Best VPN for Android in 2021

The best VPN for Android is ExpressVPN, which is also our overall top-rated VPN. Its simple but powerful custom Android VPN app is the best we’ve seen.

It’s fast, secure, it works with streaming services like Netflix, and it allows torrenting on all its servers.

The ExpressVPN Android app works with AndroidOS 11.0, 10.0, Pie, Oreo and older. You can also download the VPN APK file to side load the VPN onto other Android devices.

Whether you’re casually web browsing or accessing sensitive information, it’s extremely important to use a trustworthy VPN on your Android phone (and all other internet-connected devices).

It’s not scaremongering or fear tactics, it’s just a fact.

In many countries, government agencies snoop on citizens’ online activities and some ISPs even sell customers’ location data and web browsing habits to advertisers – and it may not just be the countries you’re thinking of, either.

If you live in the US, the UK, Poland, Brazil, or any number of supposedly ‘free’ nations around the world, your privacy is at risk.

A VPN can protect you against this invasion of your privacy.

VPNs can also protect you against malicious hackers, who take advantage of the weak security of public WiFi hotspots to steal your valuable and private data.

And then there’s the less scary but equally important side of VPNs, too. They let you unlock restricted web content from all over the world, which means movies, TV shows, and videogames previously out of your reach are now accessible.

Whether you’re in a country that highly censors the internet – if you are then read our guide to the best VPNs for China – or looking to stream US Netflix from abroad, a VPN will unlock that web content.

The VPNs we picked for this guide are all paid, so you might be wondering: are there any free VPNs for Android?

There are! Loads, in fact. But not all of them are good (or safe). We investigated 150 free Android VPNs and discovered that 85% have privacy issues, and 25% don’t hide your IP address.

If you’re not ready to pay for a VPN just yet, make sure you read our guide to the best (and safest) free Android VPNs.

Spoiler: Windscribe is the top free VPN for Android right now. It’s safe, secure, and fast, but like many free VPNs it does come with a data cap.

Many free VPNs for mobile devices, including Android, aren’t safe. Some of them are downright dangerous.

Our independent research has shown that many free VPNs have secret Chinese ownership, while others have intrusive app permissions.

There are free VPNs that sell your personal data to targeted advertisers, and some could even damage your phone software by infecting it with malware.

However, there are a handful of secure free VPN apps that will protect your Android smartphone (as we talked about above).

The fastest Android VPN is ExpressVPN – it’s been the quickest and most consistent VPN that we’ve tested to date.

Don’t believe us?

The test results below speak for themselves.

Here’s our internet speed with no VPN:

And here it is when we connected to a nearby ExpressVPN server:

That’s a speed drop of just 17% (which isn’t much at all) – more than fast enough to do all the things you do online without a VPN, and you’ll be far safer with it.

Some VPNs may be at times faster than ExpressVPN, but ExpressVPN provides more reliability over short and long distance connections than any other VPN we’ve tested.

How exactly do you get a VPN onto your Android smartphone?

It’s super easy, just follow these simple steps:

1. Purchase a VPN subscription (if your VPN is a paid one).

2. Go to the Google Play Store on your device, search for the VPN you’ve subscribed to, and download the app.

3. Log in with your VPN credentials (provided by the VPN service you’ve picked).

If your VPN doesn’t have a native Android app, you can set it up manually. However, we recommend getting a VPN that has a custom Android app.

If you get stuck, read our guide to installing a VPN on Android or contact your VPN service’s customer support.

Once you’ve installed the VPN on your Android phone, there are a few settings you’ll need to play with to make your connection as safe as possible.

1. Enable the VPN kill switch, and IP and DNS leak protection – if your VPN service has them.

2. VPN protocol: if your VPN gives you a choice of protocols, select OpenVPN – it gives you the best balance between speed and privacy. If you’re running low of mobile data, though, you should select WireGuard as it’s the most data efficient. Most importantly, avoid PPTP at all costs.

3. Choose which VPN server location you want to connect to.

For the best speeds, choose the closest VPN server to your physical location.

Many VPNs have an automatic setting that does this for you, but if not, select a server in the nearest city or country.

This doesn’t apply if you want to access location-specific content, in which case pick the relevant country or city.

4. Your VPN is now set up and ready to go. But, how do you actually turn it on on your Android device?

Well, more often than not it’s as simple as tapping the button that says ‘Connect’.

You may be asked to accept a VPN connection request like this:

Tap ‘OK’.

Once connected, the VPN app will run in the background, leaving you to carry on using your Android device as normal.

Android VPNs aren’t just for your Android smartphone. You can also use them on your Android TV box. The best VPN for Android TV boxes is ExpressVPN.

Some VPNs, like ExpressVPN and NordVPN, come with a dedicated Android TV app. If your VPN comes with one, the setup process is much the same as the process for your phone. Download the VPN app from the Google Play Store, and set it up as you would on your smartphone.

If your VPN service doesn’t have an Android TV app, either set the VPN up on your home router, or side load it onto your Android device using its APK file.

Changing your Android device’s IP address is really simple.

Just connect to a VPN server and voilà, your true IP address is hidden and a new one has taken its place.

If you want a geo-specific IP address just connect to a VPN server located in that country or city.

You can check that the VPN has successfully changed your IP address by running a leak test on browserleaks.com.

There are also other ways to change your Android’s IP address. We looked at four in our ‘How to Hide Your IP Address’ guide.

Not many VPN services include a built-in kill switch for their Android apps.

But, there is a way to enable a similar security feature within the Android device settings (you’ll need to be running Android Version 8 or higher).

First, you’ll need to accept the VPN connection request from your VPN app, whether that pops up during the initial setup or after you tap ‘Connect’.

Now, go into your phone’s connection settings and look for VPN settings (this may be within advanced settings).

Tap on the cog symbol next to the VPN name and logo, and toggle on ‘Always-on VPN’ and then ‘Block connections without VPN’.

Finally, tap ‘Turn On’ when the ‘Require VPN connection?’ message pops up.

This should block internet traffic when the VPN is not connected.

Remember, if you disconnect from the VPN, you won’t be able to access the internet until you disable the ‘Block connections without VPN setting’.

You also won’t be able to take advantage of your VPN’s split tunneling feature when the above setting enabled.