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Android gives VPN apps more power than iOS does — a system-level Always-on setting with a real block-connections-without-VPN kill switch, per-app split tunnelling, and no App Store gatekeeping — which makes the app's quality and the provider's intentions matter more, not less. This page ranks on how well each provider uses those Android features and on whether it can be trusted with them.
Proton VPN80 Open-source Android app audited by Securitum, full support for Android's Always-on and block-without-VPN, per-app split tunnelling, and an APK available directly from Proton and F-Droid for phones without Google Play — which matters in the countries where Android is the dominant platform and Play is blocked.
Private Internet Access67 Every PIA app is open source, the Android app supports Always-on, per-app split tunnelling and its own firewall-level kill switch, and it adds port forwarding and unlimited devices.
NordVPN73 A mature Android app with split tunnelling, Always-on support, Threat Protection blocking ads and trackers system-wide (which cuts battery drain from background ad traffic), NordLynx for speed, and Meshnet for linking devices.
Swiss, non-profit-controlled, open source, with the only free tier worth using.
80
Owner
Proton Foundation
Jurisdiction
Switzerland · Outside the alliances
No-logs audit
None — apps audited by Securitum, 2025
Price
from $4.49/mo
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Open-source Android app audited by Securitum, full support for Android's Always-on and block-without-VPN, per-app split tunnelling, and an APK available directly from Proton and F-Droid for phones without Google Play — which matters in the countries where Android is the dominant platform and Play is blocked. Swiss non-profit ownership for an app that sees every packet.
Slower than the top commercial providers on long-haul servers.
Privacy & trust
73
Features
98
Price & renewal
77
App quality
68
Controlled by a Swiss non-profit foundation since 2024
All apps open source and independently audited
Free tier with no data cap and no ads
Renewal is higher than the intro price
Free tier cannot choose a country
Speeds trail NordVPN and ExpressVPN in most tests
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 68/100 from 101,311 ratingsFull reviewVisit Proton VPN
Open-source apps, court-proven no-logs, unlimited devices; US-based and Kape-owned.
67
Owner
Kape Technologiesalso owns review sites
Jurisdiction
United States · Five Eyes
No-logs audit
Deloitte, 2022 (report not public)
Price
from $2.03/mo · renewal price unconfirmed
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Every PIA app is open source, the Android app supports Always-on, per-app split tunnelling and its own firewall-level kill switch, and it adds port forwarding and unlimited devices. The court-tested no-logs record is the trust argument for a permission this broad.
The biggest network and the most features; renews at nearly triple the intro price.
73
Owner
Nord Security
Jurisdiction
Panama · Outside the alliances
No-logs audit
Deloitte, 2024 (report not public)
Price
from $3.39/mo · ~$7.53/mo over 3 yrs after renewal
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
A mature Android app with split tunnelling, Always-on support, Threat Protection blocking ads and trackers system-wide (which cuts battery drain from background ad traffic), NordLynx for speed, and Meshnet for linking devices. Android TV and Fire TV apps share the account.
Not open source; renewal is steep.
Privacy & trust
65
Features
91
Price & renewal
62
App quality
58
Largest server network in the market
NordLynx (WireGuard) is consistently fast
Four Deloitte no-logs audits since 2018
Two-year plan renews at roughly 3× the intro price
Sibling brand Surfshark is presented as a competitor
No port forwarding
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 58/100 from 699,424 ratingsFull reviewVisit NordVPN
Unlimited devices at the lowest headline price of the big three; same owner as NordVPN.
74
Owner
Nord Security
Jurisdiction
Netherlands · Nine Eyes
No-logs audit
Deloitte, 2025 (report not public)
Price
from $2.19/mo · ~$4.41/mo over 3 yrs after renewal
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Unlimited devices for households where every phone and tablet is Android, per-app split tunnelling (Bypasser), CleanWeb ad blocking, and among the better-rated Android apps in Play Store reviews. Lowest intro price of the majors.
Renewal triples; Nine Eyes jurisdiction.
Privacy & trust
58
Features
89
Price & renewal
77
App quality
66
Unlimited simultaneous connections
Cheapest two-year intro among the major brands
Deloitte no-logs audit (2023) and Cure53 app audits
Renewal is about three times the intro price
Owned by Nord Security, which also owns NordVPN
Netherlands base sits inside the Nine Eyes
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 66/100 from 128,114 ratingsFull reviewVisit Surfshark
Canadian, founder-owned, with a generous free tier and unusually flexible pricing.
67
Owner
Windscribe Limited
Jurisdiction
Canada · Five Eyes
No-logs audit
None found
Price
from $5.75/mo
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
R.O.B.E.R.T. blocks ads and trackers at the DNS level for every app on the phone, the 10 GB free tier is the best way to try an Android VPN, split tunnelling is per-app, and the APK is available outside Play. Founder-owned.
One of the most-installed Android VPNs, with an ad-supported free tier whose privacy policy permits sharing data — on a platform where the VPN app sees everything. Not the trade to make.
P2P blocked, no split tunnelling on Android until recently, no independent audit, and a sibling brand fined for selling browsing data.
What we weighed for Android, and the exact weights
Always-on and system kill switch
Android's own Always-on VPN with 'Block connections without VPN' is a real firewall-level kill switch. Apps that support it properly are safer than any in-app switch.
Per-app split tunnelling
Android allows it natively; every good Android VPN offers it. Banking apps that refuse foreign IPs go outside the tunnel, everything else inside.
Trust with the permissions
A VPN app on Android sees all traffic. Ownership, audits and open-source code decide whether that is acceptable.
Battery and stability
Android VPN apps are notorious for background drain and reconnect failures after Doze. Reviews and audits tell us which behave.
Weights on this page: Privacy & trust 25% · Features 18% · Price & renewal 15% · App quality 15% · Streaming 10% · Speed (our tests) 7% · Censorship bypass 5% · Support & refunds 5%. Formula.
Why Android is different from iPhone
On iPhone, a VPN app hands the tunnel to iOS and hopes the system keeps it up. On Android, the app can ask for more and the system can enforce more. Android’s own Always-on VPN with “Block connections without VPN” is a firewall-level kill switch that survives the app crashing; per-app split tunnelling is native; APKs can be installed from anywhere. That makes a good Android VPN app better than any iPhone one, and a bad one worse — because the app sees every packet from every other app, with the system’s blessing.
So this page weighs trust — ownership, audits, open source — and Android-specific feature use about equally, and the App Store analysis that dominates the iPhone list is replaced here by Play Store ratings and the providers’ Android track records.
The three settings to turn on
Always-on VPN and Block connections without VPN. In Android’s VPN settings, per app. This is the kill switch that actually works, and it does not depend on the VPN app noticing a drop. Test it with the kill switch tool: connect, start monitoring, toggle airplane mode for two seconds.
Battery optimisation exclusion. Android’s Doze will suspend the VPN app overnight unless it is excluded. Settings → Apps → your VPN → Battery → Unrestricted. Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo and OnePlus have additional manufacturer killers that need their own settings; the provider’s help pages usually list them.
Split tunnelling. Put banking apps, ride-hailing and anything that needs your real location outside the tunnel; leave everything else inside. Every pick supports this per app.
Installing without Google Play
Android is the majority platform in most of the countries on our censorship pages, and Play is blocked or restricted in several of them. Proton, Mullvad, Windscribe and PIA publish APKs on their own sites and Proton and Mullvad are on F-Droid. Verify the signing certificate against the one the provider publishes — fake VPN APKs are a real problem in Iran, Russia and China, and the fake ones are surveillance tools.
Trackers, ads and battery
A VPN app can block ads and trackers for every app on the phone by filtering DNS inside the tunnel, which no browser extension can do. NordVPN’s Threat Protection, Surfshark’s CleanWeb, Windscribe’s R.O.B.E.R.T. and Proton’s NetShield all do this, and on an ad-heavy phone the effect on battery is visible — less background traffic than the VPN’s own overhead adds. It is one of the few cases where turning on a VPN feature makes a phone last longer.
What we have not tested
Battery drain and reconnect behaviour after Doze are from user reports and provider documentation. Our own tests — a fixed set of phones, each provider’s default settings, overnight — are on the list, and the “app quality” score for Android will get its own review-analysis pipeline like the iOS one when Play Store review data can be gathered as cleanly.
iPhone app rating is far below every established provider in this catalogue
Frequently asked questions
Does Android have a built-in VPN kill switch?
Yes, and it is better than most in-app ones. Settings → Network & internet → VPN → the gear next to your VPN → turn on Always-on VPN and Block connections without VPN. Android then refuses to route any traffic outside the tunnel, even when the app crashes. Every pick above supports it; some also add their own in-app switch.
What is split tunnelling on Android?
Choosing which apps go through the VPN and which do not, per app. Useful for banking apps that refuse foreign IPs, for apps that need your real location, or for keeping a game outside the tunnel for latency. Android supports it natively and every pick here offers it; iOS does not allow it in the same way.
Why does my Android VPN disconnect overnight?
Android's battery optimisation (Doze) suspends background apps, including the VPN. Turn on Always-on VPN so the system, not the app, keeps the tunnel, and exclude the VPN app from battery optimisation in Settings → Apps → the VPN → Battery. Some manufacturers (Xiaomi, Huawei, OnePlus) have their own aggressive killers that need separate settings.
Can I install a VPN without Google Play?
Yes. Proton, Windscribe, Mullvad and PIA publish APKs on their own sites, and Proton and Mullvad are on F-Droid. This matters on phones without Play services and in countries where Play or the app is blocked; verify the APK signature against the provider's published one.
Do VPN apps drain Android battery?
Somewhat: WireGuard-family protocols add a few percent a day; OpenVPN more. Apps with tracker blocking (NordVPN Threat Protection, Windscribe R.O.B.E.R.T., Surfshark CleanWeb) often reduce net drain by cutting background ad traffic. If the phone runs hot, check the protocol first.
Is a free Android VPN safe?
Proton's and Windscribe's free tiers are; both are the same apps and policies as the paid versions. The Play Store's VPN category beyond those is full of ad-supported apps, several of which have been found bundling SDKs that harvest exactly what a VPN sees. Check for a company name, a paid tier and an audit before installing.
