The Best Free VPNs for Android

If you care about your online privacy, you should absolutely use a VPN on your Android smartphone or tablet, whether it’s free or paid.

If you don’t use a secure Android VPN, not only will your ISP (Internet Service Provider) see everything you do online, but you’ll also be vulnerable to potential hackers and snoopers, particularly if you’re using free public WiFi.

A reliable and secure Android VPN masks your IP address so your ISP, or any other third party, can’t detect your true physical location. Therefore, you’ll be able to browse the web anonymously, on a secure and encrypted connection.

Additionally, a good VPN will also beat geo-restrictions and allow you to unblock web content typically locked to a particular country or location. You can find a detailed list of our recommended free VPNs for every device here.

Setting up and using a VPN on Android is very simple. Here’s what to do:

1. Download your chosen Android VPN.

   All the free VPN apps recommended in this guide have native Android apps. Simply go to the Google Play Store, download the free VPN of your choice.

   Alternatively, visit your chosen VPN provider’s website and download the Android app directly onto your device from there.

2. Check the security settings.

   If there are any extra privacy features such as a VPN kill switch or protection against DNS and IPv6 leaks, make sure to turn these on before you connect to the VPN.

   If it’s possible to manually select your VPN connection protocol, we’d recommend choosing OpenVPN, as this offers the best balance of speed and security. However, be aware that OpenVPN is also the most bandwidth-heavy VPN protocol. It’ll use up your mobile data allowance much quicker than a protocol like WireGuard. Read our guide to VPN data usage to learn more.

3. Choose a VPN server location.
   Next, you need to choose a VPN server. Usually, the closer the server to your physical location, the faster your VPN speeds will be. Tap connect and in a matter of seconds you’ll be connected to the VPN.

If you opt for a free VPN that doesn’t come with a dedicated Android app, read our step-by-step guide to manually set up a VPN on your Android device.

Unfortunately, there are hundreds of millions that are using potentially unsafe free VPNs – and Android might be the platform with the most dangerous free VPNs The reality is that you can’t trust most free VPN services with your confidential personal data.

We’ve carried out two in-depth investigations on the most popular free VPNs, and discovered an alarming amount with dubious links to China. Even worse, some VPNs had extremely worryingly security flaws.

The charts below highlight the extent of dangerous free VPNs currently in circulation:

Not to worry, our recommended free Android VPNs are safe to use and will provide effective protection. They all hide your IP address, encrypt your web traffic and come with privacy-friendly logging policies.

As we mentioned above, many free Android VPNs come with worrying security and privacy issues. Here’s a list of the worst Android VPNs, we strongly advise you don’t use:

1. Hola VPN

   Hola Free VPN is just about one of the worst free VPN services you could use on your Android phone or tablet.

   Not only does Hola Free VPN monitor absolutely everything you do online, it’s also not encrypted in any way and has been known to sell user data on to third parties.

2. Thunder VPN

   Thunder VPN is one of the least secure free VPNs for Android we’ve ever seen.

   Along with logging tons of your personal information, Thunder VPN also uses a very outdated connection protocol and just won’t keep you safe online.

3. Snap VPN

   Using Snap VPN on your Android device could well be worse than not using a VPN service at all.

   If it weren’t bad enough that it sends your personal data to China and logs a ton of user information, Snap VPN doesn’t even disclose the level of encryption that it uses, leading us to believe there might not be any at all.

4. Turbo VPN

   We just can’t recommend Turbo VPN to Android users as a reliable privacy tool as it goes against everything the VPN industry stands for.

   Not only has Turbo VPN admitted it sends users’ personal information to mainland China, it also has one of the most intrusive logging policies we’ve ever seen.

5. Yoga VPN

   Yoga VPN can 100% not be trusted to keep you safe online, whether you connect on Android or any other device.

   Yoga VPN collects huge amounts of user data, stores it on its servers for an undisclosed period of time, and stores it in its data servers based in China and Hong Kong. One to avoid.

What’s the Best Free VPN for Android

The best free VPN for Android is Windscribe Free, and it has been for some time. It’s fast, secure and it unblocks geo-restricted streaming platforms like US Netflix and BBC iPlayer.

If you’re determined to use a VPN without spending a dime, then Windscribe is the best choice available right now. However, keep in mind that it enforces a monthly 10GB usage limit.

There’s only one free Android VPN that doesn’t come with usage restrictions: ProtonVPN Free. It’s a good free VPN, but it doesn’t unblock streaming services nor does it allow P2P traffic on its free servers.

Can I Use a Paid Android VPN for Free?

If you want to use a premium paid VPN on your Android device for free, there are a few ways you can do this without spending a cent.

For example, ExpressVPN is the overall best VPN for Android and it offers a seven-day completely free trial to new Android subscribers. You can also take advantage of its risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee. This means you can use the VPN service without restrictions for up to 30 days, then get your money back.

You will have to subscribe and provide payment details, but you will receive your refund within a few days, as long as you cancel before the 30 days are up.

We’ve published a series of guides on how you can use some of the very best Android VPNs for free:

• ExpressVPN free trial
• NordVPN free trial
• IPVanish free trial

What’s the Fastest Free Android VPN?

We run regular speed tests on all the VPNs we review, and at the moment Hide.me is the fastest free VPN for Android.

When using Hide.me VPN, our broadband speed dropped by only 11% in our most recent tests. That’s a surprising speed for a free VPN and it competes with the very best paid-for VPN services.

In case you’re wondering, all the free VPNs in this guide will be fast enough for anonymous web browsing. Obviously, keep in mind their limitations, which can make even fast download speeds less impressive depending on your need for a VPN.

How Do Free VPNs Work on Android?

A VPN works exactly the same on Android as it does on any other operating system. As we mentioned above, instead of your internet traffic being routed to a website via your ISP, it will instead be routed through a secure server first, and then onto your destination website.

Using a top Android VPN will mask your true IP address (the unique identifier of your internet connection), replacing it with the IP address of the VPN server you’re connected to.

This means that as long as your Android VPN is running, and it doesn’t leak your real IP address, your web activity is hidden from your ISP and many other snoopers. If you want to understand more about this, our ‘What is a VPN?’ guide details how VPNs work in a lot more detail.