Best Free VPN for Android and iOS: 4 Apps Worth Installing

Short answer: install Proton VPN. Its free plan has no data cap and no ads, its apps are open source, and its no-logs claim has passed five independent audits. The cost is one device at a time. If you need a VPN on several devices, Windscribe gives you 10 GB a month across as many devices as you own.

About 30% of VPN users run a free one, according to Security.org. Servers and bandwidth cost real money, so a free VPN either has a paying business behind it or it earns from you some other way. The second kind is easy to find on Google Play and the App Store, and it looks the same as the first in a search result.

This list covers four free VPN apps that run on both Android and iOS. I checked each one against the vendor’s own free plan page, its audit and transparency reports, and independent reviews. I did not run speed tests. Speed on a free tier swings with server load, your carrier and the hour, so one number would only be noise. Who runs the service, what it publishes and how it pays for itself change much more slowly, so the picks rest on those.

Why free VPNs go wrong

Zimperium is a useful reality check because those apps came from the official stores, not from shady download sites. Store review is a filter, not an audit, and it lets plenty through.

The worst failures came from apps with no clear way to make money. Malwarebytes reported a leak that exposed the data of about 21 million users of three free Android VPN apps, SuperVPN, GeckoVPN and ChatVPN. The leak covered email addresses, usernames and payment related data. Years before that, Hola, a well known free VPN, sold access to its users’ connections as exit nodes under the name Luminati, at $20 per gigabyte, according to Wikipedia. The user agreement allowed it, and few people had read it.

None of this means every free VPN is a trap. It means the useful questions are about the company, not the app icon: who pays for the servers, what the privacy policy says, and whether anyone outside the company has checked.

What to look for in a free VPN

A free VPN service worth installing does four things, and you can check all of them in about ten minutes.

First, someone outside the company has tested its no-logs claim. Proton has published five annual no-logs audits by Securitum, and its audit page has the reports. Windscribe has had Cure53 and PacketLabs review its infrastructure and Leviathan audit its apps, all listed on its audit page. X-VPN says it completed an ISAE 3000 no-logs audit by a Big Four firm, described on its help center. Look for a named auditor and a recent date. A badge alone proves nothing.

Second, a kill switch. If the tunnel drops, a kill switch blocks traffic instead of letting it leave on your normal connection. Android lets you force this yourself: the Android help page covers Always-on VPN and Block connections without VPN in the system settings. On iPhone the kill switch is an app feature, so look in the app’s settings.

Third, a current protocol. WireGuard and OpenVPN are the standard choices, and an app that invented its own tunnel deserves suspicion. Fourth, honest limits. A free plan should say what it lacks, whether that is a data cap, fewer locations or one device at a time. Every app here is upfront about at least one of those. The apps to avoid promise unlimited everything for nothing.

iPhone and Android differ

Both stores set rules for VPN apps, and the rules give you something to check. Apple guideline 5.4 says a VPN app may not sell, use or disclose data to third parties and must commit to that in its privacy policy. Google’s VpnService policy asks for a prominent disclosure before an app collects personal data. Neither store verifies that the promise is kept, and Apple’s privacy labels are reported by the developers themselves. That is how Zimperium found problem apps in the official stores.

On Android, watch the location permission. Reading a Wi-Fi network’s name requires it, as the Android developer documentation explains, so a VPN that asks for location has to justify it. A VPN needs the VPN permission and very little else.

The four free VPNs at a glance

Read the last column first. Every free plan trades something away, and the trade tells you who the plan is for. X-VPN gives up a quiet screen, Proton gives up control, and Windscribe and PrivadoVPN cap data at 10 GB a month. That is plenty for browsing, maps and messaging and not enough for a day of video. The two unlimited plans come first below: X-VPN, the quickest to set up, then Proton, which has the stronger proof. Windscribe goes ahead of PrivadoVPN because outside firms have reviewed it.

One warning about the screenshots. They come from each app’s store listing, and store art advertises the paid plan, so the server counts and streaming logos you see are not what the free plan gives you.

X-VPN

X-VPN is the quickest way to get connected. There is no sign up and no data cap on Android or iOS, and the free plan includes a kill switch. The price is ads on mobile.

• Best forGetting connected fast, with no account
• Free planUnlimited data on Android and iOS
• Runs onAndroid and iOS
• ExtrasFree kill switch, transparency report
• Main limitAds on mobile

Pros

• Unlimited data on Android and iOS
• No sign up needed to start
• Kill switch on the free plan

Cons

• Shows ads on mobile, which X-VPN calls optional and non-intrusive
• Audit and transparency figures come from X-VPN’s own pages

Open X-VPNGoogle PlayApp Store

Of the four, X-VPN is the easiest free VPN for Android to start with, and the iPhone app works the same way: you tap connect, with no account and no data cap. X-VPN lists 26 free locations across more than 15 countries, and it says the ads on mobile are optional.

For trust, X-VPN publishes a transparency report. In the latest one it counts 76 law enforcement requests and 429,700 DMCA notices, and says it disclosed no user data in response. It also reports the ISAE 3000 audit mentioned above. Every one of those figures comes from X-VPN itself, so read them as the company’s account, not an outside verdict. If an outside audit matters most to you, look at Proton next.

Proton VPN

Proton VPN is the free plan that behaves like a paid one: no data cap, no ads and apps anyone can inspect. It is where I would start.

• Best forEveryday privacy on a single phone
• Free planUnlimited data, no ads
• DevicesOne at a time
• ExtrasOpen source apps, five annual audits
• Main limitNo server choice, no P2P

Pros

• No data cap and no ads on the free plan
• Apps are open source, so outsiders can read the code
• Five annual no-logs audits by Securitum

Cons

• One device at a time
• No choice of server and no peer to peer traffic on free

Open Proton VPNGoogle PlayApp Store

Proton’s free plan has no data cap, no ads and no nagging, and it is the only one on this list whose apps are open source. The company also put its no-logs claim through five annual audits by Securitum, and it passed each one.

You pay in control. The free plan covers one device at a time, picks the server for you and blocks peer to peer traffic. That is fine for public Wi-Fi and everyday browsing on a phone, and a poor fit if you want to choose a country. The free versus paid page lists exactly what changes on the paid plans.

Windscribe

Windscribe covers every device you own on one account. The free plan gives you 10 GB a month and comes with a firewall and a built in ad and tracker blocker.

• Best forOne account across phone, tablet and laptop
• Free plan10 GB a month with a confirmed email, 2 GB without
• DevicesUnlimited
• ExtrasFirewall, R.O.B.E.R.T. ad and tracker blocker
• Main limitMonthly data cap, 10 free countries

Pros

• No limit on the number of devices
• Several independent reviews: Cure53, PacketLabs and Leviathan
• Firewall and R.O.B.E.R.T. blocker included

Cons

• 10 GB monthly cap, and only 2 GB until you confirm an email
• Free servers cover 10 countries

Open WindscribeGoogle PlayApp Store

Windscribe is the pick when you want a VPN on every device you own. The free plan gives you 10 GB a month once you confirm an email address, or 2 GB if you do not, and there is no limit on how many devices you connect. Free servers cover 10 countries, and the apps include a firewall and R.O.B.E.R.T., a built in blocker for ads and trackers.

Windscribe also has the longest audit trail here. Dutch authorities have taken one of its servers from a rack in the Netherlands. Windscribe says they did it without a warrant, and that the server runs from RAM, so they found only a fresh operating system install, as Tom’s Hardware reported. That is the company’s account. The monthly cap is the real limit for most people, since 10 GB disappears quickly if you stream video.

PrivadoVPN

PrivadoVPN gives you a 10 GB monthly allowance with no ads, and reviewers report that US Netflix works on it. No published audit backs up its no-logs claim.

• Best forCasual streaming on a data budget
• Free plan10 GB a month, no ads
• Runs onAndroid and iOS
• ExtrasZero-logs policy, reported US Netflix access
• Main limitNo published independent audit

Pros

• 10 GB a month with no ads
• Reviewers report the free tier unblocks US Netflix
• States a zero-logs policy on its free VPN page

Cons

• No independent audit has been published
• 10 GB monthly cap

Open PrivadoVPNGoogle PlayApp Store

PrivadoVPN is a decent second app for streaming. It gives you 10 GB a month with no ads, and a top10vpn review reports that the free tier unblocks US Netflix. Treat that as a bonus. Streaming services update their blocklists all the time.

The weak spot is proof. PrivadoVPN states a zero-logs policy, but no published independent audit tests it, which is why it comes last. The other three each point to an audit. Use PrivadoVPN for streaming and casual browsing, and keep anything sensitive on Proton or Windscribe.

Check any VPN before you install it

Ten minutes of this is worth more than any ranking, and it works on apps that are not on this list. That matters because free VPN rankings in the stores shift weekly and clones reuse popular names. If an app fails two of the six checks, skip it.

Which free VPN should you use

A free VPN suits public Wi-Fi, a hotel network or keeping your browsing away from a nosy router, and that is about the limit. None of these apps make you anonymous. A VPN moves your trust from the network you are on to the company running the VPN, so the job is choosing who gets that trust. Proton VPN is my pick for most people because it gives you the least to worry about.

If you need a VPN every day, on many devices, or for streaming that has to work, a paid plan is the honest answer, and the roundup of the best Android VPNs covers those. For more on what free apps claim, see free VPN myths and truths.

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