These are the best VPNs for Android devices
Overview
Table of Contents
I resisted the urge to get a decent VPN for my Android phone for years. Why bother with an extra app just to get online, now that internet connections are ubiquitous?
Over time, however, the scenarios in which I needed a VPN became more common. I needed to check what this or that site looked like from another geolocation. Or I needed to test an app that wasn't available in my country. But what finally made me cave in was being unable to watch some of my favorite TV shows while traveling.
What is a VPN?
A VPN, or virtual private network, provides an additional layer of privacy when connecting to the internet. It's like using a private tunnel to browse the web, keeping you safe from prying eyes and enabling you to surf as if you were connecting from a server in a different place. Typically, all you need to do as a user is install the app on your smartphone, start it up, choose a server location, and then you can just continue browsing as usual.
Choosing which VPN provider to go with, however, is both easy and incredibly difficult. There are hundreds to choose from, but it's very hard to test how reliable they are in different scenarios. So below, you'll find a list of some VPNs, both free and paid, that are just plain good.
A word of caution: People use VPNs for various purposes, ranging from accessing a video stream to protecting their privacy from an entity that might be monitoring online communications, including oppressive regimes. Not every VPN offers the same degree of anonymity and the fine print can be important here; if privacy is important to you, carefully read the privacy policy of each service before you use it.
Various VPNs offer versions of their service for Android devices. Here are the best ones that we've tried, in no particular order, with prices listed per year:
ExpressVPN
Best For Cybersecurity Fanatics
The Good & The Bad
- Unlimited bandwith
- No restrictions
- Great speeds
- Doesn't log your activity
- Expensive
Why We Like It
Like essentially all VPNs out there, ExpressVPN promises a ton of servers (more than 3,000), unlimited bandwidth, no restrictions, and great speeds. It also openly advertises the fact that it's based in the British Virgin Islands, which doesn't have data-retention laws, meaning the company isn't required to keep activity or connection logs.
One area where it stands out is the number of available locations, a whopping 160 cities in 94 countries. It also supports a ton of security standards, including 256-bit AES encryption.
The starting monthly price for ExpressVPN is pretty steep: $12.95 per month. But you can also buy a 12-month subscription for $99.95, which means you're actually paying $8.32. Not the cheapest option out there, but still OK. And if you're a cryptocurrency fan, you'll like the fact that you can pay that in bitcoins.
Using the app is simple enough: Fire it up and choose a location (you get a recommended location depending on your actual geolocation which should give you good speed), and then surf away.
Details
NordVPN
Best For Streaming
The Good & The Bad
- One of the sturdiest, most reliable VPNs
- Fast servers
- Can connect five devices
- Doesn't log activities
- It's expensive
Why We Like It
NordVPN has a reputation for being amongst the sturdiest, most reliable VPNs out there and my experience has confirmed that. Whenever I needed to mimic being in a different geolocation, NordVPN had a server that was fast, and, even more importantly, the server was not on any blacklist. With it, I was able to stream Hulu shows in several European countries without issues.
NordVPN says it offers over 5,700 servers worldwide. It lets you connect five devices at the same time, and it claims to keep no logs of your activities.
Unlike Opera, NordVPN isn't free, but here's the bad news: It's very, very hard to find a decent VPN that's free. NordVPN does have some pretty sweet long-term deals, like a three-year subscription for $125.64. This might sound like a lot of money out of the gate, but divide it into monthly installments, and it's just $3.49 per month.
Details
TunnelBear
Best For The Tech-challenged
The Good & The Bad
- Simple
- Fun animation
- Friendly user-interface
- Only get 500MB for free
Why We Like It
TunnelBear's main selling point is simplicity and ease of use, and it delivers. After downloading the app, all you need to do is create an account (only your email address and password is needed), confirm the registration via email, and you're good to go. The animation of a bear actually tunneling from one place to another is pretty great, too.
The app is free, but it only gets you a monthly 500MB, which will be enough for a little bit of work but definitely won't do for video streaming. If you want more, you can get a paid account with unlimited data. Pricing starts at $9.99 per month but is lower if you choose the 3 year plan for $120 (which works out to a monthly price of $3.33).
Details
Topics Android
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
