5 VPN Browsers for Android 2022
👨💻
Despite the huge amount of dedicated Android VPN apps available for Android smartphones and tablets, many of you would prefer to have your VPN built into your Android browser. After all, they’re often lightweight, free, and prevent you from flipping between apps to get where you want to go.
The Opera browser is one of the most popular Android VPN browsers, but there are a few other options out there. We include them in this guide and give you some tips on using Android VPN browsers.
Why not use a VPN app?
Although Android VPN browsers are handy tools, it is better to secure your entire connection rather than just the traffic on your browser. The VPN app will also allow you to access the apps that are currently blocked in your region. Find out more information about VPNs on our Best VPNs for Android page. Alternatively, if you just want a VPN, our top pick is ExpressVPN. They offer fast speeds and a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try without fully committing to a contract.
Best VPN Browser for Android
Since privacy and security are our soul, we must urge you to read the advantages and disadvantages of VPN browsers for Android that we have listed below, before downloading any of the services. Dedicated VPN apps are inherently more private with their ability to protect multiple apps rather than a single individual program.
If you still think that a VPN browser is a way for you, the following browsers for Android all have very similar functions to that of a VPN.
Tenta Browser tops our list even though it is still in beta, thanks to its real VPN
Although it is technically still in beta, Tenta Browser offers a large number of features designed to improve your online privacy. Chief among them is a “real” VPN (not a proxy) that secures your connection with the OpenVPN-based encryption protocol called MimicVPN.
A bit confusing for a VPN protocol, MimicVPN only protects browser sessions for free users, but that makes more sense in light of the fact that Pro users can extend the protection to their entire Android device.
What’s particularly impressive about MimicVPN is that it can offer VPN encryption for each tab, with different tabs able to connect to multiple servers simultaneously. This is a very cool party trick, although the untested nature of MimicVPN worries us a bit.
Free users automatically connect to the nearest VPN server location, while Pro users ($1 per month) can choose from 28 server locations in 19 countries. With the free VPN, we clocked download speeds of around 14 Mbit/s on a 350 Mbit/s connection, although these will undoubtedly improve with the Pro plan.
Besides offering a true no-logs VPN (with full DNS and WebRTC leak protection), Tenta Browser features ad blocking, secure DNS over TLS, DNSSEC, blockchain support, PIN or fingerprint unlock, and more.
One feature worth noting in particular is the Encrypted Media Vault, which downloads videos, music, and photos to an encrypted folder where they can be played using Tenta’s built-in media player.
Although it uses many open source repositories, Tenta Browser itself is not open source. Please check out our full Tenta Browser review.
Opera is in the list of the top 5 most popular browsers in the world, thanks to its free VPN
-
Free option
Yes
-
Available at
-
Opens
Opera is the 5th most popular browser in the world and this free VPN feature has proven to be a huge hit with its users. This feature was initially only available for desktop versions of the browser (see our Opera Browser review for more information), but is now included in the Android app (the inaccurate renaming makes it very obvious!).
As with most browser “VPNs,” a VPN is really a secure HTTPS proxy. But it gets the job done, there are no data restrictions, and it’s fast.
Available locations are “America” (USA), Asia and Europe. Connecting to America and Europe fared well in our tests, but choosing Asia seemed strange that it put us in Switzerland and Europe. With the exception of the United States, it is not possible to specify a specific country for the place of plagiarism.
The cool feature is the ability to enable the VPN only when using private tabs, and you can choose whether or not to bypass the VPN when using a search engine to provide more relevant search results.
Outside of the VPN, Opera is a nifty, modern Android browser with built-in ad blocking, translating, and offline saving features. It also includes Opera’s patent data compression technology, which reduces data usage and improves page load times, although it can’t be used when a VPN is running.
Another nice feature is the built-in Crypo Wallet, which integrates the Ethereum Web 3 API, allowing you to send and receive Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Tron payments directly in your browser.
Although it has a built-in ad blocker, Opera itself is ad-funded, although you can opt out of it using your browsing history to serve personally targeted ads.
Psiphon is an open source anti-censorship tool
Psiphon is an open source anti-censorship tool, on Android, that comes with a browser. Although the Windows app includes an optional real VPN, the Android app routes all connections through an HTTPS SOCKS proxy.
This is useful, as it allows you to route only your browser traffic, or (on Android 4+ devices) all of your device’s traffic through the encrypted tunnel, which works like a real VPN. You can connect to servers in 21 countries around the world.
It is important to understand that there are two versions of Psiphon for Android:
siphon – A free version is available from the Psiphon website, which must be downloaded as an .APK file and uploaded to your device.
Psiphon Pro – A limited free premium version available to download directly from the Google Play Store.
You can have a completely ad-free experience on the free version of Psiphon or if you purchase Psiphon Pro, but those in the free tier of Psiphon Pro still have to face some ads. These ads are customized by default, but users can choose non-personalized ads in Settings. Unfortunately the speed limitation has reduced our 350 Mbit/s connection to just 2 Mbit/s in the free version and Psiphon Pro free tier, but if that’s important to you, you can pay for a Speed Boost for a limited time.
The free version of Psiphon is completely ad-free, but there are speed limitations in both
We’re not sure if there are any official speed limits on this app, but even when using a 350Mbit/s connection, download speeds hover around the 2Mbit/s mark in our tests. However, this version of Psiphon is ad-free.
It is also possible to download the Psiphon Pro app from the Google Play Store. This is a premium app with a limited free tier. Free users can opt out of personalized ads, but they will see ads displayed prominently within the app.
It’s also restricted to speeds of 2 Mbit/s, although it can be improved by paying for a “speed boost” for a limited time. The pricing structure of the Android Pro app in general is rather complex (and that doesn’t include “speed boosts”), and it’s not entirely clear how much of the speed improvement you’ll see in each price range.
Although there is a Pro version to help support the free Psiphon anti-censorship tool, we find the monetization procedures to be expensive and intrusive, so we can only recommend the free APK downloaded version.
The browser that comes with Psiphon is a simplified version of the excellent Firefox for Android. It lacks support for most Firefox bells and whistles (including private mode and support for add-ons), but it does include the ability to sync with your regular Firefox account.
Check out our Psiphon review for more information.
Aloha is an ad-funded but feature-packed browser with a built-in VPN
Aloha Browser Turbo is a browser that has a number of privacy features, including a built-in “VPN” (actually an HTTPS proxy), ad blocking, screenshot blocking, and passcode lock.
The VPN can be easily enabled on a tab-by-tab basis within the browser simply by clicking the shield icon to the left of the URL bar. Free users are automatically connected to a nearby server (in the UK, we were connected to a server in the Netherlands) and download speeds were among the best we’ve seen in free VPN browser apps, at around 20 Mbit/s downloads on a 350 Mbit/s connection.
The free service is ad-supported, although you can disable custom tracking. Or for $2.50 per month, you can upgrade to Premium, which lets you choose VPN servers in 30 countries, remove ads, and (more likely) improve speed performance.
The headquarters of Aloha Mobile Ltd. It is in Cyprus and it publishes a good no-logs privacy policy on its main website, but we know nothing about this company other than that. The app is closed source, and a number of clone apps from the same publisher with different names are also available from the Play Store.
Tor Browser has a new official Android app
-
Free option
Yes
-
Available at
- windows
- macOS
- Android
- linux
This is the newly released official version of the popular Tor Browser. Like almost all the other apps listed here, it’s not really a VPN, but it’s close enough to an app and useful enough that we feel it’s worth mentioning here.
All Tor browser connections are routed through the Tor network, meaning they are forwarded through at least a volunteer-managed “node”, with your data re-encrypted each time.
Since no one in the chain can tell who you are and where you go on the Internet, Tor Browser allows for true anonymity.
Tor Browser is primarily designed to defeat censorship and access the open internet anonymously, but it can also be used to view .onion sites (also known as the “dark web”).
Tor is notoriously slow, but if you need to hide your true identity on the Internet, this is the way to go. Tor Browser for Android is based on the latest version of Firefox, but it has been “hardened” to improve privacy and security in several ways.
Tor Browser is 100% free and open source.
Should I use an Android browser with a built-in VPN?
The popularity of the Opera browser with built-in VPN shows that there is a demand for such apps in the Android ecosystem, but we must say that the advantages of using them are rather limited compared to using a standalone VPN app from a reputable provider.
Advantages
Ease or convenience
Having a VPN built into your browser is undoubtedly convenient. With just a touch of an icon, you can easily access the websites that are blocked to you. This convenience level is further increased in apps that feature VPN protection per tab.
the price
All of the VPN browser apps listed here are essentially free – a factor we’re sure was a big part of Opera VPN’s allure.
However, it is worth noting that there are some excellent and dedicated free VPN apps, which are much more secure. It’s important to be careful when choosing a free VPN and only use apps from reputable providers, because the Android VPN space can be a thing of the Wild West.
“dividing tunnels”
Some real VPN apps offer a useful feature known as split tunneling. This allows you to choose which Android apps use the VPN tunnel and which don’t.
Using a browser with a built-in VPN bypasses the need for this feature if only the browser sessions you want to protect, you can just use the browser VPN instead. However, split tunneling on dedicated VPNs that support the feature is completely customizable compared to a limited browser VPN.
Negatives
Privacy
Most browsers with VPNs fund their free offerings with ads. Targeted ads are always enabled by default, although all the apps we looked at above allow you to disable this.
Even when you disable targeted ads, these apps use…
[ad_1]
Don’t forget to share this post with friends !
