Name: Proton VPN: Fast & Secure
Rating: 4.59312 (29758 reviews)

User Reviews for Proton VPN: Fast & Secure

4.59 out of 5

29.8K Ratings

3 years ago, LexP305

Read and learn what a VPN is, so you can know what preferences you are missing!

I have had Proton mail and Proton VPN for years. I read several reviews that were bad. Almost all was because the person just did not know where to look to change a preference or just does not know anything about how a VPN works. I have set up several profiles as to where I want to connect. Always use Secure Core. I like that I can change to any location, just by clicking on a profile I created. If one profile server speed is slow, I click on another. Guys, read the instructions and learn how a VPN works, it’s capabilities and how to customize it like you want it. Whatever VPN you use, make sure the servers are not in the U. S. And a country that is big on people’s right to privacy. Sad but true, the U.S is at the top of collecting, mining & spying. And I don’t support using VPN’s for criminal activities. I was an LEO for 27 yrs and I do not believe in just grabbing everyone’s metadata off their cells at a Super Bowl just because they can. Get a warrant!! In closing, I tried dozens of VPN’s and then ran many security test over the years . Proton passes them all. The only way Proton will fail it’s customer base, is folding from political pressure. But I think these guys & girls work at Proton for a reason. And that reason is because privacy matters.

2 months ago, Pleased or maybe Not

Thank You For Your Product

Thank you for your product and for replying. Most of the intrusions happened in person at Coffee Shops, etc.. I know what was being done, but I don’t know what scripts they used to get in. However, the hacking seems to have halted after doing the following: Export and save the Proton VPN Log (which should also include info. about the Proton Mail App. [Someone stole the original Log via the Files App.]) Uninstall and reinstall Proton Products. Uninstall and reinstall Tubi (While using ProtonVPN, someone was able to intercept Tubi’s Location Network.) Install and offload Apple Support, and Apple Store Apps. (Before ever installing these two Apps., they mysteriously appeared for one-second while I was configuring the Applications’. location status in Screen Time.) Disallow App Store installs and Delete in Screen Time. Disallow all sharing capabilities, disallow “Learn From This App” for all Apps., and also limit Web Content in Screen Time. Transferred all documents and Photos to an encrypted File Manager. Changed my Apple I.D. (This one is tricky but can be done, legally.) Changed my Telephone Number.

3 years ago, ug used to be good

Do not recommend.

Under no circumstances would I purchase this product. Somehow has become less reliable after I upgraded from the free version. Of course there are multiple tiers to choose from, I apparently picked the “pay for absolutely nothing” option. I was hoping it was just me but I see many other comments with the exact same issues. Disconnects randomly, often won’t tell you, or will say it’s connected to a server but be unusable. You will spend more time staring at the ProtonVPN connect screen than you will spend using your search engine almost every time, and often through multiple server hops. I pay for premium and still occasionally will be connected to a free server automatically, and nearly every day it will just turn off without notifying me. Best I can tell is this has something to do with the daily alarms/notifications and the DND mode that turns on when you use your phones sleep/alarm schedule. Screen time limitation options in the iPhone might also affect it, but I have it set as an exception everywhere that’s relevant. Completely turning off and not even attempting to notify or reconnect before allowing internet use seems like an absolutely critical failure for a VPN. Hopefully it gets better and I will gladly change the rating. I want this product to work. For now, stick to the free or go elsewhere.

5 months ago, Dkac

Love the app thanks you for creating it.

After last update I lost all my saved profiles. It wasn’t that big a deal because generally make another when the current one is over 50% usage. Fortunately there are lots to choose from. I love when Facebook and other platforms think I’m in a different state. I did have to explain to my bank but they understood immediately. I log into my mother’s bank using the phone and no VPN (I generally don’t use WiFi unless at home). I know that my internet provider can get my information but I’m not that paranoid yet. I love the idea that you will not sell, reveal my information. In fact I don’t think they can because the encryption is done as it should be were even they can’t get the information. It’s a comfort to not be tracked or harassed and I can say anything I want without being cancelled. Unless the person I’m talking to does so and that is between us. Thanks for a wonderful app

7 months ago, Dom447623

VPN when it works…

I subscribed to the Proton Plus version of the VPN service so i could browse on US servers while traveling overseas with no issue. My friend recommended this app but i’m starting to regret making this purchase. The VPN only worked for an hour or two before disconnecting and now it won’t connect to any foreign servers whatsoever. Toggled all of the protective settings in order to connect to VPN in the US but it still does not work. I’ve closed and rebooted the app, restarted my phone and still can’t connect. It also won’t connect to any other country outside of my current location. If i’m unable to connect to servers of my choice, this paid service is simply ineffective. What gets me is that there’s an option on the app to submit an error report. If you try to enter feedback, the error report comes back with an error of its own. It states there was an error and the request has timed out. This is a pretty subpar standard for troubleshooting and customer support. Really glad that I didn’t pay for more than the one month. I wanted to try it first and i’m glad i eased into this purchase. Back to the drawing board for a real VPN service.

1 year ago, Reviewer262626

Reliable VPN, drains battery

Update - battery drain: I want to update my review after further day-to-day use of ProtonVPN. I have noticed battery drain from the app is substantially higher than other VPN apps. I am seeing a confident 40%+ increase in drain compared to the priors two apps I used. I previously used Private Internet Access and another VPN app, all are setup to use WireGuard for connections. For Proton I use WireGuard by default but have Smart protocols enabled, which may be switching me to more inefficient protocols and therefore the drain? I am not sure what about Proton’s implementation is causing the drain to be so substantial but my ability to have a VPN enabled at all times is not possible with this app. I constantly have to disable VPN and be more conscious of battery conservation each day due to this problem. It’s still a great and robust app, but i think it needs more work on fixing this issue. —- My prior rating of this VPN was 1 star due to its initial offering having some serious gaps. I’ve now revisited the app and can say I’m impressed with the features and polish that has been introduced over time. Keep up the great work devs

2 years ago, Ban evader

Would rate 5 stars if mine wasn’t bugged

I am on IOS, and I have used this app countless times for the past year and a half with no issues. The only reason I ever purposefully turned it off was because sometimes other apps would momentarily glitch as a result of the vpn, but this was extremely rare. However, I recently turned it off while trying to figure out why another app wasn’t working correctly, and found that when I turned it back on, it no longer worked correctly. My phone would tell me it’s connected, but then on apps such as Reddit, I found some of my accounts were being banned due to a past IP ban, despite my phone saying the VPN was connected. I had been using the VPN to circumvent these bans previously as I don’t get out the house much currently, and life gets pretty lonely for me so it’s nice(and fun) to hop onto a platform like Reddit and engage in the civil internet discourse of comment sections. Over all, it’s a very functional VPN, but I have to give it 4 stars because of this recent bug I’ve noticed.

10 months ago, MyFavoriteNicknameWasTaken

No Interactive Widgets

Solid VPN but the lack of interactive widgets with iOS 17 make it kind of annoying to turn on and off. Some apps won’t function with it on. UPDATE: To clarify, the only widget on iOS currently is the Today View Widget. It only shows at the bottom of the other widgets. Thus it can’t be moved string and placed on a Home Screen. Also, it is not interactive. I’d like to see a few different options. 1) The ability to be able to have the ProtonVPN widget on my Home Screen with a simple connect/disconnect option that is interactive. 2) A larger widget option would also be nice that would allow me to connect to specific VPN profiles I’ve created. I downloaded SurfShark today just to see if it has interactive widgets that can be placed on the Home Screen and it does. I really don’t want to switch services, but this is a pretty basic feature that most apps have. Regarding, apps that don’t work with it on is because I have the ad blocker turned on. So I’d like to be able to toggle the VPN off with an interactive widget before launching those apps.

9 months ago, Rocawilli

Hesitant Five Stars

If you’re a Proton user, you’ve probably done the research already. For those of you who came here unprepared, allow me to nutshell it for you: Proton is very good at VPNing and one of the few big boys who you can -objectively- trust. However, the community of users tend to be very staunch in their opinions on the services, whether they’re pleased or otherwise. And as much as you can trust the claims Proton makes, you can- almost to the same extent- trust the validity of the community’s consistent complaints (new rollouts vs improving existing products, mobile apps dropping service w/o notifications, pricing, etc) So basically; this is not a “set it and forget it” VPN app. If you know what you need and Proton fits that niche, then they should absolutely be your choice. If you need a VPN so you feel confident that Comcast/Spectrum/whatever can’t see EVERY porn you watch, every time, then I’d look elsewhere.

3 years ago, TheRealist_

Could be 5 stars

Update: Aug 14, 2021 - I don’t know if it’s an iOS limitation but I always have to wait around 5-8 seconds for the VPN to connect when I unlock the phone when it’s been locked for a bit. Is the OS freezing the app in the RAM? Enabling background app refresh for this app made no difference as well. Also I have mistakenly thought the “kill switch” on the iOS app was the “permanent kill switch” that I use on desktop. Hopefully it can be added later on. I’ve raised the rating another star because Proton actively reads & responds to their reviews. Quality of life wishlist: 1. Switching the quick connect button to where the Connected/Not connected top bar is and vice versa. I have to slowly and consciously avoid swiping up from the bottom middle so I don’t accidentally disconnect. 2. “Malware & ads” option for Netshield. I think blocking the tracking is breaking some of my restaurant apps since my rewards won’t load unless I do malware only. 3. Profiles also saves the selected Netshield option. 4. Option to make backup of the profiles onto local storage of device. I noticed my profiles were gone when I reinstalled because of 2.5.1 issue. 5. Search box for the server list like the desktop app. Those of us looking for a country or using a server name that starts with a letter in the second half of the alphabet need to scroll a lot more. 6. Server filters for both mobile & desktop app. (Countries, server type, high load, etc.)

3 years ago, fatty- mike..

Not sure how to rate have questions

To start I need answers and solution then you will get six stars and a subscription from me So I contacted Apple and they told me that I needed to contact you even though I read on the other comments stated from your end that you fixed the disconnection or that you can’t fix it you reported it and they won’t fix it they told me it’s an issue with a developer and for me to get in contact through the review section of all places I would give this thing five stars and purchase it if I knew that everything was safe when my phone disconnects from the VPN I am unsure if the apps are still working in the background and then able to track me and find out my location or anything else about me while it’s just sitting there and I’m taking a nap or a break from the phone or what not I need to know what to do so we can further in this it’s an amazing service even the free part of it is really nice but still disconnects I have the Killswitch on too but I still get messages even though it’s disconnected I’m not sure how that works

4 years ago, N3v@St0pBel1ev1n

Phenomenal Experience!

My concern for privacy and security has grown immensely the past few years, as my awareness grew. After much research and trials, Proton Technologies Mail + VPN services have truly been the best thus far to my experience, of course. I began with the free email account and made my way to the free VPN. Ultimately, I grew to enjoy & appreciate both Mail + VPN; therefore, I decided to upgrade to the Mail + VPN Plus (combo) subscription. The rest is history...I have no complaints. My transition from other mainstream services for personal email to Proton Mail have been relatively painless. There FAQs and fidelity in step-by-step guidance via their web-page(s) makes “doing it yourself” plausible. The intricacies to computer technology and all it entails can be intimidating, but do not worry, help is standing-by. Thank you Proton Technologies personnel from the bottom-up (& vice versa) for making this possible. I certainly appreciate all your efforts. Take care & Peace!

11 months ago, Stellaisntbella

Ignore negative reviews, and read this!

Look when I found this app on a website called Tom’s Guide and saw the many reviews talking about connectivity issues, I definitely had low expectations for this app. But now using it myself, it hasn’t had any issues with disconnecting off of my phone while even turning it off. However just to let know some people, for me it did take a little bit longer sometimes to get connected to let’s say a US server. But honestly apart from that, this is definitely a decent VPN, especially for the fact that I’m using their free plan and it still works like a normal VPN. I’m still giving this 5 stars even with how sometimes it takes long to connect, because it’s not useless or not working like how many other people have been saying. And it definitely does work very well especially for completing free.

2 years ago, Margin_Al

Constantly disconnects

A VPN is supposed to be a background app that, once activated, you can forget while you use other apps. This VPN constantly disconnects, causing “no connection” and “could not reach server” errors incessantly. When you switch to the VPN app to see whether it’s the problem again, sure enough its status indicator almost always says “connecting” (and often continues to fail until you manually stop and restart the process). This situation looks like Proton is trying to maximize insufficient connection capacity by quietly disconnecting clients during lulls in data transmission. That might be just fine if the the reconnection occurred instantly when a client’s activity resumed, but it doesn’t; instead, the user experience is one of frustrating connectivity interruptions so frequent and annoying that one becomes motivated to turn off the VPN altogether. This situation ruins the customers experience and puts the customer’s privacy at risk. It makes the subscription fee a bitter waste. I had a far better experience with PIA.

2 months ago, Vizcarraa

Fast & Secure VPN, missing a few features.

To start off this VPN and its connections are fast and secure. I’ve loved using this app. I will say that I would like some key features that seem to missing. In particular, a feature for “Auto Connect” would be great. Being able to choose if the VPN is always on, or if it only connects on WiFi networks, along with the ability to set specific networks as trusted so the VPN isn’t running on something like my home network, that already has a VPN through the router. At the moment you have to manually turn the VPN on and off which is tedious. Aside from that there’s plenty of servers to choose from and I love that the app tells you which ones are great for streaming. VPNs generally slow your speeds as well but I haven’t had that issue with Proton at all. Overall a great service and a well functioning app. Just needs some simple QoL feature updates. Thanks :)

4 months ago, w i n t e r m u t e

Stopped working on iPhone 14 Pro with iOS 17.4

Works fine on an iPad running iPad OS 17.4, but is non-functional on iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 17.4. Upon trying to connect on iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 17.4, it spins, fails to connect and disables WiFi. I need to delete the Proton VPN profile in order to reenable WiFi. This is a bad bug. Otherwise, it would be a five star app. *UPDATE* I deleted all my network configurations and then Reset Network Settings, then configured my network settings on my iPhone again and set-up Proton VPN again and now all is working once again. Something in my iPhone network configuration must have become corrupted during the update to iOS 17.4. Updated review back to five stars. Leaving original text here so others with the same issue might find the solution.

1 month ago, foxmajik

No fault tolerance

This app does not do anything to maintain the connection. After a server is selected for connection the client doesn't check if that server can pass traffic so you have to manually switch back and forth between your browser and ProtonVPN checking to see if the server you selected works. Additionally, the app doesn't care if the server you connected to is overloaded and slow or stops working. Other VPN apps will ping a predetermined host intermittently and if the connection isn't working they will switch to another server from a user-selected list. I'm honestly getting a bit tired of Proton's overall minimalist approach to their service offering. Their attitude seems to be "we're not competing with other services so why should we try to offer competitive features" which often leads to things like their advert for their Drive product showing a prominent search box when in fact there is no search feature in that product.

3 years ago, Gsjbdifibdjdq479999432

What good is a vpn that won’t stay connected?

It loses connection when the device is locked. Proton blames iOS but other vpns I’ve tried do not have this issue so if there is an issue with iOS it is possible to make it work anyway but proton is content to deliver a subpar product and blame someone else rather than make it work. I like a lot about proton but if it won’t even stay connected it is utterly useless. Update since ProtonVPN responded to the above: proton continues to try and justify their inferior service by blaming apple. I cannot say what software (apple’s or proton’s) is to blame here but it doesn’t matter to me because either way the service proton claims in advertising to work on iOS does not actually work on iOS. And either way their competition has figured out how to deliver a working service rather than being comfortable shipping a useless service and blaming someone else. The persistent copping out causes me to lose further trust in the company, even if this technical issue is ever fixed there is a low likelihood I ever want to pay for their service again.

6 months ago, Ken Seussers

Unacceptably bad

UPDATE: I’ve been using the free “Plus” trial for a week. This is the 4th time in the last 8 hours the VPN has turned itself off and disconnected my WiFi, leaving me to fiddle with both in order to properly reconnect. I’ve read the reviews on here - this has been an ongoing issue with smartphones for at least a YEAR!? Clearly the developers don’t find leaving even paying customers vulnerable to exploits a problem, and have no intention to fix this issue! As expensive as this product is, absolute fail! Just ok. Often much slower than expected, and I have to interrupt my work more often than I like to try to find the “right” connection. To be fair, this could be because the building-wide wifi gets a bit slow from time to time to begin with. Not as slow as nord vpn, less sketchy than bitdefender, and I haven’t been blocked from any sites for being on a vpn like cyber ghost. In theory Proton should be less likely to have vulnerabilities or be compromised like some of the big names have been or could be, so that is the main sell.

3 months ago, Robo-1701

Issue

Proton used to be my go-to on both my Apple devices and my PC, but it’s slipped drastically over time. It was supplanted a few years back with the Apple devices and now that it no longer allows server selection, or even host country selection (which among other things can mean not even being able to read the results from a search engine), without a paid subscription I can’t afford it’s quickly becoming more of a headache than a help. Until that extortionistic policy is reversed one star is being far too generous. In reply to the developer response I wish to add the following: 1. The server change doesn’t guarantee a viable solution given the combination of the unpardonably increasing time delay, the fact that limited time is often a factor and the fact the inexcusable inability to select a specific country and the fact that it does nothing whatsoever to change the original problem. Your server change solution is nothing more than a high-tech slot machine. 2. Didn’t you see the part about “can’t afford?”

1 year ago, Raven1082

Really great value, but unfortunately pretty much unusable

The value of this vpn is amazing. You get it completely for free, no monthly payments or ads. Which is impressive considering how expensive most vpns are. But unfortunately you just can't keep this one on all the time. It makes your device so incredibly slow that there's no way most people are going to actually keep using it long term. It's nice to turn on sometimes, maybe if you're on a specifically risky site or want to surpass location restrictions or something. But you can't just always be running it in the background. You'll be staring at a picture forever before it finally loads in. Even just opening up something simple like Google has a huge delay. I had this on for a couple weeks but eventually got tired of waiting in between every single thing I did on my phone so I just shut it off.

2 years ago, bhataaqibm

Keep your expectations low!!!

I moved to ProtonVPN from Nord because of the better privacy policy of the ProtonVPN. I have been using ProtonMail for a long time & it is great. I started using it on my iPhone & MacBook. But man o man, it is sooooo veeery slow. Nord was much much much faster. On a 1Gigabit LAN connection it reduces speed by more than 10X. On Wifi it is much worse. It constantly keeps disconnecting and reconnecting. I hardly had any such issues on Nord. I wish the developers figure out what is wrong. Speed reduction is expected while on a VPN connection & we who choose to make such compromises never expect a 10X reduction in speed and frequent disconnections. A VPN is supposed to run in background but when the speed is sooooo slow it frustratingly makes a person realize you are on a VPN connection. The speeds we get here are expected on the hawkish VPN services not on a reputable company like Proton Technologies. Hope it gets figured out soon.

3 months ago, Platooon12457

Buggy

It takes multiple attempts just to connect to the VPN… And after ten tries when a connection is finally established, within a few hours the connection abruptly ends. Upon opening the app it says that I’ve reached my ten device limit when I only have one device (iPhone) that even uses this account (even changed my password as a precaution in case someone else was using my account so this is obviously a bug/glitch). Not to mention the fact that after locking the screen for more then a few minutes the VPN disconnects and you have to manually reopen the app and repeat the process of trying to establish a connection over and over again as usual. I understand that the vpn disconnecting on sleep is an OS wide problem but it’s clearly a problem that can be successfully circumvented as other VPN clients like passepartout have already created a working “always on” VPN that functions quite well for ios. But if not that, please at least fix these bugs to make the VPN usable…

5 months ago, JchsNathan

Absolutely HATE this update!

This update is a severe downgrade in terms of functionality, user friendliness, and over experience. Proton has removed the ability to choose individual servers and have made the app totally pay-to-play. If I try and switch between “free” servers it randomly chooses for me. While I’m traveling I have to stay connected for work and my job requires a domestic VPN to login to the network. This update has undermined my ability to do my job. What one was a GREAT VPN has taken on the model of a money grabbing cheap casino app. UPDATE: Since the update more websites are blocked, speed has slowed significantly, and I’m having to prove I’m human on more and more websites. This on top of the fact most streaming apps don’t function while using Proton VPN. Before I knew which servers worked best for which sites and now I’m forced to use whatever Proton deems “the best option”. If I want a VPN I can actually use Proton solution/recommendation is “upgrade” or take what you get. Your app was “ok” at best when I had some choice in servers, it was usable. But I’m not going to pay for a VPN nearly all my streaming apps won’t function with. This WAS a descent VPN to browse with and that’s it. Proton VPN pay to play rather than have ads or some other form of generating income coupled with their limited compatibility with so many apps and websites has put them behind other VPNs. As of now it’s just taking up space on my Home Screen.

1 year ago, grubu413

Run 24/7 and No Problems, Open Source, Plus Non-Profit Doing Good

My 1GB drops 250MB down and 150MB down but that speed is always reliable across all devices. Also use separate relay which may cause speed to drop. I also do not use their VPN acceleration option which could greatly increase my speed. My connection is fast enough that I have never needed any more speed and their stealth mode to disguise VPN connection has managed to bypass all those super ignoring captcha screens that VPNs use to get or even blocked due to IP address. They are also non-profit, have been recognized by United Nations as a secure solution to securely get information out of authoritarian countries, use their profits to provide VPN services for free to those places, and make all their products open source.

4 years ago, Redcrossman68

Unknown why

I have ProtonMail and it works great so I figured I would give this a try. And I did the free trial version and all was well. As soon as it switched to the free version my phone started crashing and now working properly. At first I thought it was a problem with my phone so I contacted T mobile my carrier and they tried for two days to help me. When they couldn’t figure out what was wrong because it said everything was fine on there end but on my side it said I had no internet connection or WiFi even though all my other devices were working, they couldn’t figure out what was going on. So they put me in contact with apple who tried to fix my problem and took me thru everything they knew what to do and they couldn’t figure out what was making my phone malfunction. They set an appointment with my local apple store to see what they could do. This morning I decided to see if it was my vpn and as soon as I uninstalled the proton vpn, it started working fine. I hope you guys can figure out what caused this problem.

3 years ago, Dan 984

Most secure according to specs

Updated, I found out how my IP was exposed, so everyone knows not to do this, here it is: If you enter a profile while it’s on, it shuts the VPN off and your IP is exposed. So don’t do this! —————————————————— This is my first day on Plus. So far I am very pleased. Been testing it going in and out of airplane mode. I did have an IP leak, once, prior to testing airplane mode, thus I am trying to figure out how this happened. It certainly wasn’t purposeful. There is no button for preventing DNS leak in IOS. Is this already enabled on all plus accounts? Dunno.. Also, I have IOS tracking across apps disabled. Hope this doesn’t affect how it operates with apps. Because I previously had that setting disabled and something recently turned it back on. And I turned it off again.

3 years ago, Churchtan

What Happened???

Used to be flawless, in my opinion. Started with the free trial, and ended up purchasing the upgraded version, along with my Protonmail. About a month or so ago, the VPN service has just crashed and burned. It doesn’t hardly ever let me connect to the countries I want to connect to, I’m finding myself at risk constantly because it kicks me off of servers and won’t tell me. Please undo whatever you guys have done to make a great VPN service into a subpar VPN service. Side-note: It’s extraordinarily annoying to be logged out of my account, completely randomly and without warning. I’ve lost literally thousands of emails because I didn’t store my password anywhere (for security reasons) and to reset the password, it encrypts ALL of your messages. At least give an option to be signed out randomly or to stay logged in, although I’m sure that the majority of people would prefer to not be logged out without warning

4 years ago, Mikethereader11

Much better than a year ago

I had initially signed on for a year of ProtonVPN and found it to be very frustrating to use on my iPhone. The VPN connection would essentially be paused while the phone was not in active use and it would take more than 10s, sometimes 60+s if on LTE, to reestablish a connection. Sometimes a connection could not be established via LTE. I emailed support and after collecting info it boiled down to the way iOS handled VPN connections and I wasn’t the only one experiencing issues. They told me that they were actively working with Apple to try to fix it. And they have! Now I can remain connected all day without having any delays when picking up my idle phone. There are always plenty of servers available and I’ve never had slow data speeds.

3 weeks ago, CLight2

Free problems or pay for problems

I am giving Proton VPN a try but so far it hasn’t lived up to the other proton app standards. If you are using an app or a mobile web browser that has a feed that updates, it won’t load with Proton VPN connected. This is not the case with other VPN providers such as ExpressVPN or NordVPN. So I did a search and found that this is a known glitch that Proton has released a fix for, but only for the paid versions of the vpn. So, I thought I’d give the paid version a try for one month, but the process has been the worst. Why don’t you have an easier way to upgrade subscriptions or add-on apps for current users? Why make it hard for the users who already use some of your products? What’s with the weird pricing for monthly and yearly subscriptions? It was the same for when I wanted to renew my proton mail subscription. Edit: 1 star because support is slow or no response after days. Whereas others have been within 24-48 hours. Edit 2: Logs logs logs.

2 years ago, DigitalNomadSF

Updated Review - This Team Is Working Hard

Lots of great stability and reliability improvements over the last few months. Appreciate the hard work they’re doing in responding to feedback and in serving their users. Very fast and more stable since my last review. Prior review: When I connect the VPN it says connected at the bottom of the screen. But when I go back to the app it’s NEVER connected. It attempts reconnect again as it says “connecting” at the bottom of the screen. I have the kill switch to on. Is my data not going through the VPN when I believe it is? Does this thing work or not? It’s incredibly unreliable and regret a 1-year subscription. I have to go back to my prior VPN. This is unfortunate.

8 months ago, WGF13423232

80% loss of data speed

As a network architect, I am very familiar with how VPN works. I’m disappointed with the loss of so much data throughput regardless of location or “fastest” servers. It’s consistently 80% or higher loss of both down and up speed- 140mbps down, becomes 13 to 15 down with upload performance impacted as well. I attempted multiple times to communicate via the app sending logs and report, but it just fails on timeout through the established VPN- Netguard had to be disabled for certain apps to run - SoFi banking, affirm and visible, to name a few. VPN accelerator appears to do more harm than good when it comes to throughput tests. - maybe it would help to have a closer NOC because I’m 10 hours from Miami and the next closest NOC is NY- No Atlanta? Kind of surprising. Anyway- two stars because I know my data is secure when I do need a VPN. Probably will cancel subscription unless I see something different in my testing

1 year ago, StrobesFighter

Hit and miss

I’ve had a few issues with proton VPN. Not enough to fully switch but enough to start shopping. Sometimes the app won’t load on my phone. The kill switch function allows leaking. The connection is remarkably slow, and sometimes I cannot even connect without resetting the app and restarting the computer. The UX really needs to improve UPDATE for developer: no I don’t have more details. You should be able to fix this in the background. It happens with every server, no matter where I am. Whenever I join an airport Wi-Fi, I see emails updating without a vpn tunnel even though kill switch is on. I don’t use firewall or antivirus. Please improve the performance

4 years ago, Jose Jaeger

Great at what it does, except for one thing…

As someone who already uses Protonmail, getting ProtonVPN as my VPN provider was a no-brainer, especially as I got to upgrade my Protonmail account in the process. While I have a wide variety of servers to choose from, the one aspect I found particularly annoying was that ProtonVPN would always default to a US-based server whenever it could. As someone based in the US, being able to connect to a foreign server was a major selling point for me, but not only is there no way to configure a profile to never connect to a US-based server, the app would automatically connect me to one if I lost a connection to another server I was already connected to at times. There needs to be a way to exclude specific countries within connection profiles to best enhance privacy and security.

4 years ago, Tunnell_T68

Confused, Disappointed

I downloaded this app 11 days ago and I was happy with it. It works in the back ground and I wasn’t aware of any issues I didn’t even know I was on the 10 day trial for the premium version. Although I downloaded the iOS version for my Apple products, after the 10 days and I didn’t step up to the premium, I wanted the free version at this time, all of a sudden I was unable to access the internet with WiFi. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, my husband was getting WiFi, so I knew it wasn’t that. When I picked up one of my apple products that i had not downloaded Proton VPN yet, i had WiFi on it! So I uninstalled this app from my phone and ipad, suddenly I had WiFi. Just so you know, you may not get WiFi if your not on the premium version. We live in a canyon where there is no cell service, so we do rely on WiFi emergency notifications.

2 months ago, Tumble-dweeb

Security seems great. Optimization is poor

Been using proton VPN for various years. Soundly believe in their methods for privacy and security. I am glad they continuously add servers and improve their products. However, I have to rate the iOS version at a 3. I feel that the VPN on iPhone is buggy. Often times I notice certain apps get stalled trying to pull data, the fix very often is the Proton VPN connection is idling. As soon as I open the Proton VPN app, it reconnects. That usually resolves the other apps getting stalled. Not sure why this is. I believe that a VPN should reconnect automatic when the connection to a particular server is poor and server connections should be better balanced. Also, when I select the quickest connection, it often does not take me to the quickest server. I hope Proton fixes these issues soon.

4 years ago, do6082

Works fine

I have read some of the most recent reviews and I’m not sure what these people are trying to do with the app. I’ve been using the free version for almost 8 months now and I’ve had no issues with connection and disconnection or slow speeds. I’ve been very happy with the free version hopefully they will keep a free version. I’ve been somewhat hesitant To try the paid version given that sometimes when you switch from a free version to a paid version the paid version may not work as well. This may be what the prior reviewer’s were referring to was a paid version. Given current finances I will have to stay with the free version. I would like at some point to upgrade to the paid version.

3 years ago, lewprint

Good, but can slow or interrupt connection

I got this with my proton mail. I’m working from home in customer service and was hacked via the PC I bought for my pandemic work-from-home-gig. I went three months without income last year because of hackers trying to steal my Unemployment the previous year, so this second security breach was the last straw. Much more cautious about online security now, and don’t use the PC for anything outside of work with their VPN. (I’m typically an Apple user anyway) Mostly using this VPN on my iPad and it’s working for me, but it does slow things down a bit, and just this morning I had to de-install and re-install because the iPad wasn’t making the connection. I was mostly in need of a couple of secure email accounts, so this is a great bonus for my needs for now.

2 years ago, T2gunnz

Locking screen causes connection issues

Converted from another VPN, and liked it at first. After a while though, I noticed that when your phone closes, it loses connection to your VPN. When reopening, it tries to connect to the vpn, causing connectivity issues that often require me to turn off vpn, turn it back on, kill the app I was using, and bring it back up. This happens multiple times a day. When I googled “protonvpn disconnects phone close”, it appears this issue has gone for several months, and says all VPNs struggle with it. Well, my previous one didn’t. I’ll still use it as the old VPN subscription expired and I bought a year or two subscription for Proton pack, but it’d be nice if this could be prioritized as it seems like a usability issue at best and possibly a security issue at worst

6 years ago, Varlinn

The best free VPN for PC is now the best free VPN for Mobile.

I used Proton VPN for PC since last year, and haven’t been disappointed. The free features are reliable and meet most people’s basic needs, making upgrading truly feel optional; Optional, but far from redundant as the best servers and several advanced features such as peer-to-peer are locked behind a paid account, for users that feel they would like them or just want to support the developers with their patronage. The moment the mobile app dropped I downloaded it, and have not been disappointed as it provides the same quality, reliability, and stability I loved on PC. If you get this app, you will not be disappointed whether you decide to pay money or not.

4 years ago, glowingrabbits

Terribly unreliable

I’ve been paying for ProtonVPN for a bit over two months now. It frequently (multiple times a day, usually) loses its connection and fails to automatically reconnect, and I have to go into the settings and manually toggle it off and on, and then still only sometimes it will reconnect. Sometimes it takes toggling either WiFi or mobile data, and some other times I have to switch to a different server for it to start working again. Sometimes it displays the VPN icon as if it’s working, but all connections will fail until I switch to a different server. It’s completely maddening and I’m planning on switching to a different provider when I can. Speed is fine, secure core is a nice feature, and the widespread distribution of servers is also nice, but none of it is that useful when the foundations are so flaky.

12 months ago, 0ldN1kk3n22

Excellent

This one of the best VPN besides other 2 that I used and Proton goes above and beyond. If I’ve had an issue it was the settings that I’ve had the phone on prior or during while using it. I’ve tried a lot and alternate with DNS AdGuard and ContolD And it’s VPN parent company. Only the best. If at the bottom of the pile are ones that claim to do to much while doing nothing like Clario. Plus the free tier does not sell your stuff not that I have much for that anyway but still if people’s have issues check your phone settings or other apps because Proton is Top notch as all it’s services like it’s Mail app gets talked about and recommended in some Tor sites and THAT is saying a lot.

4 months ago, AchtAux8

Severe Drop in Quality

I used to consider Proton the best VPN around, but ever since a few months ago the quality has dropped significantly. I constantly have to fiddle with and restart my connection because it randomly gets stuck loading for no apparent reason, it disconnects in the middle of important tasks sometimes, and I often find that the new “Fastest” feature doesn’t always connect me to the speediest connection. Having a few different countries to select from was nice. also, I had a premium trial for a little bit, and decide from being able to pick whatever connection I wanted, it didn’t seem to fix any of the problems I had. I also know for a fact that it isn’t just me or my home WiFi connection because I’ve talked to a few friends who use Proton as well and they’ve all reported the same issue. It’s been downhill since November.

4 years ago, DeliverTheNoise

Love the app. Love the service. Love the company

I’ve been using the free version for months and am about to upgrade to pro. I highly suggest checking out proton VPN’s transparency report. I especially like using their free U.S. Servers on top of my router-configured vpns through other VPN companies in whom I trust less via servers in other countries (which normally inhibits me from doing things like viewing local news,etc.). Turning on free proton U.S. on iOS means I can use these services again while keeping the privacy I prefer. It should be noted that Apple should be utterly ashamed of themselves for disallowing the VPN killswitch. Apple is NOT interested in guarding your privacy except in the instances where doing so supports their half-evil business model.

2 years ago, anonymouse293018

You have to use some tricks, but it's fine.

ProtonVPN works pretty well, but only if you use some tricks. First off, always use the server in whatever country with the second most amount of people online. If you use the one with the least, you are doomed, because the reason that server has the least is because nobody can get on it. Okay, tip number two. When you click on the server with the second most amount of people, wait a bit for it to almost connect, then disconnect, and connect to that server again. That will usually make it work better. That's all! This is honestly a great vpn since they offer a free version.

4 years ago, TuckRiles

Extremely private however that’s about it...

ProtonVPN/ProtonMail is known for their concentration on protecting the privacy of their customers. This they do very, very well. But the IOS version of their VPN is always disconnecting or facing extreme speed issues. Update: I have been using Proton Mail for years and truly believe because of their dedication to privacy that the VPN should be one of the best if not the best. I had been having speed and connectivity issues however changing the protocol to IKEv2 has solved most all problems. I have subscriptions to Proton, CyberGhost, Nord, Surfshark, and IP Vanish (I really like to keep everyone guessing) however given the speeds I’m now receiving (250 Down/174 Up) matched with the unbeatable Privacy issues I have no need for many of the others.

1 month ago, luisruben1997

Don’t block ads the premium version

Hi, I love proton but failed in adblock. I tested myself and I found this is not like AdGuard. AdGuard block ads and don’t appear in my screen. While I use proton for the purpose to block ads, they still appearing in my screen and have access to them. Can be fast proton and good stuff for privacy but if you are looking something for block ads. Proton is not ready yet. Fix this issue. 3 because of that. I forgot to mention this, Surfshark works too, I tested myself and block ads without any issue. I don’t understand why Proton made netshield like a DNS but DNS of AdGuard work really well and ads not appear in my screen. Proton need to improve this a lot. In the future if this issue is fixed I will consider use protonvpn again.

2 years ago, B34NP1

Cannot use anymore

Downgraded to one star because I cant really connect at all anymore. I did some reading and I think it is because of Russia using Proton services? This seems really bad. Does Proton allow Russia to use services? If so, in a small way it seems like Proton is supporting Russia’s war? I don’t think Proton should allow Russia to use services right now. Isn’t that the point of sanctions, to punish Russia so they stop murdering innocent people or to have their citizens get angry enough to fight back against the regime? It seems wrong that Russian people have a right to privacy while Ukrainian people are dying. What good is privacy to dead people? I thought the point of or the mission of your company is basically ethics ( as in unethical to mine data and sell it to gain advantage... etc.) so where are your ethics now as a company? What a shame, they prefer Russian business vs the rest of the world!

5 years ago, msailing01

Mindless Morons Monitor App Processing to Defeat Access by Playing Childish Games

First, the app stated I did not have an account and would not recognize names, email I previously registered. So I created a new account and was again denied stating names I registered were already taken. Duh. How stupid, childish and tech incompetent can they be????? They were taken by me when I created account and used vpn. Second they wanted me to do gotcha more than a dozen times. I quit after 3 correct gotchas, but then started again to see how many times they would go through process. After 12, I proved my point about their further incompetence and stupidity and could not waste any more time with it. Third, they put an alert in all red stating I was not connected to the internet, but I was, simultaneously. I mean, would you buy and trust a vpn whose employees acted as described above? Would you trust your apps and devices security and your on line safety to some who engages in the above conduct. I wouldn’t. And for second time refused to pay for a service run by incompetent losers who toy with your privacy and monitor your sign up process and play 2nd grade games with it. That’s because they have so few customers they don’t have any work obligations. This is who you are dealing with at this app. There is no way Zi could trust them to keep me safe online.

2 years ago, AsTheTuneTurns

It’s disconnects and reconnects constantly!

I paid for a year of this sub-par service! I had a friend suggest it and when I tried it and bought the year I told him it disconnects and reconnects constantly and he started to look for that issue and noticed his iPhone Pro Max 13 was doing the same thing. I have a script I run that shows me a notification when the VPN disconnects and reconnects. The stability of this VPN is horrific but I wish the developers well in fixing it! To the reply about it being Apple’s fault I don’t entirely buy. I have used and tested many many VPN’s and the highly ranked ones keep a steady connection without disconnecting all the time like Proton VPN does. So I say back, if they are maintaining a connection then why doesn’t yours, that doesn’t fly with me that it’s an Apple iOS problem. But who knows……..

Description

Proton VPN is the world's only free VPN app that is safe to use and respects your privacy. Proton VPN is created by the CERN scientists behind Proton Mail - the world's largest encrypted email service. Our fast VPN offers secure, private and encrypted internet access with advanced security features. Proton VPN also unblocks access to popular websites and streaming platforms. Used by millions worldwide, Proton’s secure no-logs VPN offers 24/7 safe and private internet access, and does not record your browsing history, display ads, sell your data to third parties, or limit downloads. Free VPN features available to all users: • Unlimited data with no bandwidth or speed restrictions • Strict no logs policy • Bypass geo restrictions: smart protocol selection automatically overcomes VPN bans and unblocks censored sites and content • Full disk encrypted servers protect your data • Perfect forward secrecy: encrypted traffic cannot be captured and decrypted later • DNS leak protection: we encrypt DNS queries to ensure that your browsing activity cannot be exposed through DNS leaks • Always-on VPN/ kill switch offers protection against leaks caused by accidental disconnections Premium VPN features: • Access 2900+ high speed servers across 65+ countries worldwide • Fast VPN: high speed servers with connections up to 10 Gbps • VPN Accelerator: unique technology increases Proton VPN's speeds by up to 400% to give a faster browsing experience • Unblock access to blocked or censored content • Connect up to 10 devices to the VPN at the same time • Ad blocker (NetShield): a DNS filtering feature that protects you from malware, blocks ads, and prevents website trackers from following you across the web • Stream films, sports events, and videos on any streaming service (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, BBC iplayer etc) • File-sharing and P2P support • Secure Core servers protect against network-based attacks with multi-hop VPN • Tor over VPN provides automatic integration with the Tor anonymity network • Split tunneling support allows you to select which apps go through the VPN tunnel Why Proton VPN? • No personal data required to sign up • Easy-to-use VPN app for iOS, iPad • Highest strength encryption for your connection makes it better than an internet proxy • One tap “Quick Connect” to secure your internet connection, especially on public Wifi hotspots • Unique VPN Accelerator technology increases your VPN speed by up to 400% for a faster internet connection • Proton VPN's Secure Core architecture allows our secure VPN service to defend against network-based attacks • We only use VPN protocols that are proven to be secure: WireGuard • Independently audited by third-party security experts and we publish all results on our website • Trusted open-source code that can be reviewed for security by anyone • Data protection using AES-256 and 4096 RSA encryption Join the privacy revolution Your support is important as it allows us to continue our mission to bring online freedom to people around the globe. Get our private VPN free today and enjoy fast VPN connections and a secure internet, from anywhere. Experts’ opinion: PCMag: “[Proton VPN’s] is a slick VPN with an excellent collection of advanced features, and it has the best free subscription plan we've seen. Few competitors can match its mix of affordability, features, and design. For all that, it gets a rare five-star rating and earns our Editors' Choice award” Mozilla: “There are many VPN vendors out there, but not all of them are created equal. Proton VPN offers a secure, reliable, and easy-to-use VPN service and is operated by the makers of ProtonMail, a respected, privacy-oriented email service... As a company they have a track record of fighting for online privacy and they share our dedication to internet safety and security.”