tubi is a US streaming platform notable for offering over 250,000(new window) movies, TV shows, and live TV channels for free. Because it’s free, many people are understandably wary about this highly popular service. In this article, we’ll look at;
- What is tubi?
- How does tubi make money?
- Is tubi safe?
- How Proton VPN can protect your tubi streaming privacy
- What are the downsides of watching tubi?
- How to watch tubi with Proton VPN
- Final thoughts
- Frequently asked questions
What is tubi?
tubi is a free, ad-supported video streaming service that offers a wide variety of TV shows and movies. With around 97 million monthly active users(new window) in January 2025, it’s one of the most popular free streaming platforms in the world.
Founded under the name Tubi TV in 2014 following a round of venture capital funding(new window), tubi was purchased by Fox Corporation in 2020 for $440 million. It now partners with major studios and networks, such as Lionsgate, MGM, and Paramount Pictures, to offer a diverse range of content for viewers in the US.
How does tubi make money?
With no subscription model (although you can optionally sign in to curate your viewing experience and set parental controls), tubi is 100% funded through advertising. It’s therefore completely free to access, but expect to watch approximately two minutes of ads every 15 minutes or so.
Is tubi safe?
Yes. tubi is owned by Fox and partners with some of the largest and most prestigious names in the US entertainment industry.
According to its privacy policy(new window), tubi collects a great deal of personal information about you, including but not limited to user interaction data, device identifiers, location data, viewing history, and account information (if you create an account). tubi shares this data with third-party service providers, including advertisers, and may also share data for legal compliance or business transfers.
It should be noted, though, that this level of tracking is pretty standard across all industries, and is no more invasive than the kinds of tracking performed by the likes of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.
How Proton VPN can protect your tubi streaming privacy
Watching tubi with Proton VPN helps protect your privacy in two key ways. These privacy protections are particularly effective when using a service like tubi, as it doesn’t require you to sign in or provide payment details that would otherwise identify you.
1. A VPN hides your real IP address
Your internet protocol (IP) address uniquely identifies you to any online service you connect to. It’s therefore the easiest and most reliable way for a service like tubi to know who you are and to build up a profile on you over time. When you use a VPN, you connect to a VPN server before connecting to the internet, so when you watch tubi, all tubi sees is the IP address of our VPN server.
A VPN therefore blocks the most basic and pervasive form of tracking.
2. Proton VPN’s NetShield Ad-blocker
As a premium feature available to everyone with a paid Proton VPN plan, we offer a DNS filtering feature called NetShield Ad-blocker. In addition to blocking ads (which may include those shown on tubi), NetShield blocks a wide selection of tracking domains belonging to advertising and analytics companies.
Using Proton VPN can therefore greatly enhance your privacy while streaming tubi.
Learn more about NetShield Ad-blocker
What are the downsides to watching tubi?
The biggest downside of watching tubi is that you also need to watch ads. However, if you watch tubi safely and securely using Proton VPN with our NetShield Ad-blocker feature turned on, you may see less of these.
Most content on tubi is 720p resolution or lower, and its catalog features many older titles and “B movies.” However, this isn’t always the case. In recent years, tubi has greatly increased its catalog of premium and prestige titles, and now also offers a large range of original TV shows and movies.
How to watch tubi with Proton VPN
With Proton VPN, you can watch tubi safely and securely when traveling away from home. To use Proton VPN for streaming, you’ll need a paid Proton VPN plan.
From your browser
1. If you haven’t already, you’ll need to download and install Proton VPN for your device.
- Proton VPN for Windows
- Proton VPN for macOS
- Proton VPN for Linux
- Proton VPN Chrome extension
- Proton VPN Firefox extension
2. Log in to Proton VPN and connect to any Plus server in the United States.
3. Visit the tubi website at tubitv.com(new window) and just start watching tubi’s large catalogue of on-demand shows and movies or its live TV channels safely and securely with Proton VPN.
How to watch tubi with Proton VPN on a mobile device
tubi apps are available for Android(new window), iOS and iPadOS(new window).
1. If you haven’t already, you’ll need to download and install Proton VPN for your device.
2. Log in to Proton VPN and connect to any server in the United States.
3. Download the tubi app and just start watching tubi’s large catalogue of on-demand shows and movies or its live TV channels safely and securely with Proton VPN.
How to watch tubi with Proton VPN on your smart TV
tubi apps are available for Android TV, Amazon Fire TV (“firestick”), and Apple TV.
1. Download Proton VPN for:
2. Log in to Proton VPN and connect to any server in United States.
3. Install the tubi app on your Android TV, Fire TV, or Apple TV device and just start watching tubi’s large catalogue of on-demand shows and movies or its live TV channels safely and securely with Proton VPN.
Final thoughts — tubi is even safer with Proton VPN
tubi is a wildly popular streaming service for a reason — it offers huge catalog of titles for free. However, like almost all streaming services (and most online services in general), it tracks you in various ways for advertising purposes, but you can help protect yourself against this using Proton VPN.
The service is ad-supported, but while Proton VPN can’t guarantee NetShield Ad-blocker will block ads on tubi, in this writer’s subjective experience it was highly effective at doing just that.
Frequently asked questions
Since 2020, tubi is owned by American multinational mass media company Fox Corporation (commonly referred to as Fox Corp).
tubi is free to watch, although it expects you watch ads in exchange for this. It also collects data about you that’s useful for selling its own products, and for selling to third party advertisers. Using a VPN will reduce the amount of data it can collect about you.
Yes. Ads are the primary way tubi uses to supports its free-to-watch service. Using Proton VPN with NetShield Ad-blocker may reduce the number of ads you see.
