Since we first launched Proton VPN in June, we’ve seen an overwhelming response from the community, and today Proton VPN provides secure Internet for hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Launching Proton VPN on Android is another major milestone in our journey towards building an Internet that respects privacy and protects civil liberties.
It has certainly been a long and challenging journey. Our story began at CERN in 2013 where our founding team of scientists met and went on to create ProtonMail, the world’s largest secure email service, which is used today by millions of journalists, activists, and regular citizens, particularly in some of the world’s most repressive countries. We built Proton VPN to address some of the major security and privacy problems that are common in VPNs.
A core part of our vision is making privacy and security tools widely available to the general public, so anybody who wants better privacy protection, or improved online security can have it. For this reason, we are committed to providing a free version of Proton VPN, which is supported by paid plans that come with extra features and higher speeds. The same is true for Proton VPN on Android, which is available as a free download from the Google PlayStore.
However, Proton VPN differs substantially from other supposedly “free” Android VPN apps. First, Proton VPN has no bandwidth limits, so there are no data caps or other restrictions, even on the free plan. But more importantly, we don’t attempt to make money from free users through selling your browsing data or installing malware on your device. This is actually a real problem as recent studies have shown that 38% of Android VPN apps actually contain malware, and others such as Hotspot Shield actually abuse your privacy instead of protecting it.
What we’re doing instead is building a VPN service that can be worthy of your trust. We understand that when it comes to VPNs, trust is paramount. Whether it is our transparent VPN threat model, our Swiss jurisdiction, our reputation, our relationship with the community, or the fact that you actually know who we are, we’re committed to building and operating Proton VPN with the same level of transparency that has come to characterize ProtonMail.
The Proton VPN Android client combines unparalleled usability with the security and privacy our users have come to expect from Proton services. The Android App supports all of Proton VPN’s advanced security features such as Secure Core, TOR via VPN, as well as connection profiles to save your favorite VPN servers. Our Android VPN app simplifies internet security greatly – simply install the app, login, and connect to any one of hundreds of VPN servers with a single tap.
The Proton VPN Android app also features support for the more advanced IKEv2 protocol which provides the highest speeds and stability even in difficult mobile network conditions (e.g. switching between LTE and WiFi, poor reception, or switching between cell towers). This ensures the best level of protection no matter where you go with your device.
Unlike companies like Google and Facebook who abuse user privacy to sell advertisements, Proton Mail and Proton VPN are entirely dependent on users upgrading to paid accounts to cover operating expenses. Without your support, these projects would not be able to thrive and grow. If you appreciate the security and privacy that Proton VPN provides, and have the means to do so, please consider upgrading to a paid account.
Unblock sites and browse anonymously and securely using the free Proton VPN Android app.
Get your secure and free Android VPN app
If you’re ready to take back your digital privacy, visit blocked sites, or stay safe even on public Wifi, you can now get Proton VPN for free Android.
Best Regards,
The Proton VPN Team
For more information or media assets, please check our official press release.
Follow us on Social media to stay up to date:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProtonVPN
Facebook: https://facebook.com/ProtonVPN
Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/ProtonVPN
Read our Mission Statement
There was a query from USER in January 2018 requesting the availability of the app on Fdroid. This was the reply “Yes, we will open source the code in the near future.” It is now over two years later, what, if any, progress has been made to make the app available free of Play Store involvement?
Other than that I’m a paying user and am impressed with how seamless it all is.
Thanks.
We’re glad you find our service convenient. Making our app available on F-Droid is one of our top priorities. We took a major step towards achieving that goal when we made our Android app open source: https://protonvpn.com/blog/open-source/.
We will be making our Android app available in F-Droid and other app stores in the near future.
Please make your .apk available outside of google play preferably on your website. the .apk not being on your website, frankly, is you not putting your money where your mouth is as there is open criticism of google written in your blog and rationales for using your services. This makes me question the authenticity of your instistence on some of your core values and is an inhibition to the trust building that is necessary if i am going to continually be sending your servers my real location and networking hardware details. As of the time of posting I have entered verbatim into the url field in my browser “protonvpn .apk” and all i get is less secure third party mirrors and download sites. Also I add my voice to the others who have requested that you make your apps available on fdroid. Thank you for reading this. I am very happy with much of the service that this app provides.
Finally a free version is out. I already pay for your service and hope to see many more people follow suit as the swiss value privacy thru vpn as they do their privacy in banking.
Thank you proton team for allowing a free vpn service now to the masses so they can take back their freedom of data mining and honestly data theft
Tropic
Thank you for your kind words!
I hope to be able to pay through Alipay. Applying Visa in China is a difficult problem. And I was having trouble using it recently. My mobile phone can’t connect to the server, but in the same network environment, the computer can reach.
There are a few workarounds which you can use to connect to VPN in China, you can find more information here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonVPN/comments/8cgn7x/how_to_bypass_the_protonvpn_block_in_china/ or contact our support team directly via contact@protonvpn.com for further assistance.
Please create a proton mail certificates creator that is for everysituation and product adjusting and implenting resorces depending on wether your logging in to your gmail or your opening and app on your cell phone. Also make it to where we the customer can replace factory phone intalled program certificates with our own customized protonmail certs highly encypted and adjustable to when the sha # change. Never staying the same for too long and automatically having a certificate firewall attached that has an erasing effect on illegally intrussive opportunists where even phone conpanies cant watch you bathe even though you own the phone and they dont.
You mean, buy astrill?
hi, please replace server url with ip address on android app. because block url is very easy and iran government block your url therefore all server url block for example us-… .protonvpn.com .
if you user server ip adress such as your windows version this issue has been resolved
example: se-01.protonvpn.com > 185.XXX.15X.XXX
Yes, I agree to that.
Although using host instead of IP removes the ability under Android to use the option “use allways VPN” .
Are the ProtonVPN connected clients isolated from each other or can they access each others resources?
They use in common your ProtonVPN account details. There are no restrictions on each connection, just the number on how many concurrent connections you can have on multiple clients. Or what type of resources are you referring to? Could you be more specific, please?
By “ProtonVPN connected clients” I was referring to two different ProtonVPN accounts.
Example:
Client_1 from CH connects to a ProtonVPN server in the US.
Client_2 from DE connects to the same ProtonVPN server in the US, just like Client_1.
Assuming they are on the same private network now, can they access each others devices/resources directly or are the VPN connected clients isolated from each other in the private network?
Clients are completely isolated from each other, of course.
Any update on this?
Any updated on this?
Hi, can we have the .Apk file of Proton VPN for Android 4.1.2 ?
When is ProtonVPN for Apple devices going to come out?
Thanks
Sal
Hi, Sal! ProtonVPN for MacOS is already available in Beta for premium plans. If you have a paid ProtonVPN plan and you’d like to receive an invite, please send us a request at contact@protonvpn.com
ProtonVPN iOS will be available in Beta starting Q2 of 2018.
good information
thank you for sharing a good article
That’s all right, but you’re using the IKEv2 protocol.
The most secure encryption protocol is OpenVPN.
You must use OpenVPN
Hello, do you have any plans to release the source code of the app? Unless you do so, I bet many privacy-conscious people will continue using the OpenVPN alternative, which diminishes the value of the Secure Core feature for Plus users.
Also, offering the possiblity to direct download the APK or even better, install from F-Droid, is an unresolved matter for both the Protonmail app and this one.
Yes, we will open source the code in the near future.
II would like to second the notion that availability outside of the play store and especially on f-droid for both mail and VPN would be ideal. Its hard to swallow the playstore pill when accessing the apps. Im at the point that I wrap up the apk in a backup and transfer it to the device I prefer to use.
Will the Android app be available on F-Droid repository anytime soon?
I’m sorry, but while I really appreciate your efforts to create the app, I find you lack of nuance in announcing this app distasteful.
You’re implying that even an app like OpenVPN for Android [1], just as free and unlimited as yours, an app which you have been encouraging to be used by your users in the past, is just as bad as all the rest of them.
If this is the tone in which you intent to continue to sell your services I no longer which to be associated with the use of those services.
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.blinkt.openvpn
Hello Age, OpenVPN does not provide servers to connect to, it is only a tool to be used with VPN configuration files – would it be your personal VPN server or VPN servers from your preferred VPN provider. Also, our native Android application uses IKEv2 protocol instead of OpenVPN. If you prefer OpenVPN protocol instead, our configuration files for both UDP and TCP can be downloaded from ProtonVPN website > Account > Downloads.
I am already paying for ProtonVPN PLUS can I unlock the ProtonVPN-APP to have the same features as on my Linux computers?
ProtonVPN for Linux is not available at the moment. We hope to have it ready by Q2 of 2018. Thank you for your patience!
Will this be available on iOS in the (near) future?
Q2 of 2018
Do you store logs for user activity? Also, how would you answer these 12 questions from TorrentFreak? https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-anonymous-review-2017-170304/
We do not store any logs. We’ve already answered the questions, you can check the article here: https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/
How on earth do you expect us to believe that you’re providing a fast, stable, trustworthy vpn that doesn’t sell our information and costs nothing? Unless you’re a billionaire with a passion for giving back via vpn, there’s no business model here. It just doesn’t make sense, and no one is going to trust this until you explain the financials of it.
Similarly to the ProtonMail business model, ProtonVPN subsidizes the free VPN subscriptions with the paid subscriptions. The free accounts do not have all the premium features and have only 3 servers assigned (Japan, Netherlands, & USA), but they are enough to get you covered when you’re in need.
Our company’s mission is to make privacy and security accessible to everyone, without having to sell their personal data to access our service. Moreover, our community is contributing to our growth through donations, for which we are very grateful.
Where can we propose features for the Android app?
Is split-tunnelling on the roadmap?
Just send us an email with your suggestions. :)
Please publish this on F-Droid also
+1 for F-Droid!