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Here’s all the information that Snap VPN logs:
| Data Type | Logged by Snap VPN |
|---|---|
| Account Information | No |
| Browsing Activity | No |
| Date of Last Connection | Yes |
| Device Information | No |
| DNS Queries | No |
| Individual Bandwidth Usage | Yes |
| Individual Connection Timestamps | No |
| ISP | Yes |
| Number of Simultaneous Connections | No |
| Originating IP Address | No |
| VPN Server IP | No |
| VPN Server Location | Yes |
Snap VPN’s privacy policy has recently moved to a self-hosted, secure HTTPS website – a big improvement over what it was before. It’s very odd that it isn’t hosted on Autumn Breeze’s own website, though.
It’s far from perfect, but this level of logging isn’t anywhere near as bad as some of the worst free VPNs we’ve seen, like SkyVPN and Hola VPN, that record your every move.
Snap VPN was previously owned by a company called Lemon Clove PTE Ltd., but that has recently changed to Autumn Breeze. It is unclear if Autumn Breeze is a rebrand or a new company altogether.
However, on multiple occasions throughout its privacy policy Snap VPN makes reference to Lemon Clove – this lack of attention to detail further erodes our confidence in the document as a whole and is part of the reason why we don’t trust Snap VPN.
The privacy policy states that Snap VPN’s Singapore jurisdiction has “no special data retention laws and no guidance pertaining to e-discovery or disclosure to foreign law enforcement agencies.” However, this is simply not true – Singapore is a member of the SIGINT data sharing alliance and we’d rather a VPN not be based there if possible.
Our research into the Chinese ownership of free VPNs has also revealed that Snap VPN has links to mainland China, a big, obvious drawback for privacy.
An overabundance of in-app adverts is one of our biggest complaints about Snap VPN. These ads don’t just disturb you while you use it – they also get access to your personal data.
Third-party ad services AdMob, Unity AD, Vungle, and Startapp all have permission to place “their own cookies, pixel tags, and similar technologies” on your device via Snap VPN and may use them to “access information about you which they may collect over time and across different online services.”
In-app ads are common with free VPNs, and are one of the many reasons you should consider using a cheap premium VPN instead, but Snap VPN’s permissions are still far more invasive than most other free VPNs.
To calculate Snap VPN’s overall speed rating, we connected to five of its servers around the globe and compiled an average speed for each location.
You can use the table below to see Snap VPN’s complete speed test results:
Snap VPN produced the exact same speeds in every location we tested. Not once was it capable of exceeding 2Mbps for downloads, regardless of where the server was. Combine that with the fact that upload speeds were actually often very respectable (upwards of 50Mbps) and we are all but certain that Snap VPN throttles its free app users.
We consider anything greater than a 50% drop in download speeds when connected to a nearby server to be poor – Snap VPN is over 98% slower. That makes it one of the slowest VPNs we’ve ever tested.
EXPERT TIP: You don’t have to settle for slow speeds from your free VPN. Atlas VPN Free is almost 50 times faster than Snap VPN.
Snap VPN offers a small selection of VPN server locations, which is typical of a free VPN. You can choose from Snap VPN servers in just six countries:
Here’s a table outlining the number of countries in each continent that Snap VPN has servers in:
| Continent | Number of Countries |
|---|---|
| Europe | 3 |
| Asia | 1 |
| South America | 0 |
| North America | 2 |
| Africa | 0 |
| Oceania | 0 |
Snap VPN specifies the different individual cities of its servers in the UK and Germany, but some options in other countries are left unlabeled – the only way to discover where they are is to use an IP checker tool.
Snap VPN does not show the specific locations of all of its servers, which is frustrating.
There are more locations available to premium subscribers, but it still doesn’t come close to matching top-tier VPN services like ExpressVPN, with servers in 106 countries.
Here you can see the streaming services that Snap VPN works to unblock:
| Streaming Platform | Works with Snap VPN |
|---|---|
| Amazon Prime Video | No |
| BBC iPlayer | Yes |
| Channel 4 | No |
| Disney+ | No |
| Hotstar India | No |
| Hulu | No |
| ITVX | Yes |
| Max | No |
| Netflix US | No |
We’re even a little uncertain about Snap VPN working with BBC iPlayer and ITVX. Both services are UK-exclusive, and we tested from the UK – there’s every chance that Snap VPN doesn’t actually work to unblock them and that it simply wasn’t hiding our IP address and geolocation details properly.
Snap VPN used to make clear on its Play Store listing that P2P downloads were not permitted. That warning is gone now, but nothing has changed: you cannot use Snap VPN for torrenting.
When we attempted to torrent a test file, it simply sat and did not download. There’s no way around this. It’s not uncommon for free VPNs to ban torrenting due to how much bandwidth it takes up, but it’s still a shame.
If you want to protect your P2P traffic safely, we recommend reading our list of the best VPNs for torrenting.
Much like its stance on P2P activities, Snap VPN was previously very clear about its effectiveness in China:
“For policy reason [sic], this service is not available in Mainland of China. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.”
It has now changed its Play Store listing to claim that you can use Snap VPN to access any blocked website. Make no mistake: this is untrue.
Snap VPN, like most free VPN services (and even many paid ones, too), doesn’t come with the necessary tools for overcoming China’s Great Firewall.
EXPERT ADVICE: If you need a VPN to bypass Chinese censorship, take a look at our recommendations for the best VPNs that work in China.
Snap VPN actually presents you with a selection of protocols: the reputable OpenVPN, the ambiguous IPSec that we mentioned above, as well as the extremely uncommon SSR and ISSR, which are Android OS exclusives. However, the ability to choose a protocol is paywalled – you can only use IPSec for free.
You can see the protocols, encryption ciphers, and additional security features available with Snap VPN in the table below:
| Protocols | Available in Snap VPN |
|---|---|
| IKEv2/IPSec | No |
| OpenVPN (TCP/UDP) | No |
| Undisclosed | Yes |
| WireGuard | No |
| Encryption | Available in Snap VPN |
|---|---|
| AES-128 | Yes |
| AES-192 | No |
| AES-256 | Yes |
| Blowfish | No |
| ChaCha20 | No |
| Security | Available in Snap VPN |
|---|---|
| Diskless Servers | No |
| DNS Leak Blocking | No |
| First-party DNS | No |
| IPv6 Leak Blocking | No |
| Supports TCP Port 443 | No |
| VPN Kill Switch | No |
| WebRTC Leak Blocking | No |
| Advanced Features | Available in Snap VPN |
|---|---|
| Ad Blocker | No |
| Dedicated IP | No |
| Double VPN | No |
| SOCKS | No |
| Split Tunneling | No |
| Static IP | No |
| Tor over VPN Server | No |
| Tracker Blocker | No |
Previously Snap VPN used OpenVPN, so this shift has made us even more skeptical of the app.
There is no information given about Snap VPN’s encryption, but after a few emails back and forth to customer support we now know that it uses AES-128 and AES-256 – two industry-standard levels of encryption.
Our leak tests came back fine – there were no IP, DNS, or WebRTC leaks.
Our testing confirms Snap VPN is working correctly.
As you can see from the leak test results, Snap VPN currently uses Google DNS, which is considered to be secure.
One of the most disappointing parts of Snap VPN’s offering is the lack of a VPN kill switch.
That means that if the VPN connection drops suddenly for whatever reason, your personal data will be left exposed. We consider the lack of a kill switch inexcusable – it makes Snap VPN fundamentally unsafe.
One positive improvement is that it has recently added split tunneling, allowing you to choose which apps are tunneled by Snap VPN and which are not.
We examined Snap VPN’s Android app with the exodus tool, which reveals how many trackers and permissions the app demands in order to be installed.
Respectable VPNs will require zero trackers and only a handful of permissions – the numbers here are not normal.
Snap VPN requires an enormous eight trackers and 26 permissions. Some of these are fairly commonplace in the world of VPN apps and can be excused, but there are plenty that are excessive.
Six of Snap VPN’s eight trackers are for ads and ad analytics, essentially spying on your usage patterns in order to monetize your data.
AndroidThere are no Snap VPN applications for iOS, Windows, or Mac. There are also no browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox.
Its system requirements are very low and it will work with any Android device that is running Android 6.0 Marshmallow or later.
If you need a free VPN for other devices, check out our list of the top free VPNs by category.
Snap VPN requires a simple download from the Google Play Store to set up. To use it, you simply select your preferred VPN server location from the list and tap ‘Go’ on the main screen.
Snap VPN dedicated as much space on its home screen to ads as it does to information about your connection.
If anything, Snap VPN is far too simple. Even from a free VPN, we’d like to see more advanced features and customization options.
There’s also a bunch of intrusive ads to deal with, too. They take up the whole screen and you can’t skip them until a certain amount of time has elapsed (usually between five and 10 seconds).
It may be easy to use, but Snap VPN doesn’t provide a very pleasant user experience.
Snap VPN doesn’t actually have a website – its only web presence is the website of its developer, Autumn Breeze. All information about the app is contained on its Google Play Store listing.
There’s no FAQs, no set up tutorials, nothing.
| Customer Support | Available in Snap VPN |
|---|---|
| 24/7 Email Support | No |
| 24/7 Live Chat Support | No |
| Chatbot | No |
| Yes | |
| Email Support via Online Form | No |
| Live Chat Support | No |
| Online Resources | No |
| Tutorial Videos | No |
There is a customer support email but replies can take a long time to come through.
When we initially received a response, instead of answering our queries we were prompted to upgrade to a premium plan.
Snap VPN even went so far as to tell us it won’t “disclose any information” about the VPN service until we “fairly” evaluated the product.
The last email also came from “Master VPN Customer Service Department,” which is particularly confusing.
However, after pushing for a response to our questions, Snap VPN eventually answered them.
We expect more guidance and professionalism from a VPN service, free or not.
It’s not worth downloading or using Snap VPN, even if it is free. While the VPN’s logging policy has recently improved, its zero-tolerance for torrenting and questionable background make it difficult to trust, especially with sensitive data.
If that weren’t bad enough, Snap VPN’s active speed throttling, lack of VPN kill switch, and inability to work with popular streaming services should be enough to put you off.
Like Snap VPN, Proton VPN provides unlimited free VPN data, so you can protect as much data as you’d like. Unlike Snap VPN, it doesn’t throttle your speeds. Proton VPN is also very safe and secure. Read Proton VPN review
If you want to use a VPN for streaming, you’ll have to pay for one. Surfshark is a great compromise. For a small monthly fee (cheaper than Snap VPN), you can unlock Netflix while maintaining your online privacy. Read Surfshark review
To cancel your Snap VPN subscription, go to the Google Play Store app, tap your profile icon in the top-right corner, then select Payments and subscriptions. In the subscriptions section, tap Snap VPN then follow the prompts to cancel.
