed to the server closest to the VPN network, located in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. After that, we measured the connection speed with the server closest to the actual location.
Connection speed without VPN.
Much more interesting is testing in real conditions. Here Opera VPN shows itself extremely positively. Connecting to the network hardly affected the responsiveness of web pages and applications, however, from time to time the access speed drops, this manifests itself in noticeable delays. At the same time, through VPN it is possible to watch online video up to 1080p.
Hola is one of the most common VPN services. In addition to the Android application, plugins are available for various browsers.
The application interface is made in a modern flat style. Unlike other clients, a VPN connection is opened for a specific application. At the same time, other programs continue to transfer data directly.
In addition, the Hola client application is supplemented by a built-in browser that allows you to visit web pages with the desired online location without creating a system-level VPN connection.
The list of available regions is the widest among free VPN clients. Among them are the familiar Netherlands, Germany, the USA, and Angola, Indonesia, Italy, Estonia, and others.
The service is provided free of charge and without restrictions on the amount of data transmitted.
There is no banner advertising in the application, however, unlike other solutions, Hola works on the basis of a peer-to-peer network. Each connected smartphone is used to transmit traffic to other participants. This approach allows you to reduce the cost of maintaining the main VPN servers, due to the imposition of part of the load on users.
Connection speed was tested when connected to the Netherlands server. The VPN network shows excellent latency, especially when working with the server closest to the actual location.
When connecting to the network of other regions, the trend continues. Germany.
USA.
Hola is a service originally designed to work with services: hulu, Netflix, Pandora, Spotify. Thanks to this, streaming video is reproduced without problems, including 1080p. About web pages and say nothing, work as expected.
Cyberghost - VPN service with an unusual client application focused on the average user.
The main menu is divided into 4 banner sections with preset usage modes.
The first one is Secure Hotspot Wi-Ficreated to work on public networks. After its activation, the ability to intercept traffic, as well as malicious sites, is blocked. Change of the region is not provided, by default the most optimal one is used.
I liked the ability to automatically activate protection when connected to selected networks.
Safe streaming - a directory of services with regional binding.
To connect, use the appropriate online location.
Anonymous navigation - connect to a VPN network with options to ensure anonymity and security. The service can compress data on the fly to save traffic on mobile networks.
By default, the optimal VPN server is used, the list includes, among others, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Ukraine.
The last tab is a connection to a VPN with the ability to select a server manually, based on data on congestion.
Anonymization and protection from malicious sites can be activated separately.
The free tariff includes unlimited traffic and access to VPN servers in 30 regions. For 229 rubles a month, you can get a higher connection speed.
The application has the function of automatically selecting the appropriate server, during testing we used the recommended server located in Ukraine. The service shows a high speed connection.
The remaining regions show comparable numbers. Netherlands.
In real-time operation, the service shows itself positively. Web pages load quickly, however, there is a slight delay due to large ping. Video content is no problem.
Turbo VPN- An alternative service that provides access to a secure channel without traffic restrictions.
The application interface is made in Material Design, it looks relevant. There was a mascot, the developers used a hare.
There are no additional features besides the VPN itself. Servers are available for connection located in the following countries: Germany, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, United States, India and Singapore. By default, the most optimal server is selected.
Using the service is absolutely free, the amount of traffic is not limited. Paid rates are not provided. The application is filled with advertising, including full-screen.
In everyday mode, the sensations are similar: web pages load without significant delays. 1080p online videos work, rewinding delays are comparable to connecting directly.
TouchVPN - A free VPN service with no traffic restrictions from North Ghost.
The client’s style is reminiscent of MIUI. The interface is focused on one-click connectivity.
An unusual feature is the statistics of the current session. The application also draws graphics, but their information content and usefulness are a big question.
The list of available servers includes 19 countries, including: Germany, Russia, Hong Kong, Italy, Sweden and Japan.
Among the additional options, attention is drawn to the warning about connecting to an insecure network, which works when using public Wi-Fi networks.
The service is provided absolutely free of charge without restrictions on traffic and connection time. Paid rates are not provided. The client uses full-screen advertising.
The client considers the Russian server to be optimal, it does not make much sense. Therefore, for testing and speed measurements, a VPN server located in France was used. Connection speed pleasantly surprised! However, Speedtest.net is unstable on the network, and it was not possible to get the speed results to the server closest to the actual location. The change in the region does not change the situation.
The unstable operation of the service for measuring speed does not affect normal web surfing in any way, even heavy sites load normally. There were no problems with online clips.
Hideman Free VPN - a free version of a well-known service, not limited by the amount of data transmitted.
The application interface looks minimalistic, the main menu is the choice of the region to connect. The free version includes: Canada, Ukraine, Moldova, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria.
An interesting feature is support for the UDP protocol. It is faster than the usual TCP, although the latter is more reliable. Additional options include protection against malicious and spyware sites, and Anti-DPI to bypass government firewalls.
In the free version of the service, only 6 regions are available. There are no restrictions on the amount of data transferred. The client uses unobtrusive banner ads.
Along with other services, Hideman proved to be excellent in everyday mode. Internet surfing and streaming video is without noticeable problems.
About anonymity in public networks
Like any business, public VPNs should not be unprofitable. At the same time, colossal funds are being spent on maintaining and maintaining servers. If the service is provided for free, monetization mechanisms are unclear, hardly advertising built into clients is able to recoup a significant part of the costs. Therefore, it is recommended to trust really important data to paid services that value their reputation and anonymity of users. Free services are nothing more than a way to circumvent regional restrictions. That is, they are provided as is, without liability for users' private data. It is worth referring to the claims of developers about data security with skepticism.In 2015, there was a scandal with the aforementioned service, which caught selling traffic to third parties. In one of the episodes, users turned out to be involuntary participants in the botnet. After the scandal, the company changed the user agreement, and those who do not want to share device resources were offered a paid Hola Premium subscription.
Recently, a lot of VPN applications have appeared on Google Play. And no wonder - with the current situation on the Web. Either 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 interest in various VPN services grew. So we decided to see what services on Google Play are generally associated with bypassing locks 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 users who only need to "bypass the blocking of the site", this is enough.
Take a look at the review criteria. We compare the following characteristics:
- ease of use (everything is trite here - how many actions you need to complete to connect to the VPN);
- supported encryption algorithms;
- principle of operation;
- connection speed and stability;
- payment Methods;
- traffic exit points.
This service provides a VPN with access points in France, Canada, the USA, Germany, Japan and England (the last two - only for a fee). Using it is very easy: install the application, press the big round button ... that's it! No need to even register. The trial period is 20 days, then continuous access will be only for an hour with the possibility of reconnection. Who provides this VPN is unknown - the application does not have a website. There are also no user agreements.
You can select a country, and no further 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. Nevertheless, it was possible to provide at least the possibility of choosing a port.
Inside, this is the most common StrongSwan. Profile data is generated on the server side based on information about the device (such as Android ID and IMSI) - at the same time they are transmitted unhashed, which is fraught with consequences.
There are practically no blacklist addresses for exit points - the exception is the address in Germany listed in one of the spam lists. The connection speed is surprisingly very decent - however, it is possible that the matter is in the trial period and after its completion the speed will drop to a minimum. The cost of a month VPN is $ 5. Of the payment methods - Google Wallet and PayPal.
In general, VPN is suitable for bypassing simple locks. It is not worth using it for registration somewhere, because it is not known to whom the VPN servers belong. The abundance of advertising in the free version is annoying - but for that it is free, and you will only see ads when connected to the server. With great desire, you can extend the trial period to infinity - for this it is enough to shamanize over the disassembled byte code so that instead of system identifiers the application takes them from somewhere in the file. However, with the availability of alternatives, this makes almost no sense.
TouchVPN
TouchVPN provides VPN access through the following countries:
Continuation is available only to subscribers
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Using a VPN is one of the easiest and most reliable ways to hide your real location, protect your personal data and messages from theft on your smartphone, computer or tablet. At the same time, you do not need complex configuration steps and high costs. Sites and services will be sure that you are in the country where the VPN server is installed.
In this article we will tell you what a VPN is and how to set it up on an Android smartphone.
What is a VPN?
Virtual Private Network - Virtual Private Network. The term means the creation of a closed network within the public, for example, the Internet. Initially, the mechanism for creating virtual private (private) communication spaces was created to provide greater security. Entering the VPN server you find yourself inside the network space protected from external attacks.
The degree of trust in this technology can be judged because large corporations are actively using it to create their secure distributed networks. They trust confidential data with the reliable cryptography tools laid in its foundation.
When entering the virtual network, the user does not need to physically connect any additional wires. He simply enters his username and password on the VPN server. From this moment, all requests to Internet resources are made on behalf of the virtual ip-address issued at the entrance.
Some experts compare the work in a virtual private network with traffic along a tunnel located under a busy highway, where ordinary users move. Your channel is encrypted and cannot be attacked externally.. But at the same time, you use the same hardware and wires as unprotected users.
How to set up VPN in Android
There are two options to enable VPN in Android: install the application from Google Play or configure the username and password in Settings. Below we present these methods in increasing order of complexity for the user.
Installing VPN Application
We recommend starting with the programTurbo VPN . It does not require registration and password entry and is free for most typical application scenarios: web surfing, messengers and so on.
The user is required to:
- After a 3 second wait, traffic is already redirected to the server selected by the application on its own.
- To “change citizenship”, in the program settings you can select a server from a specific country. Just click on the flag icon in the upper right corner.
- Here, in Settings, the function of automatic connection is set when the application starts.
- It is convenient to control the application by the messages displayed in the notifications. When you click on them, the program reports the channel parameters: download and send speeds, the total number of transmitted data in MB.
- If you need to return to normal operation with a real IP address, click on the program icon in the notification window and turn off the VPN button with a cross.
Currently, Android users have access to dozens of VPN connection programs. They are:
- Paid. Traffic is charged, the user pays a fixed amount of the cost of the program during installation or uses a paid subscription for a month. For example, an applicationOpenVPN Client.
- Conditionally free. The main features are free, but you will have to pay extra for the speed or volume of traffic over the limit. There may also be a fee for additional components and features. In particular, this is what developers do.VPN Master-Free unblock proxy.
- Free of charge. The existence of such projects pays off with advertising, which you will view from time to time. They are very popular. So, the applicationHotspot Shield Free VPN has over 500 million downloads.
Using native Android VPN connectivity
Modern versions of Android support work through VPN without third-party applications. In Settings, find the Connection item.
We are heading to the VPN setup and management category.
Please note that after installing the Turbo VPN application, the menu already has one setting for working with a virtual network. To make your own, click the Add button.
To correctly fill out the server name, username and password, you will need to register on one of the free or paid virtual network services. For example, you can use the serviceExpressVPN . Its work is possible in 90 different countries, torrents are not blocked and a high-resolution video stream up to 4K is supported.
In Russia, it is considered the fastest and cheapestVPN99 . The subscription fee at the time of writing is not more than 1 US dollar per month.
Select such a service will help search in Yandex or Google. When comparing services, focus on their reliability and speed, as well as user reviews. You can organize your own VPN server yourself. Even a novice system administrator can handle this job.
Why can I use a VPN
Typical scenarios where the use of such services is useful:
- Protection personal data from sites and online stores. Traffic to the server is encrypted; it is impossible to determine the real IP address. At the same time, anonymity is ensured not only in the Internet browser, but also in instant messengers and other programs on your phone.
- Change of country and region. You can introduce yourself as a user from the USA or European countries to receive special prices and terms of service on individual Internet resources.
- Bypassing Blocked Resources. Using a VPN is the main way to bypass the blocking of services blocked in your country. Ukrainian users bypass VKontakte and Yandex blocked in Ukraine. Using VPN, Russian users can work with a blocked Telegram.
- Save Mobile Traffic. In some cases, the protocols used for working with VPN servers can reduce the volume of tariffed traffic and reduce communication costs.
Limitations of Free VPN Services
The benefits of free services are obvious. They are enough to meet the needs of a regular Internet user, using a web browser, instant messenger and other applications that do not consume too much traffic.
But it is worth remembering that free servers have a number of limitations:
- Low speed and traffic restrictions. In many cases, the operation of torrents and other programs that require a large amount of transmitted data is blocked. Free server operators are trying in this way to reduce the load on the equipment and encourage users to switch to paid tariffs.
- Low reliability. No one guarantees that the server will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Users sometimes have to change the server due to its closure or congestion by clients.
- Advertising. Often, to recoup their costs, free operators resort to displaying advertisements and paid ads to their users.
Benefits of Paid VPN Servers
- High reliability and the availability of technical support. This allows you to count on the stable operation of the service and maintaining the confidentiality of user data. Do not forget that the server itself knows your real ip-address and some other information.
- Lack of restrictions by streaming video in high resolution. The capacities of these companies are incomparably higher than those of the free ones; they can provide their customers with a higher data transfer speed.
- Confidence that soon the server will not be closed.
From the point of view of legislation, the use of VPN is not yet prohibited. Virtual personal networks will preserve anonymity on the Internet and will give a number of other advantages. But using the blocked resources themselves is associated with a certain risk. This should be remembered.
How to set up VPN for Telegram or how to bypass blocking
Bypassing blocked resources is one of the most popular VPN applications. The principle is simple. Telegram is blocked in Russia, but not in the USA. You go to a virtual network server located in the United States and get access to any resources allowed in this country.
Telegram also has a special proxy bot that will help ensure the messenger works in blocking conditions without redirecting all smartphone traffic to the VPN. The bot issues a registration link. After going through it, the user receives the server address and port, username and password.
To configure the proxy yourself, you must:
Especially for our readers - do it repost this record and leave
Cheetah Mobile is China’s leading mobile software development company and at the same time one of the most popular mobile Internet providers, which managed to become famous on the whole Google Play with an abundance of programs in the name of which there is often the abbreviation “CM” and the current candidate as an Android application was no exception of the general rules and represents a convenient platform for comfortable use of VPN technology without the need for pre-configuration.
Free app CM Security VPN is free.
VPN instantly stands out against the backdrop of competitive offers, thanks to a beautiful interface and an abundance of interesting functions. For a daily entry into 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, which will be added in future updates of the program. By clicking on the icon with a magic wand, you can see the functions that developers are going to implement, but they will only do this if the indicator is 100%. The list of servers itself pleased with a variety of locations, but the main “trick" for which you should definitely install this program is the absence of any restrictions on Bittorrent and P2P networks.
This means that absolutely any user can download anything and any number from torrents, without being afraid to get a ban on the server. After 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 integrate the speed and security test, so it will be much easier to test the real speed. Also, the program has a built-in function to select the optimal server based on your current location, but manual selection is available without restrictions. The last feature worthy of attention is auto-connect. The program will monitor the applications that you run and if among them one that has been added to a special list comes across, it will automatically connect to VPN servers.
Thus, if you use some kind of game or program that blocks users by location, you will not have to manually start the VPN each time.
In the settings, you can enable the constant display of the widget in the notification panel, as well as configure automatic connection. To summarize: the android application has already defeated most competitors only in that it allowed the use of P2P technologies.