The Proton VPN Blog

Microsoft GDID: How a secret Windows identifier may have led to Scattered Spider

Douglas Crawford — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:43:03 GMT

If you use Windows, you’re probably at least vaguely aware that your laptop is spying on you. This week, we received a concrete reminder of just how invasive to privacy Microsoft’s ubiquitous operating system really is.

Peter Stokes, a 19-year-old who is suspected of being a member of the notorious criminal hacking group Scattered Spider, was extradited from Finland to the United States and accused of hacking “Company F, a luxury-jewelry retailer.”

What makes the case interesting, however, is how he was caught.

Windows as spyware

According to the FBI’s criminal complaint, Stokes used a VPN to hide his online activity. This is widely considered a sensible option, as a VPN hides your real IP address from websites you visit and your online activity from your ISP. But he made a fatal rookie mistake: he used Windows.

Authorities identified Stokes using Microsoft records that tied his computer to suspicious use of ngrok, a web development tunneling tool that was used to “circumvent Company F network defenses and enable persistent unauthorized access to the Company F data center.”

Microsoft was able to identify Stokes’ computer thanks to its Global Device Identifier (GDID), a “device-level identifier designed to uniquely identify an installation of a Windows operating system on a device.”

In other words, every installation of Windows has a GDID that Microsoft can use to identify a device (including virtual devices), and to collect telemetry. Reinstalling Windows creates a new GDID for that device, but doesn’t erase the old one from Microsoft’s systems, so it can still be used to identify a device.

Microsoft then handed this information to third parties.

How the FBI used the information Microsoft provided

This evidence alone wasn’t enough to connect the crime to Stokes, but knowing the GDID gave the FBI a history of IP addresses that his device had accessed over time. To prove those IPs belonged to Peter Stokes specifically, investigators cross-referenced this IP history against logins to accounts known to be his, including Apple, Snapchat, Facebook, and his Growtopia game login.

Connecting the GDID to accounts known to belong to Stokes helped prove the GDID used to hack the jeweler belonged to a device owned by Stokes, according to the complaint.

That one of the IP addresses identified in this way belonged to a New York hotel that investigators say matches the interior visible in a Snapchat selfie showing Stokes covering his face with a wad of $100 bills is unlikely to help his case.

What does this mean for the rest of us?

The first thing to stress is that, in this case, the system worked as intended.

Stokes faces charges including conspiracy, cyber intrusion, and fraud offenses tied to over $100 million in ransom payments across more than 100 corporate intrusions since 2022. The FBI’s use of Microsoft data falls within legal frameworks requiring court orders and subpoenas.

But the GDID raises important questions about user consent and who actually owns the hardware you pay for. You are never asked to agree to the GDID on your device, and there is no easy way to remove it. Even completely re-installing Windows is only a partial solution.

In all of Microsoft’s extensive online documentation, GlobalDeviceId merits a single mention buried in a highly obscure technical document that no one is ever likely to read.

It is true, however, that all other major commercial operating systems, such macOS, Android, and iOS, can also almost certainly uniquely identify devices to their manufactures. The unfortunate thing is that most us simply accept this situation.

For those who don’t, the only practical way to avoid this is to use open source operating systems, such as Linux.

How to disable location services and keep your location history private

Jessica Bernard — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 12:50:10 GMT

Giving your phone and your apps access to your location undeniably makes them more useful. If your phone knows where you are, you can get map directions and weather updates, calculate travel times, or alert your friends and family to your location. But there’s a darker side to location tracking: apps often build shockingly detailed profiles of your daily movements and then monetize this data.

Turning off location services, or at least adjusting certain settings, is a crucial step in protecting your private data from third parties. Below, we’ll walk you through how to disable location services on Android, iOS and iPadOS, macOS, and Windows, how to delete and disable your Google Maps Timeline, and discuss why turning off location services alone isn’t enough to keep your location truly private.

Why turn off location services?
How to disable location services on Android
How to disable location services on iOS and iPadOS
How to disable location services on Windows
How to disable location services on macOS
How to delete and disable your Google Maps timeline, location history, and search history
Why turning off location services isn’t enough
FAQ on location services

Why turn off location services?

There are plenty of reasons to turn off or adjust your location settings:

Privacy from advertizers

Your device knows where you live and work, when and where you shop, where your kids go to school, and which medical clinics you attend. The result of this tracking is an incredibly detailed profile of your every movement that is routinely sold to data brokers and adtech companies so that you can be targeted with ever more personalized ads.

Location data can even be used for surveillance pricing, where passing a store can trigger ads or where you live can affect the prices you see. All without you providing any meaningful consent.

Privacy from your government

In many countries, your location data can be accessed by government agencies, often without a warrant. In the United States, law enforcement has been documented purchasing location data from commercial brokers specifically to circumvent the legal requirements that would otherwise apply to surveillance.

Protection from abusers

Location sharing has become a tool for stalking and coercive control, used by abusive partners, stalkers, or unauthorized third parties to monitor victims in real time. Reviewing and restricting who can see your location and disabling background tracking can remove a critical layer of visibility that might otherwise be exploited.

Additional resources:

Battery life

If you have location services switched on, you may be experiencing a significant drain on battery life and unnecessary mobile data usage. In high-accuracy modes, your phone constantly pings GPS satellites, WiFi networks, and cell towers.

By limiting location access to essential apps only, and selecting “while using” instead of “always”, you can extend your battery life and reduce data usage without sacrificing core functionality.

How to disable location services on Android

This guide was created using a Samsung OneUI 8.5 phone. Details may differ slightly on other Android devices.

Turn off location services entirely

1. Open Settings on your Android device

2. Scroll down and tap Location (On some devices: Go to Privacy → Permission Manager → Location)

3. Tap the Location switch to turn it off.

Note: When location is turned off, apps and services can’t access your device’s location. However, you may still see local results and ads based on your IP address.

Disable location for specific apps

You can also manage how specific apps can access your location data. Either tap App permissions on the screen above, or:

1. Open Settings

2. Tap Apps or Apps & notifications

3. Select the app you want to modify

4. Tap Permissions

5. Tap Location

Choose one of the following options:

Don’t allow: The app cannot access your location
Ask every time: You’ll be prompted each time the app requests location
Allow only while using the app: Location is accessed only when the app is open
Allow all the time: The app can access location even in the background

You can also disable Use precise location from this screen.

Turn off Improve Location Accuracy

Location Accuracy (also called Google Location Services) helps your device get more precise location data by using WiFi, Bluetooth, and cell tower signals. Disabling it reduces precision, but doesn’t fully stop tracking.

1. Go to Settings → Location

2. Tap Location services → Location Accuracy

3. Toggle the Improve Location Accuracy switch off

Important: Even with Location Accuracy off, your device can still estimate location using GPS if allowed.

Manage WiFi and Bluetooth scanning

These features can reveal your location, even when standard location services are off:

1. Go to Settings → Location → Location services

2. Toggle both Wi‑Fi scanning and Bluetooth scanning switches off

How to disable location services on iOS and iPadOS

Turn off location services entirely

1. Open Settings

2. Tap Privacy & Security

3. Tap Location Services

4. Toggle Location Services switch off at the top of the screen

Important: Some apps may not function properly without location access. Turning this off will reset permissions for all apps until you manually grant access again.

Disable location for specific apps

1. Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services

2. Ensure Location Services is toggled on

3. Scroll to find the app you want to manage

4. Tap the app name

5. Select one of these options:

Never: The app never receives location data
Ask Next Time Or When I Share: Prompted each time; allows one-time choices
While Using the App: Location is accessible only when the app is visible on-screen

Disable Precise Location

iOS 14 and later lets you share an approximate, rather than an exact, location:

1. Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services

2. Select the app you want to adjust

3. Toggle the Precise Location switch off

When Precise Location is disabled, the app knows your approximate area (typically within 10 miles), instead of your exact GPS coordinates.

Note: You won’t see this option if you’ve already set your location access to Never for that app.

Learn more about how to check your iPhone location history

How to disable location services on Windows 11

Turn off location services

1. Click Start → Settings

2. Go to Privacy & security → App permissions → Location

3. Toggle the Location services switch off

Note: If you’re not logged in as an administrator, you may not see this setting.

Disable location for specific apps

1. Click Start → Settings

2. Go to Privacy & security → App permissions → Location

3. Scroll to Choose which apps can access your precise location

4. Toggle individual app switches off to prevent access

Note: Only apps installed from the Microsoft Store appear here. Third-party desktop apps generally have unrestricted access unless you block them through other means.

Stop websites from accessing your location

Microsoft Edge

1. Open Microsoft Edge

2. Go to Settings → Site permissions → All permissions → → Location

3. Toggle the Ask before accessing switch off, or remove sites from the Allowed to see your location list

Other browsers handle location permissions similarly through their privacy settings.

How to disable location services on macOS

Turn off location services entirely

1. Click the Apple icon on the menu bar → System Settings

2. Go to Privacy & Security → Location Services

3. Toggle Location Services OFF at the top of the window

Some system services (such as Emergency SOS) may continue to use location regardless of this setting.

Disable location for specific apps

1. Click the Apple icon → System Settings

2. Go to Privacy & Security → Location Services

3. Ensure Location Services is on

4. Find the app in the list below.

5. Uncheck the box next to the app name to revoke permission.

Manage system services

Some macOS system services (such as Find My and Siri suggestions) use location separately from app-level permissions:

1. Click the Apple icon → System Settings

2. Go to Privacy & Security → Location Services

3. Click the Details… button next to System Services

4. Toggle individual services off as needed

Note: If Location Services is already disabled, these services will be disabled automatically.

How to delete and disable your Google Maps Timeline (previously known as Location History)

Google has recently overhauled how it handles your location data and will continue to do so over the next few months. Timeline information is now stored locally on your device rather than in your Google Account, the web-based Timeline viewer has been retired, and the settings you need are now managed primarily through the Google Maps app.

Menu labels vary by app version, region, and device, so you may see Timeline, Maps history, Your data in Maps, or similar wording. The steps below cover the actions you need to take, regardless of the exact label.

Turn off Timeline/Maps history

This stops Google from recording your future movements:

1. Open the Google Maps app on your phone

2. Tap your profile icon (top right)

3. Tap Your data in Maps or Settings → Privacy (the exact path varies by version)

4. Look for a setting labelled Timeline, Maps history, or Location History and toggle it off

Note: Google’s own documentation states that even when Timeline is turned off, “you may still have other location data saved in your Google Account” if settings like Web & App Activity or Search Services History remain enabled. To address this, follow the steps above, selecting Web & App Activity instead of Timeline, and update your Search Services History settings.

Delete your existing Timeline

Your Maps search history is separate from Timeline. It records the places you have searched for, not the places you have visited.

1. Open Google Maps → tap your profile icon

2. Tap Your Timeline or Your data in Maps → Timeline

3. Tap the three dots (⋮)

4. Select Delete day to delete today’s data OR

5. Select Location & privacy settings

6. Scroll to Timeline and choose:

Delete all Timeline data
Delete range of Timeline data
Auto-delete Timeline data

Warning: Deleted Timeline data cannot be recovered. If you want to keep a record, export your Timeline data before deleting.

How to delete your Google Maps search history

Your Maps search history is separate from Timeline; it records the places you’ve looked up, not the places you’ve been. To delete your search history:

1. Open Google Maps → tap your profile icon

2. Tap Your data in Maps or go to Settings → Location and privacy

3. Select Maps history, tap Delete and choose:

Delete today
Delete custom range
Delete all time

Why turning off location services isn’t enough

Disabling location services is an important step, but it leaves a significant gap. Even with GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth location all switched off, apps and websites can still estimate your location using your IP address.

The only reliable way to prevent IP-based location tracking is to use a VPN. A VPN routes your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a remote server, replacing your real IP address. This means websites and apps see the server’s location instead of yours, making IP-based geolocation ineffective.

Learn more about how a VPN works

Protect your IP address with Proton VPN

FAQ on location services

Can I still use Google Maps with location off?

Yes, you can search for places, view maps, and get directions with location services disabled. However the app won’t know your starting point, so it can’t automatically provide turn-by-turn navigation or real-time traffic updates. You’ll need to enter your current location manually first. Some features, like finding nearby restaurants or seeing your ETA, also won’t work without location access.

Does turning off location services stop all tracking?

No, turning off location services prevents apps from using GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth to determine your precise position, but it doesn’t stop IP-based location estimation or affect data that’s already been collected. Google notes that you can still receive location-based results and ads via your IP address. Additionally, if Web & App Activity (or Search Services History) remains enabled in your Google Account, Google may continue to store approximate location data as part of your broader activity. To minimize tracking, you need to disable location services, manage your account-level activity settings, and use a VPN.

Can apps track my location if location services are off?

In most cases, apps cannot access your precise GPS coordinates when location services are disabled. However, they can still infer your approximate location through:

Your IP address: Reveals your general area (city-level)
WiFi network names: Nearby networks can be cross-referenced with databases to estimate position
Cellular tower data: Available to any app with phone permissions on some platforms
Bluetooth beacons: Used in retail environments to detect proximity

Microsoft explicitly warns that third-party apps may bypass Windows Location services using these methods. On Android and iOS, the operating systems impose stricter controls, but IP-based location remains universally available to any app with internet acce

Proton VPN now supports Baybayin. Celebrating Philippine Independence Day in code and culture

Douglas Crawford — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:38:05 GMT

Maligayang Araw ng Kalayaan, Pilipinas!

Today, June 12th, marks 128 years of Philippine independence. And to mark this celebration, Proton VPN has added Baybayin (the islands’ pre-colonial writing system) as a selectable script in our Windows app, a small but heartfelt token of appreciation to our millions of Filipino community members.

This makes Proton VPN the world’s first major VPN to support Baybayin.

What is Baybayin? A script reborn

Baybayin (ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔) was the dominant script across much of the Philippine archipelago before Spanish colonization in the 16th century, after which the Latin alphabet gradually took its place.

Today, Baybayin is undergoing a remarkable revival. It appears on Philippine banknotes and passports, is taught in schools, and holds a cherished place in Filipino cultural identity, even by those who can’t yet read or write it fluently.

Why celebrate the 128th year of independence?

Milestone anniversary celebrations are usually held on round-numbered years, such the 50th, 100th, 200th. But Proton is a tech company, and 128 is a perfect round number. It’s 2⁷, one of the fundamental values in binary code. We just couldn’t resist.

It’s also a great opportunity to celebrate another milestone that’s meaningful to us: Since July 2025, Proton VPN has been the most popular VPN in the Philippines.

Why Filipinos use Proton VPN

The Philippines has one of the most active and engaged internet populations in the world. Filipinos spend more time online than almost any other nationality, and VPNs have become an important part of how many people manage their digital life.

Privacy and security online

A VPN encrypts your internet connection, so your ISP doesn’t know what you get up to online. Websites only see the IP address of the VPN server, not your real IP. And based in privacy-friendly Switzerland, Proton VPN keeps no logs that could compromise your privacy.

Learn more about how a VPN works

Proton VPN also protects you online with NetShield Ad-blocker, our built-in DNS filtering solution for blocking ads, trackers, and malware.

Staying connected, wherever you are

More than 10 million Filipinos live and work overseas, making it one of the largest diasporas in the world. With a Proton VPN Plus plan, you can easily connect back home no matter where you are, to enjoy local news, entertainment, sports events, and other services that are not available elsewhere.

Get Proton VPN Plus

A truly international VPN

At Proton, we believe the internet belongs to everyone. That’s why we offer a 100% free VPN to make our service accessible to those who need it most.

As part of our ongoing mission to help ensure the internet serves people, not power, we understand the need to speak to our community in a language (and sometimes a script) that feels like their own.

With servers in over 148 countries worldwide and apps available in 37 languages, we support Albanian, Vietnamese, Catalan, Ukrainian, Icelandic, Thai, and many more, making Proton VPN the most international VPN on the market.

Privacy for everyone

Developed by the team behind Proton Mail, Proton VPN is one of the world’s largest VPN services. We are headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and operated by the not-for-profit Proton Foundation. We offer fully audited open-source apps across all major platforms and have a strict no-logs policy that has also been independently audited.

Our free plan is funded transparently by community members who choose to upgrade to a paid plan for additional features. We do not sell user data. We do not show ads. We do not log your browsing activity. Ever.

To the millions of Filipino community members who trust Proton VPN as their privacy tool of choice, we thank you. We hope this small addition to our Windows app brings a moment of pride and joy on your 128th Independence Day.

World Cup live streaming: How to watch the 2026 World Cup while traveling

Elena Constantinescu — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 11:38:08 GMT

The 2026 World Cup is here! The new expanded 48-team tournament begins on June 11, 2026, and runs until the final on July 19. All matches take place across the three hosts of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and will feature many of the biggest nations, including England, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, France, and Germany. But not Italy, which failed to qualify for a third consecutive tournament.

If you’re traveling, fans of football (that’s soccer for the Americans) can access World Cup live streaming through official broadcaster apps, live TV services, or public streaming platforms from almost everywhere.

See where to watch the 2026 World Cup

Setting up your sports streaming apps and devices before the big kickoff will save a lot of frustration once the world’s greatest football tournament begins. Here’s how you can watch your favorite team in your local language like you’re home, even while traveling abroad.

How to watch World Cup matches for free
How to watch live World Cup matches while traveling with Proton VPN
Stream the 2026 World Cup securely from anywhere
Frequently asked questions

Editor’s note: Proton VPN is not associated with FIFA or any other World Cup organizers. It should not be used to evade copyright law. Make sure you have a legal, official account with the streaming platform you want to use and abide by the platform’s Terms of Service.

How to watch World Cup matches in your language while traveling

Official broadcaster apps

Broadcasters like BBC iPlayer in the UK, SBS On Demand in Australia, and RTVE Play in Spain offer free World Cup streaming. Almost all official World Cup streaming apps support iPhone, Android, tablets, smart TVs, and web browsers, but availability varies by country and local broadcast rights.

With a TV antenna

Several countries still broadcast selected World Cup matches over traditional television networks. In the USA, anyone with a digital antenna can watch matches on local FOX channels completely free, without needing a cable subscription or streaming service.

Free digital streaming platforms and YouTube previews

Under a recent agreement between football’s governing body and YouTube, official rights-holding broadcasters can livestream the opening 10 minutes of every World Cup match for free on their official YouTube channels. You can experience the atmosphere, opening lineups, and early match action without logging into a paid streaming service.

Additionally, select media partners are streaming a limited number of matches in full on their YouTube channels. In the USA, the free streaming service Tubi has launched a dedicated World Cup hub, broadcasting the opening ceremonies, the Mexico vs. South Africa opening game on June 11, and the USA vs. Paraguay match on June 12 entirely for free.

Free trials and limited free World Cup streaming options

Many live TV streaming platforms offer short free trials during major sporting events, including the World Cup. A secure VPN connection may allow you to access streams in another region while traveling, but availability varies by country, and some services require a local payment method.

How to watch live World Cup matches while traveling with with Proton VPN

Major sporting events like the World Cup often have different broadcasters and streaming rights, depending on the country you are in. When you cross a border, broadcasting agreements can change which matches, commentary feeds, or streaming apps are available to you.

Even paid subscribers can lose access to their streaming services while traveling abroad, particularly during major international sporting events like the World Cup.

With a paid Proton VPN plan, you can safely connect to a server in your home country to access familiar commentary feeds and streaming platforms in your own language.

Download Proton VPN now

See if Proton VPN works with your selected streaming platforms

VPN speed often gets a bad reputation, especially for live sports, but the right setup can deliver a smooth, low-lag stream without buffering. Here’s how to optimize the performance of Proton VPN for World Cup live streaming while you’re away from home:

Boost speeds with VPN Accelerator

Proton VPN’s unique VPN Accelerator technology can improve connection stability and boost streaming performance by up to 400%, especially on congested or long-distance networks. Make sure it’s enabled in Proton VPN settings.

Learn how to use Proton VPN Accelerator

Block ads and load pages faster

NetShield, included with paid Proton VPN plans, helps create a cleaner streaming experience by blocking ads and known malicious domains. It also helps your browser load pages faster.

Learn how to use NetShield Ad-blocker

Route only streaming apps through VPN

Split tunneling lets you choose which apps use the VPN and which use your regular internet connection. For example, your match stream can stay connected through the VPN, while your phone’s maps and food delivery apps use your local connection to find nearby restaurants.

You can enable Split Tunneling in settings. If you’re live streaming World Cup matches in your browser, you can use one browser for streaming and add it to the included apps list, while using another browser outside the VPN for regular browsing. Then reconnect to apply the changes.

Learn how to use split tunneling

Stream the 2026 World Cup anywhere

A reliable connection is just as important as knowing which channel is broadcasting the match. By making a secure connection part of your game-day setup, your stream stays private and stable throughout the tournament. And you can watch your favorite team in your local language like you’re home, even while traveling abroad.

If you want a fast, privacy-focused connection across all your devices, download Proton VPN before the opening whistle blows.

Where to watch the 2026 World Cup

Frequently asked questions about World Cup live streaming

How do I stream the World Cup in North America without cable?

If you don’t have a traditional pay-TV package, you can access the matches through live TV streaming platforms. In the USA, services like YouTube TV, Fubo, Sling TV, and Hulu + Live TV carry the necessary network channels. In Canada, you can stream matches through the TSN and RDS digital platforms.

Will FOX broadcast the 2026 World Cup?

Yes. FOX Sports and FS1 will carry English-language coverage of the tournament in the United States. Spanish-language broadcasts will air through Telemundo and related NBCUniversal platforms.

How can I watch the World Cup live?

You can watch matches on your local official broadcaster’s television or via their designated streaming apps. Check the broadcaster table at the top of this guide to find the official streaming options available in your country.

How can I stream the World Cup in the USA?

English-language streams are available through live TV streaming services that carry FOX and FS1, or through FOX Sports platforms with a supported TV provider login. Spanish-language coverage will also stream through Peacock.

Which app is streaming the World Cup?

There is no single global app for the entire tournament. Instead, use the official app of the broadcaster in your region. Examples include BBC iPlayer in the UK, FOX Sports or Peacock in the USA, and SBS On Demand in Australia.

Japan’s digital nomads prioritize stability, security, and reliable internet over adventure

Ben Wolford — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 15:26:03 GMT

Digital nomadism is often associated with laptops on beaches and constant international travel. In Japan, however, a new survey conducted using the Freeasy research platform suggests a different reality.

Proton VPN commissioned the survey to better understand how Japanese attitudes toward remote work are evolving as more professionals work from cafes, coworking spaces, hotels, and public networks outside traditional office environments.

The initial survey gathered responses from 1,000 adults aged 20 to 99 across Japan. Respondents consistently prioritized stable internet access and work-life balance over travel or lifestyle experimentation. But although they say digital security is important, a majority of respondents still aren’t taking the basic steps necessary to secure their networks and protect their accounts.

Japan’s few digital nomads mostly travel within Japan

67% of respondents have neither experience with nor interest in remote work abroad.
14% have no experience with remote work abroad but want to try it.
10% have worked remotely within Japan but not abroad.
3% have worked remotely while living abroad.

Among experienced remote workers, two-thirds say they primarily work from home, while overseas remote-work locations remain relatively uncommon.

Several cultural and structural factors help explain this caution, including low passport ownership and language barriers. For many respondents, remote work appears to be less about travel and more about improving flexibility without disrupting familiar routines.

Japanese remote workers prioritize reliability over lifestyle perks

32% say ensuring a stable internet connection is their biggest remote-work challenge.
28% struggle to separate work and personal life.
16% cite maintaining productivity and focus as their main hurdle.
Only 5.3% say lower living costs are the biggest advantage of remote work abroad, making cost savings the least-cited benefit in the survey.

When working outside a traditional office, respondents value quiet environments for concentration (52%) and fast, stable internet (48%) far above scenic locations or lifestyle perks.

These practical worries extend to traveling. The top concern about living abroad while working is handling illness or emergencies (46.3%), followed closely by money management and overseas payments (44.8%).

Rather than escaping routines, remote work in Japan is about gaining flexibility while maintaining stability. Among experienced remote workers, 31% say the lifestyle made them value freedom more, but 23% say it increased their appreciation for stability.

Japan’s remote workers worry about security but take no precautions

37% of experienced remote workers use two-factor authentication as a security measure.
34% avoid logging into important accounts on public networks.
30% use a VPN when working remotely.
19% take no specific online security measures at all when working outside their normal environment.
14% rely on mobile hotspots instead of public networks.

Many respondents lack consistent security habits when working outside their home or office, creating a clear gap between awareness and behavior. While 37% rely on two-factor authentication and 34% avoid public logins, only 30% use a VPN. Most strikingly, nearly 1 in 5 (19%) admit to taking no specific online security measures at all.

As remote professionals increasingly rely on public WiFi, cafes, and coworking spaces, security habits are not always keeping pace with changing work environments.

VPNs are viewed as work tools, not entertainment tools

66.7% of VPN users say their primary reason is secure access to work systems.
50% use them to protect communications when using public WiFi networks.
33.3% use them to protect personal information online.
30% use them to access Japanese websites and services while abroad.
23.3% use them for personal reasons, such as watching videos.

Among respondents who do use a VPN, the technology is viewed primarily as a professional security tool rather than for entertainment or personal use. Over 66% use a VPN for secure work access and 50% use it to protect communications on public WiFi. In comparison, recreational use cases rank much lower. Only 30% use VPNs to access Japanese sites from abroad, and just 23.3% to watch videos.

Respondents consistently prioritize reliability, security, and stable access to work systems over lifestyle or entertainment-focused perks. Rather than being viewed primarily as consumer tools, VPNs appear to be used mainly as part of the practical setup for secure remote work.

Japan’s version of digital nomadism is evolving differently

Ultimately, Japan’s version of remote work is moving away from the borderless nomad stereotype. It is evolving into a pragmatic, reliability-first model shaped by a desire to gain professional flexibility without sacrificing the comfort, safety, and quality of life found at home.

Key conclusions

Reshaping the lifestyle: Japanese professionals are not rejecting remote work; instead, they are shifting the concept away from a travel-first ideal toward domestic stability and predictable infrastructure.
Safety over adventure: The standard for mobile work remains highly cautious, with a clear preference for familiar home routines, dependable connectivity, and robust data protection.
A pragmatic future: Instead of full location independence, the data points to a reliability-first model built entirely around “Japan-standard” expectations for convenience, focus, and peace of mind.

Are cookies dead? What is Utiq, and should you be worried?

Douglas Crawford — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 17:55:09 GMT

For years, advertisers have relied on third-party cookies (small text files that are stored on your browser when you visit websites) to track your behavior across different websites, so they can serve you with ever more personalized ads. The problem for advertisers is that even deeply non tech-savvy people are increasingly aware of cookies and are taking steps to actively block them.

Utiq is a fairly new (2023) advertising technology company, jointly founded by four of Europe’s most powerful telecoms companies: Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone. Leveraging their combined power, Utiq aims to replace cookies with something that it claims will “give consumers real control and choice over their privacy, whilst facilitating more relevant digital marketing experiences”.

By June 2025, Utiq claimed 26 telecom operator partners (many of whom are smaller companies who lease connections from “the big four”), and more than 55 million unique ConsentPass tokens (see below) across Europe. Utiq now operates in Germany, Austria, Spain, France, the UK, and Italy.

How does Utiq work?

Instead of using cookies to track and profile you across different websites so that you can be served with ever more personalized ads, Utiq works at the ISP level. Here’s how it works:

1. You visit a participating website

If your IP address also belongs to a participating ISP (including your mobile provider), the site displays a clear consent banner asking if you agree to be identified via your network connection. If you’re not on a participating operator’s network, Utiq won’t be activated at all.

If you click Accept, Utiq sends a secure request to your ISP or mobile provider.

2. Your ISP generates a “ConsentPass” token

Your provider matches your connection (often using your phone number or broadband account ID as the seed) to generate a unique, random, anonymized token called a ConsentPass.

This token proves that you (or specifically, your device on this connection) have given consent
Crucially, it doesn’t reveal who you are, only that you are an anonymous user who opted in

3. The ConsentPass is shared with Utiq

From the ConsentPass token, Utiq generates two additional encrypted tokens:

MartechPass: Sent to advertisers and publishers. This allows them to recognize you as a consenting user across different websites without seeing your personal identity. They can use this for personalized ads or content, but they cannot link it back to your real-world identity.
AdtechPass: Used for measuring ad performance (e.g., did an ad lead to a sale?) without tracking your browsing history across the entire web.

4. User Control

A key selling point of Utiq is that you maintain control over who can track you. In addition to consent being required when you first visit a website, you can visit the Utiq ConsentHub (a dedicated portal) at any time to see which companies have received your tokens.

From there, you can easily withdraw consent. Once withdrawn, your tokens are invalidated, and participating advertisers and websites must stop using them.

What Utiq means for your privacy

Thanks to the need for explicit consent to be given, and the ability to withdraw consent at any time, Utiq is keen to promote itself as a as “privacy-by-design” solution that balances the needs of advertisers with the privacy needs of internet users.

It also claims GDPR compliance and presents itself as a European alternative to US adtech giants. However, privacy advocates are skeptical.

Utiq is potentially worse than cookies

A peer-reviewed paper by researchers at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya concluded that ConsentPass tokens were functionally similar to third-party cookies aimed at identifying internet users consistently over time.

Critically, the researchers found that Utiq may actually be more intrusive than regular cookies, because the tokens are based on completely unique parameters, and cannot be cleared the way browser cookies can.

Also deeply concerning is its finding that 100% of the 10,000 websites it surveyed that used Utiq also used more intrusive tracking methods alongside it, including fingerprinting. The researchers concluded that Utiq doesn’t represent a genuine privacy improvement over third-party cookies, as its simply being added to the arsenal of tracking technologies used by websites, not replacing them.

Your phone number is used

A great deal has been made of the fact that your phone number is used as the cryptographic “seed” for your ConsentPass token. However, your phone number itself is never revealed to the websites, ad networks, or data brokers.

There is a potential risk that if Utiq’s hashing algorithm was ever compromised, or if a carrier leaks the mapping table between your phone number and ConsentPass, then every advertiser in possession of your tokens could link your online activity back to your real phone number.

To help counter this threat, Utiq uses cryptographic salt in its one-way hashing technique that’s only known to Utiq and the carrier. In theory, this makes reversing the process to reveal your phone number impossible without the collusion of both parties. However, a state actor with legal authority over both Utiq and a carrier could force the “collusion” of both parties with a simple court order.

Dark patterns

A probably greater concern for most is that many people will blithely click through the consent dialog without giving it much thought (as is common for cookie consent requests). This problem is compounded by the fact that while the ConsentHub portal exists, few people know about it, let alone check it regularly.

Can a VPN help? How to deactivate Utiq

Yes. The Utiq consent dialog is only activated if your IP address belongs to an Utiq partner. A virtual private network (VPN) hides your real IP address so that the website only sees the IP address of the VPN server. Not your real IP address.

So even if you are a partner provider customer, the consent dialog simply won’t activate. And since consent is never assumed, Utiq will never be activated as long as you’re using a VPN.

Learn more about VPNs

Should you be worried about Utiq?

Utiq presents itself as a privacy improvement on cookies. And in narrow technical terms, such as the need for explicit consent, a dedicated opt-out portal, and no direct sharing of personal data, it succeeds. But its still a technology developed in the interest of advertisers, rather than out of a genuine desire to protect ordinary internet users.

The reality is that Utiq is a tracking system built deeper into the infrastructure of the internet than cookies ever were, operated by companies that already hold more data about you than any advertiser. This data is tied to your real-world identity via your phone number. The practical reality is also that it’s being used by websites to supplement more traditional tracking methods, rather than replace them.

The good news is that a VPN is a very effective countermeasure. Far more effective, in fact, than traditional anti-tracking tactics such as blocking third-party cookies and using browser extensions to block DNS queries to advertising domains.

For now, Utiq is only of concern to Europeans. But the underlying technology has no inherent geographic limits, so success in Europe will likely lead to more global adoption.

Proton VPN 2026 spring and summer roadmap

Antonio Cesarano — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:53:31 GMT

In 2026, privacy online is more vital than ever. Around the world, people are facing growing censorship, tighter restrictions, and age verification systems that ask you to hand over personal data just to access everyday websites and services. For these reasons, VPNs have become more than a convenience. For millions of people, they are now an essential tool for privacy, freedom, and unfettered access to the internet.

At Proton VPN, our focus this spring and summer is to make privacy easier to use for everyone. We’re building a faster, more reliable, and more consistent VPN experience across every platform, so staying protected feels seamless, wherever you are.

Unlocking the next generation of performance

As we mentioned in our fall and winter recap, we’ve been working on a new client-side WireGuard® codebase that takes the best parts of our existing codebase and builds on them to unlock the next generation of Proton VPN performance, reliability, and censorship resistance. This modern, flexible VPN core allows us to:

Build faster, more reliable apps
Deliver best-in-class, anti-censorship capabilities
Ship features and improvements more quickly across all our apps
Lay the groundwork for post-quantum encryption

Beta testing of the new client-side codebase is already available on Android and Windows, and will be coming to macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Linux over the coming months. Although currently experimental, we believe it to be safe and secure in its current form. So if your threat model allows it, we’d love you, our community, to help road-test this big new milestone in Proton VPN’s story.

A sleeker performance on Linux

We’re planning to make your experience smoother when using Proton VPN between devices and platforms. Our team is redesigning our Linux GUI app to give you a more consistent look and feel between apps on different platforms.

The modern, sleek design you know on other platforms will soon be available for Linux. These improvements are coming alongside long-awaited support for the Stealth protocol as part of the new WireGuard codebase. By helping mask VPN traffic, Stealth will make Proton VPN on Linux more private, harder to detect, and better equipped to work on networks that try to restrict or block VPN use.

Stay connected, your way

We recently introduced improved connection preferences that allowed you to permanently exclude specific countries, cities, and states from Fastest Country connections on Android. Just set your preferences once, and the app will always pick from locations that actually work for you. Soon, we’ll be making the same connection preferences available on Windows.

Defeat censorship in more countries

At Proton, our mission is to make the internet a better place for everyone. You can now defeat censorship by accessing the web from over 20,000 servers with IP addresses around the world, including multiple new locations. Proton VPN now lets you browse as if you were in one of over 145 counties worldwide.

New locations we’ve added, including in highly restrictive places such as Gabon, Haiti, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, provide you with greater choice and allow expats to connect home, wherever that is.

Proton VPN for Business

As a modern organization, you need simple, centralized control over how your teams connect and work online. That’s why we’re expanding Proton VPN for Business with tools that help IT teams protect employees, reduce risk, and manage devices at scale.

We’re working on giving admins control over the websites and content accessed within their organizations through web filtering policies. In addition, we are building advanced admin controls to enforce always-on VPN and split tunneling across your entire device fleet. We’re also working on a new admin dashboard that will help you stay on top of alerts and get a real-time view of your organization and network from one place.

Making privacy effortless

The future of privacy protection isn’t just stronger encryption or faster protocols. It’s making security simple enough that anyone can use it every day.

That’s what this roadmap is about: removing friction, improving reliability, and giving you the tools you need to stay private and connected in an increasingly challenging online world.

As always, thank you for being part of Proton’s mission to make privacy the default. To learn about exciting new features as they’re released, be sure to check out our latest release notes. And to help test-run these new features so we can fix issues before releasing them to the wider Proton VPN community, be sure to run the early-access (beta) versions of our apps.

To tell us what you think about our recent improvements or to suggest new features you’d like to see, join our community. You can also catch us on Reddit, Instagram, Linkedin, and X.

Proton VPN 2025-2026 fall and winter recap

Antonio Cesarano — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:18:24 GMT

As promised in our fall and winter roadmap, over the last few months we’ve been focusing on delivering features to greatly improve your VPN experience, such as building a new VPN architecture and delivering a Linux CLI. We’ve also made improvements that weren’t originally on our roadmap, such as making NetShield Ad-blocker even more effective.

We’d like to share with you, the Proton community, how this work is going, and to fill you in on any updates you may have missed. We’ll also post our roadmap for spring and summer soon, so be sure to check back in and see what’s coming next.

A new VPN protocol codebase for faster, more reliable apps

We’ve been busy working on an exciting new client‑side WireGuard® codebase that unlocks the next generation of Proton VPN performance, reliability, and censorship resistance. Soon to be available for beta testing on Android and Windows, we’ve already ensured this new codebase means:

Faster and more reliable apps
Greatly improved anti-censorship capabilities
Fewer disconnects and dropouts

Power, precision, and privacy from the Linux terminal

We’ve heard from our community that command-line support matters for Linux users. You can now enjoy Proton VPN’s trusted encryption and Swiss privacy from the Linux terminal, allowing you to skip the graphical interface and launch secure connections in seconds. Our Linux CLI (command-line utility) is built for speed and reliability, providing the fastest way to protect your privacy and manage your VPN without leaving the keyboard.

Available for Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and Arch, our new Linux CLI now supports a host of advanced features, such as IPv6, moderate NAT, custom DNS, a kill switch, VPN Accelerator, NetShield Ad-blocker, port forwarding, and more.

NetShield Ad-blocker is now six times more powerful

Although it wasn’t part of our original roadmap, we’ve made major improvements to NetShield Ad-blocker, our DNS filtering feature. NetShield has always been highly effective at blocking ads, malware, and tracker domains, and now it blocks six times more ads and trackers than before.

This is because NetShield now blocks subdomains in addition to root domains. For example, instead of just blocking connections to tracker.com, NetShield now also blocks connections to api.tracker.com cdn.tracker.com, pixel.tracker.com, and similar subdomains. As a result, it provides stronger protection for private, secure browsing.

Faster, simpler, more reliable

We’ve also introduced many under-the-hood improvements that make Proton VPN apps more intuitive and easy to use:

Added support for 6 new languages, bringing the total number of languages supported in all our apps (except Linux) to 35.
Added City view on Linux, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS (beta), so you can browse and connect to specific cities and states directly from the country list.
Improved split tunneling and the kill switch on Windows so you can use them together.
Improved Connection preferences on Android so you can exclude locations when you connect to Fastest.
Greatly improved startup reliability on the Android app.

Even better for business

Proton VPN for Business continues to expand its feature portfolio for teams and organizations. Over the last few months, we’ve introduced:

A new VPN + Pass plan aimed at professional users
Groups: Administrators can create user groups and customize each group’s access to Gateways and shared servers, providing granular control access to sensitive resources based on user identity.
Support for more MDM providers: Iru, FletDM, SimpleDM, and Workspace ONE.

So what’s next?

To find out more, watch out for our upcoming Proton VPN spring and summer roadmap.

Thank you for supporting our work to make privacy and freedom available to everyone. To tell us what you think about our recent improvements or to suggest new features, join our community.

IKEv2 support is ending on macOS

Douglas Crawford — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:34:05 GMT

To improve security and performance, we’re removing support for the IKEv2 VPN protocol from our macOS app. If you currently use IKEv2, you’ll need to switch to a modern VPN protocol before the change takes effect.

Apple’s native IKEv2 implementation on macOS has been a source of ongoing security concerns, including traffic leaks that can expose your real IP address. Powerful, sleek, and secure modern VPN protocols — such as WireGuard® and our own Stealth protocol — offer better performance and stronger privacy guarantees.

There is no longer a reason for us to continue supporting IKEv2, and we have long since stopped doing so on all our other apps.

What to use instead of IKEv2

Instead of IKEv2, you can use:

Smart Protocol (default): Let the app automatically select the best protocol for your network. This is the easiest option, and is enabled by default. Smart Protocol will intelligently switch between protocols and ports as needed.
WireGuard: A fast, lightweight, and secure protocol that is now the default on our macOS app. WireGuard offers significantly better performance than IKEv2, with the added benefit of excellent security.
Stealth: Our custom obfuscation protocol is based on WireGuard and tunneled over TLS. Stealth is designed to defeat censorship and deep packet inspection in restrictive network environments.

Learn how to change VPN protocols or select Smart Protocol

Don’t see WireGuard or Stealth as an option?

WireGuard and Stealth require the use of a macOS network extension (called system extensions on older macOS versions). If you don’t see these protocols listed in your Proton VPN app, it likely means the system isn’t enabled. This is a common issue, as macOS blocks third-party system extensions by default as a security measure, and you need to manually allow them.

Learn how to install macOS network extensions

Who is affected?

This update affects everyone using the IKEv2 protocol in the Proton VPN macOS app. If you haven’t manually changed VPN protocol, you are most likely already using WireGuard or Smart Protocol and don’t need to do anything.To check your current protocol, open the Proton VPN app and go to Settings → Connection tab → Protocol. If it shows Smart, WireGuard, WireGuard (TCP), or Stealth, you’re all set.

What do you need to do?

If your protocol is set to Smart, WireGuard, or Stealth: Nothing. You’re already using a modern protocol.
If your protocol is set to IKEv2: Switch to Smart Protocol or WireGuard in Settings → Connection → Protocol.
Check your connection profiles: If you have created custom VPN connection profiles, these may still use IKEv2 (even after you’ve updated your default protocol). Go to the Profiles tab, review each profile, and switch any that still use IKEv2 to Smart Protocol or WireGuard.

When do you need to do it?

We’ll be removing IKEv2 support from our servers starting April 2026. The entire process won’t happen overnight (final support will end in February 2027), but it will become increasing likely that your IKEv2 connection will fail April 2026 onward.

Why are we making this change?

In addition to the security concerns about Apple’s IKEv2 implementation, and the fact that modern WireGuard-based protocols offer much better performance than IKEv2, maintaining support for IKEv2 has negative consequences for all our users.

IKEv2 operates on well-known, fixed ports (UDP 500 and 4500) that are trivially easy to scan for. Countries that censor the internet (such as China, Russia, and Myanmar) actively probe these ports to detect and flag the IP addresses of our VPN servers.

Once flagged, these IP addresses are added to commercial databases (“blacklists”) used by websites, streaming services, and other online platforms to block access or serve CAPTCHAs to anyone connecting from those addresses.

This affects everyone in Proton VPN community who uses these servers, not just those using IKEv2. By closing these ports, we make our servers significantly harder to fingerprint and reduce the likelihood of our IP addresses being flagged. The result is a better browsing experience for everyone.

Removing IKEv2 from our macOS app allows us to:

Improve your security: Apple’s IKEv2 implementation has known vulnerabilities that are outside our control to fix. By moving to protocols fully managed by us, we can protect your privacy better.
Reduce complexity: Supporting fewer protocols means a leaner, more reliable app with fewer potential points of failure.
Accelerate development: A simpler codebase lets us ship new features and improvements faster.
Deliver better performance: WireGuard and Stealth are modern protocols built from the ground up to be fast and efficient, offering noticeably better speeds and lower battery drain than IKEv2.

A better, faster VPN experience

WireGuard is faster, more battery-efficient, and reconnects more quickly than IKEv2 — especially when switching between Wi-Fi and mobile networks. Combined with Smart Protocol’s automatic network probing, you’ll get the best possible connection without having to think about protocol selection at all.

If you connect to Proton VPN from a censored environment, Stealth provides robust obfuscation capabilities that IKEv2 simply does not. This change will result in a better VPN experience for all our macOS community members.

Censorship and repression: Proton VPN’s end of year report 2025

Douglas Crawford — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:18:30 GMT

The past year marked another challenging one for democracy and internet freedom. A notable trend was the increasing willingness of authoritarian governments to damage their own economies and the livelihoods of citizens by implementing total internet shutdowns.

Most notable, however, was the increasing threat to internet freedom in Western democracies by-and-large considered “free.” From age verification laws introduced without considering the full ramifications to social media restrictions, to DNS server blocks, access to a free and open internet is imperilled now more than ever.

As always, Proton VPN is at the forefront of this battle to protect privacy and free speech. More and more the world is relying on our services to defend themselves in this dramatic escalation the global war on internet freedom.

We’ve observed unprecedented surges in Proton VPN connections worldwide as people refuse to be silenced. As pressure mounted, citizens everywhere fought back, turning to privacy tools in record numbers to defeat censorship and reclaim their right to an open, uncensored internet. — David Peterson, Proton VPN’s General Manager.

In 2025, we observed spikes in Proton VPN signups in 62 countries. We define a spike as any sudden increase that surpasses 100% over the previous baseline. These upsurges included:

10 countries with at least one spike in signups of over 1,000%
Six countries with at least one spike in signups of over 5,000%
Four countries with at least one spike in signups of over 10,000%

In this report, we’ll analyze what made 2025 so remarkable. We’ll explore where pressures on free speech intensified and how regular people around the world pushed back. Using data from our observatory and global usage patterns, we’ll outline the forces now shaping online freedom — and what they might signal for the year ahead.

Most notable spikes and shutdowns in 2025

Spikes and shutdowns due to censorship and civil unrest

When political pressure rises, the internet is often the first casualty. Across multiple countries, governments responded to conflict and elections not with transparency, but with blackouts, throttling, and isolation from the global web. These incidents show how fragile digital access can be, and why tools that preserve connectivity matter now more than ever.

1. Iran

On June 18, as the Iran–Israel War escalated, Iran imposed a near-total internet blackout that lasted three days. The government severed international connections and blocked access to websites, social media, messaging services, and foreign VPN servers. Only Iran’s domestic intranet and government-approved services remained accessible.

Limited bandwidth returned on June 21, but networks remained heavily throttled for essential services only. Following a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24, normal (censored) internet access was restored. By June 26, Proton VPN signups surged 5,500% as Iranians looked for ways to access international news.

2. Tanzania

Tanzania’s October general election saw the two main opposition candidates barred from the ballot, sparking protests in several cities. Security forces responded with lethal force, causing many deaths and injuries, and the government shut down the internet for five days. When service resumed, VPN signups increased by 2,000%.

3. Afghanistan

On September 29, citing “immorality”, the Taliban imposed a 24‑hour total internet blackout affecting roughly 30% of the population. The shutdown came after the regime began removing women‑authored books from universities and restricting girls’ education past age 12, prompting some women to turn to online learning.

Even after the blackout ended, access to Facebook, Instagram and X remained limited. Proton VPN signups jumped a staggering 35,000% as Afghans sought ways to connect abroad. Subsequent disruptions, including a separate blackout on October 14, have kept VPN demand high.

4. Papua New Guinea

On March 25, 2025, Papua New Guinea abruptly blocked Facebook access, claiming a “test” to curb misinformation, hate speech, pornography and other harmful content during in the event of a national emergency. Critics noted the timing coincided with Prime Minister James Marape’s testimony in a corruption trial, suggesting the move aimed to suppress real‑time news coverage and commentary.

Because Facebook is a key gateway to the wider internet for many PNG residents, Proton VPN signups spiked by over 14,000 % the same day.

See more top censorship moments for 2025

Spikes due to legal and regulatory changes

Internet control doesn’t always look like a shutdown. Increasingly, it comes wrapped in regulation. New laws that expand age verification and identity requirements can create pressure to hand over sensitive personal data just to access legal content. When trust in data handling erodes, users look for alternatives.

1. United Kingdom

The UK’s controversial Online Safety Act, which introduced new age-verification requiring all user generated content sites to verify the age of their users, came into force on July 25. In practice, this meant adults were increasingly asked to prove their identity, often by uploading government-issued ID or submitting biometric data, to access legal content.

Many people were reluctant to comply, especially in light of a number of high-profile data breaches that hit the headlines at around the same time. The Tea app data breach exposed particularly sensitive user information: 72,000 images, including 13,000 verification photos and images of government IDs, and was followed by further such incidents, including data leaks involving Discord and Mixpanel.

Together, these events reinforced fears about how personal data is collected, stored, and protected by online services, and resulted in a notable 1200% increase in Proton VPN signups.

2. Spain

La Liga (Spain’s top soccer league) wanted to crack down on illegal streaming of matches. To do this, it obtained a court order allowing them to block IP addresses associated with piracy, which it promptly required multiple ISPs to do.

However, many of the blocked IP addresses belonged to Cloudflare, a global infrastructure provider. And because Cloudflare uses shared IP addresses, millions of legitimate websites share the same IP addresses as pirate sites. The result? Widespread over-blocking of millions of legitimate websites.

This remains an ongoing situation, resulting in consistent Proton VPN signup spikes throughout the year, notably in February (+110%) and October (+200%). Of particular note is that VPN usage surges occurred whenever the blocks were put in place, not just during matches. This strongly suggests that Spaniards are turning to VPNs simply to access the legitimate websites they usually frequent.

3. USA

In 2024, framing the measure as protection against “foreign adversary–controlled applications”, Congress passed legislation requiring TikTok to divest its US operations or face removal from app stores and US internet infrastructure.

On January 19, 2025, the TikTok app briefly stopped working for US users, and the app was removed from the Apple and Google app stores. The video editing tool, CapCut (developed by TikTok’s owners), also went down. During this time, we recorded a 520% increase in Proton VPN signups.

Within hours, however, the incoming Trump administration signed an executive order delaying enforcement, giving TikTok extra time to find a buyer and effectively pausing the ban multiple times through 2025.

Timeline of spikes

Signup spikes by region

Political instability in many sub-Saharan African countries, including Tanzania, Togo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan resulted in a notable increase in total internet shutdowns and Proton VPN signup spikes across the region.

Last year also saw a sizable increase in signups from Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries such as Türkiye, Myanmar, Cambodia, Iran, and Papua New Guinea, in response to social media restrictions (often implemented in response to civil unrest or with the aim of preventing it).

Perhaps the most interesting new development, though, was the number of spikes we witnessed in Western democracies such as the UK, US, Spain and France.

Proton VPN is at the forefront of the battle against censorship

Proton VPN provides key tools and services that allow people to access the free and open internet, no matter where they are. These include:

100% free VPN service with no data limits: Ensuring our service is available to those who need it the most is central to Proton’s mission.
Alternative routing: If our software cannot connect directly to our servers, it routes your connection through third-party services (such as AWS) that are unlikely to be blocked.
Stealth: Our WireGuard®-based obfuscated and DPI resistant VPN protocol is effective at defeating many forms of online censorship.
Smart protocol: When the default VPN protocol is blocked, our apps automatically switch to different VPN protocols and ports to evade the block.
Available from multiple sources: When access to our website is blocked, Proton VPN can be downloaded from third party sources such as Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon app store and F-Droid. It’s available as an APK, and all our open source apps are available to compile and download from GitHub.

Of course, Proton VPN is always working on new ways to improve our anti-censorship capabilities. In 2025 we added:

Guest mode on iOS

This popular feature for Android is now available for iPhones. Just install the app and tap the Continue as guest button to defeat censorship and protect your privacy online.

More free server locations

We’ve expanded our selection of free server locations to 10 countries. You can now connect to free servers for the Netherlands, Japan, Romania, Poland, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Mexico, Canada, and the United States.

More server locations

We’ve also expanded the total number of server locations you can connect to with a paid Proton VPN plan. You can now defeat government efforts to censor international connections and access local content by connecting to 17,000+ VPN servers for 127 countries. Locations added in 2025 include Panama, Armenia, Mongolia, Laos, Brunei, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Cameroon, Guatemala, and Honduras.

More ways to buy Proton VPN

In addition to our long-standing support for direct payments via cash and Bitcoin, it is now possible to purchase paid Proton VPN plans using Monero, Litecoin, Ethereum, and more via partners.

Whatever 2026 brings, Proton VPN is ready

The trends that emerged in 2025 show no sign of slowing in 2026. Governments around the world are increasingly willing to restrict internet access as a first response to political pressure, civil unrest, or regulatory ambition. In authoritarian states, this has meant more frequent and more severe shutdowns, even at significant economic cost.

In democracies, the threat is subtler but no less real. Poorly designed laws, blunt enforcement tools, and private-sector compliance mechanisms are fragmenting access to the open internet in ways that were once considered unthinkable.

At the same time, 2025 made one thing clear: people adapt quickly. Whether facing total blackouts, social media bans, mandatory ID checks, or indiscriminate blocking of infrastructure providers, millions turned to Proton VPN not to break the law, but to stay informed, communicate freely, and access the services they rely on.

The growing number of large signup spikes in democratic countries suggests that circumvention tools are no longer used only at the margins of society. They are becoming a mainstream response to overreach, censorship, and loss of trust in how online access is governed.

As we move into 2026, the struggle over internet freedom is likely to intensify. More governments will test the limits of control, and more people will look for ways around it. Proton VPN will continue to invest in free access, stronger anti-censorship technology, and wider global availability, so that wherever restrictions appear, people have a reliable way to stay connected to the open internet. For example, we’re currently working on:

A new VPN codebase: Will deliver best-in-class anti-censorship capabilities, enable Stealth support on Linux, power the next generation of Stealth, and lay the groundwork for post-quantum encryption.
An improved Linux CLI: Our Linux command-line tool allows anyone to access the open internet using only the most basic hardware. We recently added a host of advanced configuration options, and will expand on these through 2026.

As we head into 2026, the 2025 data underscores a powerful truth: whenever censorship tightens its grip, from internet shutdowns to app blocks, people fight back by turning to VPNs in unprecedented numbers to protect their voices and access uncensored information. We remain deeply committed to this battle; our team will keep working tirelessly to innovate, roll out new anti-censorship features, and strengthen our tools so that users worldwide can defeat restrictions and reclaim their online freedom. Thanks to Proton VPN community, we will ensure privacy and an open internet prevail. — David Peterson.

Whatever challenges 2026 brings, the message from 2025 is clear: when internet access is threatened, people push back. And Proton VPN will be there to support them.