Get started using VPN on your mobile devices

Yes, but not too much. Encrypting and decrypting your data requires processing power, which, in theory, can slow down your internet connection. In practice, even low-end modern smartphones can handle VPN encryption with no noticeable slowdown.

A bigger issue is how far your data travels. Connecting to a VPN server adds another “leg” to its journey, which inevitably slows it down. This is particularly true if the VPN server you connect to is located on the other side of the world from you.

If you connect to a VPN server fairly nearby, (for example, anywhere in Europe if you are based in Europe), it is unlikely you will notice any slowdown. In addition to this, our unique VPN Accelerator technology can increase speeds by over 400% under certain conditions and is particularly effective at mitigating speed loss when connecting to geographically distant servers.

Learn more about VPN Accelerator

Another factor to consider is the “server load” of the VPN server you are using. That is, how many people are using it at the same time as you and thus making demands on its resources.

This is the only reason that our free servers, which can get a little busy during peak times, do not always allow the speeds that are available when using our Basic and Plus servers, which tend to be less busy.

Proton VPN uses the OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols for its mobile apps (plus IKEv2 in our iOS app), which experts agree are the most secure VPN protocols yet devised. We also implement these at their strongest encryption settings.

Our open-source apps feature kill switches to protect you against VPN dropouts, and built-in DNS and IPv6 leak protection ensure there is no possibility your privacy can be compromised.

Our servers are all “hardened” with multiple security layers and failsafes, in addition to using robust physical security measures. Where security is of paramount importance, you might like to consider using our special Secure Core service for additional protection.

Using a VPN on your mobile device is completely safe as long as you use a trustworthy VPN app. Unfortunately, there are lots of untrustworthy apps on the App Store and Play Store that will keep logs of your activity and sell your data.

Proton VPN keeps no logs that can compromise your privacy, is based in Switzerland, home of some of the strongest data privacy laws in the world, uses only the strongest VPN protocols and encryption suites possible, and makes the source code of all our apps freely available for anyone to audit.

We have commissioned professional third-party audits of all our apps, the results of which are publicly available.

When using a VPN, DNS queries are supposed to go through the VPN tunnel so that only the VPN service can see and resolve them. A DNS leak occurs when a DNS request is somehow routed outside the VPN tunnel so that it can be seen by (and usually also resolved by) your ISP.

There are a number of reasons this can happen, and while Windows is typically the worst offender, it can happen on any platform. DNS leak protection solves the problem by using firewall rules to ensure no traffic can leave your device outside the VPN tunnel.

Proton VPN keeps no logs of your activities that could at a future point compromise your privacy.

Other than payment details, which are never tied to your online activities, Proton VPN keeps no logs whatsoever. And under Swiss law, we cannot be compelled to start logging.