4 Best VPN Apps for Your Phone and Why You Need Them (2022)

Those who care about their online privacy can best get started with a VPN network. This way you protect your internet use from, among other things, your search engine and provider. They are also indispensable for those who use public Wi-Fi networks and for streaming. These are the best VPN apps for your Android phone.

How does a VPN work?

For VPN beginners: the abbreviation stands for ‘virtual private network’. You have VPN apps for your phone, but you can also use a VPN on your PC. What they do is create a secure tunnel for your internet traffic. It tunnels your data so that your provider or third parties cannot track your internet usage. You connect directly to one of the servers of your VPN service, which sends your data anonymously to the websites and other online services you use.

The usefulness of VPN apps

VPN apps are interesting for a number of reasons, but let’s start with the essentials: browsing without leaving a trace. You may already be using incognito mode in your browser, but it actually gives a false sense of security. Your search history won’t be saved in your browser, but your activities will still be visible to things like your internet service provider, the search engine you use, and the websites you visit. In many countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium, the government has the right in certain cases to ask your provider to access your internet use. With a VPN you are completely protected.

Private browsing is the most obvious benefit and it is particularly useful for those who travel frequently and connect to public Wi-Fi networks. Earlier we explained why you should watch out for free Wi-Fi networks.

One last advantage is still available for video streaming. Thanks to VPN, you can connect to a server in another country, so that you can stream content on services such as Netflix that are exclusively available in that country. This is sometimes referred to as ‘Geoblocking’. On the other hand, you can also use a VPN to watch Dutch content abroad.

The best VPN apps

The best VPN apps offer plenty of servers worldwide and have high bandwidth and good value for money. Ideally, the company’s headquarters are also located in a country where the security services cannot gain insight into users’ internet traffic.

Reliable VPN services almost always cost money, because your subscription fee pays for the server capacity and development of the app. The prices can differ greatly. Free services usually have limited bandwidth, store your internet history themselves, or they come with other restrictions.

Below we show an overview of the best vpn apps for your Android phone and you will find the discussion of each service below.

– Read more below the table –

* PIA is Private Internet Access VPN.

1. NordVPN

Price: from 2.99 euros p/m (for 2 years)

NordVPN is by far one of the best-known VPN apps, but it is also one of the best in the industry. The service can offer fast download performance in combination with a low network latency. It also has one of the largest server infrastructures: more than 5,600 servers in 59 countries.

NordVPN always links one server location with multiple IP addresses, making your surfing even more secure. The IP address is like a digital passport that leads directly to a device. With a VPN you already use a different IP address than your own. It is no coincidence that NordVPN’s headquarters are located in Panama, as it is not mandatory in that country to keep user data logs.

2. Proton VPN

Price: free, 4.99 euros p/m

Proton VPN is one of the few VPN apps that also has a good free service. With the free formula you can connect to more than 100 servers in three countries: the United States, Japan and the Netherlands. Keep in mind that the speed is limited for free users and that makes the service less useful for video streaming.

The paid version, on the other hand, lets you surf smoothly. The service is slightly faster than NordVPN, but it contains something more latency. You can connect to 1,816 servers spread in 64 countries. Less positive is that the paid version is more expensive than some of its competitors. The servers of Proton VPN are located in the ever independent Switzerland that has strict privacy rules.

3. Private Internet Access VPN

Price: from 1.79 euros p/m (for 3 years)

Private Internet Access VPN does not immediately deserve the award for the most attractive name, but fortunately the company makes up for it with the quality of its service. It is a VPN for power users, because you can use up to 10 connections at the same time, compared to 5 with Proton VPN and 6 with NordVPN. The service is active in 84 countries and had 12,000 servers in 2020. It has since stopped sharing current information about the number of servers it has available.

Private Internet Access VPN also offers good results with its speed and network latency, but it performs slightly less well than Proton VPN and NordVPN. There is something in return, because Private Internet Access VPN has a low subscription cost. At least if you are willing to remain a customer for three years in one fell swoop. Private Internet Access VPN has an excellent app with a simple interface. The service is based in the United States, but it does not store users’ browsing data.

4. Surfshark

Price: from 2.49 euros p/m (for 2 years)

The Dutch Surfshark is in terms of speed between Private Internet Access VPN and the second fastest, NordVPN. It does have the least network delay. In addition, it goes a step further with regard to the number of connections at the same time, because that is unlimited. Surfshark has 3,200 servers in more than 100 countries.

Furthermore, Surfshark is located in the Netherlands, which is not ideal in terms of privacy. Still, the company states that it does not store any user data. Surfshark also uses a static IP address, which means that you connect to the same IP address every time you start the VPN. In theory, that makes it easier to be tracked online, even if you use your real IP address, of course.

More VPN apps

Of course, there are many other VPN apps that are very interesting. In some cases, you also get a VPN for free with another subscription service, such as cloud storage or an antivirus. Earlier we discussed the best antivirus apps for your phone.

Do you already use a VPN on your phone and computer? Which service have you subscribed to and are you satisfied with it? Let us know in the comments.

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