Security

The Top 3 VPN Services For Android (2024 Edition)

When it comes to subscription based VPN services, there are a few things to look out for when selecting a quality provider. This guide helps you choose the best option for your specific needs.

Published

3 years ago

June 15, 2021

Joanna Melki

Unsplash

If you’re anything like us, you probably spend a great deal of your time glued to your smartphone or tablet. And with every activity on those devices involving an internet connection, it’s vital that our apps and data are secured from hackers and malicious snooping. In this article, we’re going to give you a brief overview of why you need to protect your online activity with a VPN, and then review three of our favorite VPN services for Android.

So What Exactly Is A VPN?

VPN is the acronym for “Virtual Private Network”. When a VPN is installed on your Android device, instead of connecting to the internet directly, the phone or tablet will first connect to the VPN’s server, which will then connect to the wider internet.

In effect, the VPN acts as a go-between for connecting to the web, creating an encrypted “tunnel” that prevents third parties from snooping on your data. When connected to a VPN, you’ll be able to do all of the normal things you might want to do on the internet, using an external IP address through a server that masks your real location.

Why Use A VPN On Your Android Device?

When you’re out and about in public, you almost certainly use your phone or tablet to connect to free WiFi networks. These public hotspots can be targeted by hackers and fraudsters, who can intercept your data and in some cases, steal confidential information. If you regularly check your banking apps, log in to social media accounts or send emails whilst on a public network, you have a very real risk of having your data intercepted and stolen.

Also Read: Is Your Phone Hacked? How To Find Out & Protect Yourself

With a VPN in place, your data and browsing activity are kept safe, because everything that you send or receive on your device is funneled through an encrypted connection to the VPN’s server.

In addition to WiFi security, a VPN hides your location, IP address and browsing history. That means that your phone carrier or internet service provider are unable to view and log your entire browsing history. It also means that you can spoof being in a different country, giving you access to region specific content on Netflix and other services that isn’t available in your part of the world.

Are VPNs Difficult To Use?

Absolutely not! Most VPNs these days are extremely simple to use. Once you’ve paid for an account, all you’ll need to do is download the accompanying Android app and enter your login details.

There’s little or no technical steps required to get up and running. You’ll simply have to decide upon a server location and whether you want to have the VPN running all the time. After that, your device will work as normal and you shouldn’t even notice that the VPN is there.

How To Choose An Android VPN

These days, there’s a huge selection of VPN providers to choose from. You can test out a free VPN service if simply want to understand how the technology works, but we’d suggest opting for a better quality paid offering, as you’ll almost certainly get faster speeds, and you won’t have to put up with annoying adverts or data limits.

When it comes to subscription based VPN services, there are a few things to look out for when selecting a quality provider:

Check that the speeds and response time are good.
Make sure the service doesn’t limit data.
Check the data logging policy.
Find out what encryption the company uses.
Make sure there are plenty of server locations to choose from.
If you’re concerned about privacy, research where the company is based.
Look for additional features like adblocking and multi-hop services.

The Five, Nine & 14 Eyes

“The Five Eyes alliance is an intelligence-sharing arrangement between five English-speaking democracies: the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It evolved during the Cold War” – BBC News

The arrangement later added Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Norway, becoming The Nine Eyes, and eventually Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden to create The 14 Eyes. These countries are known to actively gather information about their citizens and share it with each other when needed, effectively spying on their citizens. If you’re concerned about your online privacy, you should choose a VPN that’s based outside of these jurisdictions.

If that all sounds a little complicated, you’re in luck: We’ve tested a variety of VPN services for Android over the years, and we think we’ve narrowed it down to three subscription based services that each provide fantastic value for money:

ExpressVPN: The Best All Round Android VPN

Decent pricing, a large selection of servers around the world and a base in the British Virgin Islands make this popular VPN service a solid all-round choice. ExpressVPN logs a very minimal amount of data, and doesn’t collect any of your browsing history at all. In addition, the service works well with video streaming sites and even rotates your IP address to deter hackers and tracking.

Why We Like ExpressVPN:

148 locations and a massive 2,000 servers.
Registered in the British Virgin Islands.
Variable IP addresses.
Works well with Netflix.

Things That Aren’t So Great:

Only five devices can use the account at the same time.
Customer support isn’t always easy to access.
Can be slow if you’re a Mac user.
Good value, but not the cheapest option.

Pricing Options

ExpressVPN offers an introductory deal priced at $99.95 for the first 15 months of use, then the same price every 12 months after that. It’s also possible to buy a single month for $12.95 and 6 months for $59.95. There’s a 30 day money back guarantee if you decide that the service isn’t right for you.

NordVPN: The Best Android VPN For The Privacy Conscious

Nord VPN is a very popular service offering a wide range of speedy servers in multiple countries, and is based in Panama, meaning the company has no obligation to hand over your data to your government’s intelligence agency. With that being said, Nord doesn’t actually log your data at all, so there wouldn’t be much to hand over anyway!

Nord allows P2P sharing, works well with video streaming services, and even offered a multi-hop, double encrypted tunnel for extra peace of mind.

Why We Like NordVPN:

A really stable and mature Android app.
Great security.
Strong encryption.
P2P allowed.
Great value.

Things That Aren’t So Great:

Static IP addresses only.
Occasional iOS app connectivity issues.
Throws up more Google ReCapcha requests than others.

Pricing Options

Nord VPN offers tiered pricing just like many other VPN services for Android. There’s a month-to-month option for $11.95, a $6.99 per month option if you pay for a year up front, a $4.99 per month option if you pay for 2 years at once, and a $3.49 option if you’re prepared to shell out $125.64 for a three year plan.

CyberGhost: The Best Android VPN For Casual Users

CyberGhost is a great option for casual VPN users who are looking for a low-cost service for watching the occasional Netflix show in a different county, or browsing the internet in a café or airport.

CyberGhost has top notch security credentials with AES-256 encryption, an automatic kill switch that blocks the internet if connection to the VPN is lost, and really affordable pricing.

What We Like:

Great value.
Solid security and privacy.
Large list of servers.
Awesome customer support.

Things That Aren’t So Great:

Static IP addresses.
No multi-hop or split-tunneling.
More logging than other services.
Can be slow when used on desktop PCs.

Pricing Options

CyberGhost has 4 pricing tiers available: If you buy 3 years of service up front, the VPN works out at just $2.25 per month. This makes CyberGhost one of the cheapest VPN services for Android around. There’s also a 2 year, 1 year and monthly subscription, coming in at $83.76, $47.88 and $12.99 respectively.

A Paid VPN Service is Money Well Spent

With more and more of us connected to the internet 24/7, it’s becoming increasingly prudent to ensure that your cybersecurity is taken care of. Using one of the better VPN services for Android is a highly effective way to keep your online activities private and your data out of the hands off snoopers and thieves. Sign up to one of suggested services today, and stay safe out there!

Privacy

How Overreliance On Connectivity Compromises Home Privacy

Discover the impact of overreliance on connectivity on your home privacy. Gain insights into protecting your sensitive and personal information in a digital age.

Published

1 week ago

September 5, 2024

ManageEngine

how overreliance on connectivity compromises home privacy

The Internet of Things (IoT) is leading the charge towards a more interconnected and automated world. IoT technology grants unparalleled monitoring and automation capabilities while also reducing the amount of human intervention necessary.

Repetitive and well-defined processes can now be totally automated thanks to IoT, with the role of humans limited to overseeing the process and devising ways to streamline it further.

Apart from its numerous industrial applications, this technology is also the driving force behind the rise of smart cities and smart homes. The transformation of “dumb” devices like electrical appliances (fans, lights, and other household appliances) into smart, internet-enabled devices that can interact with each other and can be controlled remotely over the internet is what makes a smart home, well, smart. And as impressive and convenient as it is, the amount of data being processed by these devices poses serious privacy and security questions.

Are Smart Homes Really Private?

It’s perfectly natural to expect total privacy within the confines of your home. If not your own home, where else can you expect to be 100% safe from prying eyes?

The problem with smart homes is that IoT-enabled devices collect tons of usage data and could, at least in theory, provide opportunities for threat actors to obtain information about your schedule and habits.

Manipulator-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks are a major concern when dealing with smart home devices. In such an attack, a malicious actor manages to intercept communication between two or more devices, gathering data and, in some cases, even managing to take control of the devices themselves.

Thankfully, if you purchase your IoT devices from well-known and respected vendors like Samsung, LG, and Amazon, threat actors will have a hard time accessing the data being transferred between these devices due to the incredibly secure encryption they use. Moreover, if you follow IoT best practices, such as purchasing the newest devices, keeping their firmware up to date, and setting a secure password for your network that you frequently change (since most IoT networks are Wi-Fi-based), there’s no need to worry.

The truth is, if a cybercriminal has the know-how to pull off a breach on a secure IoT network, they’ll usually go after much bigger targets like businesses, for example. Most homes are simply not worth the effort.

Of course, there’s always the chance that your smart home vendor itself could experience a data breach, putting your data at risk, but if this is something you’re worried about, you can always invest in tech that stores data locally. Of course, this comes with its own risks, especially if someone manages to gain access to the storage location, but at that point, the robbers who have managed to break into your home in this hypothetical situation don’t really care about your smart home usage data.

The Cost Of Convenience

IoT and smart home technology have undeniably made life more convenient, and as we’ve already seen, if you invest in the right tech from reputed vendors and follow smart home security best practices, it’s quite secure. However, even if the devices themselves are secure, the vendors—yes, even the trusted ones—have a sketchy history when it comes to managing data.

For example, Amazon was ordered to pay a penalty of $25 million for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule), a U.S. children’s privacy law. The violation occurred due to Amazon indefinitely holding voice recordings of children collected from Alexa, its voice assistant, even ignoring deletion requests in some cases.

Back to the matter at hand: as safe as smart homes are when you know what you’re doing, any device connected to a wider network is inherently at risk of a breach. Since IoT devices are connected to the internet, there is always a chance they may be compromised either due to a lapse on your part or the vendor’s. With the pace at which the cybersecurity landscape is evolving, more and more new threats will continue to emerge that put your security at risk. Whether the convenience provided by smart homes is worth the risk, that’s entirely up to you.