Privacy and security at the tip of your fingers

January 2023 · 6 minute read

With so many things happening in the online environment, it’s no wonder that everyone is curious about accessing a wide range of information.

Unfortunately, this process can be severely hindered once geo-location restrictions come into play, or when you just want to look up things on the Internet you aren’t keen about letting anyone else know about.

That’s precisely why a good virtual private network is helpful, and while many associate this type of software with PCs, they are available for mobile phones as well, one great example being ProtonVPN.

A great VPN service for pretty much all platforms

ProtonVPN is a community-supported VPN service created by the CERN scientists behind ProtonMail, the world’s largest encrypted email service, and their mission is to create an internet where privacy is the default.

ProtonVPN is a service that is currently available on 7 different platforms:

No matter what device you are using to access the Internet, there’s always an IP address associated with it, making identification and monitoring by third-parties extremely easy.

This is especially the case with a mobile device, since you always leave it with either the Wi-Fi connection or the Mobile Data turned on, and you never know when you end up in a compromised network.

Fortunately enough, ProtonVPN has thought this through and created Android and iOS apps that anyone can use to protect their mobile devices.

For those of you interested in downloading this VPN service for your mobile device, it is available on the Google Play Store, as well as Apple’s App Store.

This versatility in terms of supported platforms goes hand-in-hand with the community-driven nature of this service, as the active development team listens to everyone’s suggestions and inputs, all for the betterment of ProtonVPN.

Open source and audited apps

All of ProtonVPN’s apps are open source, meaning anyone can inspect their code to check and see if the app is doing what ProtonVPN claims. They have also been audited by independent security experts, and ProtonVPN has shared the reports.

This transparency also makes it easier to find and fix potential vulnerabilities in ProtonVPN’s apps, because the entire security community can inspect and contribute to their code.

The main reason why anyone ever calls on a VPN for help is privacy and protection, but VPNs can themselves be targeted by attacks, and along with them, everyone connected to the network.

With ProtonVPN, you don’t have to worry about that, especially if you have the Secure Core architecture.

This architecture acts by routing your traffic through multiple servers before leaving the ProtonVPN network.

Because of this, even someone with the ability to monitor the network traffic at the exit server will not be able to discover the true IP address of ProtonVPN users, nor match browsing activity to that IP.

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Note: This is a paid features that is not part of the core service.

A strict no-log policy

Like all VPN services, ProtonVPN can be used to browse anonymously online, and access geo-locked content that not even your own Internet Service Provider can track.

They achieve this by following a strict no-logs policy and being headquartered in Switzerland, home to some of the world’s strongest data privacy laws, being free from American and European surveillance agreements.

Because of this, they are not required to keep logs of users’ Internet activity, providing them with a strict no-logs policy and the ability to protect their users’ privacy.

Servers all over the globe

VPNs are known to reduce some of the users’ bandwidth, especially when they try connecting via servers that are physically very far from them (eg. someone from Europe trying to connect to a New York server).

One way ProtonVPN avoids this is by providing a large number of server locations. It has servers in 55 countries scattered all over the globe, so pretty much every region is covered.

A VPN with minimal bandwidth impact

The ~1300 servers provide high bandwidth to anyone, with low latencies and almost nonexistent downtimes, so it doesn’t matter what website your phone is trying to access, it will feel almost like home.

ProtonVPN offers high-speed VPN servers around the world, with most supporting connection speeds up to 10 Gbps.

This in turn translates into more coverage around the world while still maintaining blazing fast speeds.

Blocks annoying ads from popping up

When using a VPN, one concern that many users encounter is that while they longer see ads from their own countries, they see ads from the country they are connected to at the moment, and that can be very confusing.

Fortunately enough, ProtonVPN comes with a feature called NetShield that will make all that go away.

NetShield is a feature available to paid ProtonVPN users that protects your device and speeds up your browsing by blocking ads, trackers, and malware.

Price plans for every pocket

All versions of ProtonVPN can be accessed and used with the same account that a user can create.

The subscriptions are account-based, so you can have ProtonVPN installed on one of each of the supported devices at no additional cost.

More so, ProtonVPN is also available for free, and while the limitations are quite significant, you have more than enough features to imagine what a paid version might bring.

Here are the detailed price plans that protonVPN offers:

Subscription typeFreeBasicPlusVisionary
# of VPN connections121010
# of countries with servers3435555
Connection speedMediumHigh speedHighest speed
(Up to 10 GBps)		Highest speed
(Up to 10 GBps)
Strict no-log policy✓✓✓✓
Access blocked content✓✓✓✓
Adblocker (NetShield)XX✓✓
P2P file sharing/BitTorrent supportX✓✓✓
Secure Core VPNXX✓✓
Tor over VPNXX✓✓
Streaming service supportXX✓✓
ProtonMail Visionary accountXXX✓

Closing thoughts on ProtonVPN

We’ve tested ProtonVPN both on PC and mobile, and we’ve concluded that it is indeed a solid when looking for your next VPN.

ProtonVPN behaved flawlessly during our tests, regardless of whether the device was connected to Wi-Fi or via mobile data.

The prices are more than affordable compared to what it offers, and the quality of the service makes it worthwhile in the long run, especially if you’re a fan of content that is otherwise unavailable in your country, or if you just love your privacy.

Pros Open-source code that anyone can enhance 55+ countries and 200 servers worldwide Secure Core architecture for extra security Strict no-log policy thanks to Swiss laws Active community-driven development Available for all major platforms Cons Could use some extra server locations

Navigating the Internet via mobile sounds a little bit safer now that you know there are viable VPN services that you can use.

All in all, we recommend that you give it a try, and let us know what you think about this service for yourself by leaving your feedback in the comments section below.

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