Free VPN On Android With The ProtonVPN App

How to activate a free VPN on Android to protect the data sent and received from your mobile device. ProtonVPN is a service that now needs no introduction: developed by a group of programmers from CERN in Geneva, the same ones who created ProtonMail for sending and receiving end-to-end encrypted emails (see Sending end-to-end encrypted emails -to-end from any mail client: ProtonMail Bridge ), is a tool that allows you to connect to any remote server by passing the data through an encrypted tunnel.

In other words, even data exchanged via HTTP (which, unlike HTTPS, does not use any form of encryption) or emails sent without using SSL/TLS will pass through an encrypted channel, making it impossible to read or modify by third parties. It is, therefore, evident how ProtonVPN helps send and receive information securely on a public WiFi connection or, even worse, an open one.

Furthermore, ProtonVPN can be used to overcome geographical limitations and appear to be connected from a country other than Italy. The remote server will no longer “see” the public IP assigned to the router on which your device is located or the one given by the mobile operator but the IP of the remote server used by the VPN.

We talked about ProtonVPN and the possibility of using it to connect to a VPN from Android in the article VPN Android: what it is and how to activate it. The article explained how to activate the ProtonVPN VPN by adequately configuring a VPN client for Android. In these hours, however, the ProtonVPN development team has released the final version of the Android app.

Free VPN On Android

The ProtonVPN app for Android helps users by relieving them of the need to generate the configuration file for connecting to the VPN and exempting them from importing it into the client. Downloadable from this page, ProtonVPN for Android offers several VPN servers that can be used to go online with an IP other than the “real” one completely free of charge.

Of course, you will have to expect a performance that is not excellent, but if you choose a server indicated with a green circle (occupancy by users overall limited), you will have no problems.For users who don’t activate a paid account, ProtonVPN allows you to opt for exit servers in the US, Japan, and the Netherlands (the latter are usually the best for Italian and European users in general).

The Upgrade needed items indicate those servers that can only be used after signing a ProtonVPN subscription. It is also interesting to remember that once the VPN connection to a ProtonVPN server has been established, it will be possible to protect all traffic, not only that exchanged via the web browser but also that generated by any application installed on the Android device.

As an added security measure, in some cases, the ProtonVPN app also allows you to connect to the Tor network. With a single click, you can route all traffic through Tor and have the ability to access Onion sites as well (see Browsing Tor with foreign or Italian IP ). After installing ProtonVPN for Android, to connect to a VPN, choose one of the countries listed (we suggest starting with the Netherlands ).

The Use Secure Core “switch” usually only needs to be turned on if you’re using a server in high-risk countries. A targeted attack could eliminate all the benefits of the VPN in terms of privacy, primarily if implemented in countries with particularly stringent limitations regarding communications via the Internet (China, Russia, Turkey, Iran,…).

Although ProtonVPN’s “headquarters” is in Switzerland, the app’s authors do not rule out that in addition to the countries mentioned, agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom may also carry tight controls and monitoring activities.

As explained on this page, Activating Use Secure Core allows you to protect yourself from high-level “espionage” risks by first having VPN data transit through secure servers. With a click on Connect, the app will automatically establish a VPN connection with the remote server: click on OK when the following message appears.

At this point, all the data will be exchanged through the ProtonVPN VPN. By connecting, for example, with DNSStuff, you will read a public IP different from the one assigned by the chosen provider and, above all, belonging to another country.