Kill switch behavior on Chromebooks

You can protect your online privacy on a Chromebook using our Android app, which has been optimized for use on Chrome OS. Most of the features available to Android users of this app will also work flawlessly on your Chromebook.

However, although Chrome OS allows you to run Android apps, these are not native to Chromebooks and do not always behave as they do on a true Android device. An example of this is that the always-on VPN(new window) and VPN kill switch(new window) features found in our Android app do not remain enabled after you restart your Chromebook.

This is a result of how Chrome OS handles Android apps and cannot be changed. Other VPN providers have tried to address the issue by implementing an auto-reconnect feature when Chrome OS is restarted, but this does not protect your device from IP leaks until the app is loaded and a VPN connection is established.

At Proton, we believe this approach constitutes a security risk, since it provides users with a false sense of security. We therefore suggest manually re-enabling always-on VPN and VPN kill switch once the VPN is connected and using the suspend function instead of shutting down your Chromebook where possible.