VPNs or Virtual Private Networks used to be something only businesses were using to cost-effectively connect their offices and branches around the world. These days, the same technology is available to the general public, allowing all of us to keep our identity under the radar as well as to access content that could otherwise be outside of our reach.
Furthermore, with the advent of modern mobile technologies, VPN apps are available on both computers and mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. And today, we’re giving you what we think are 4 good reasons to use a VPN on your Android device. Here they come…
1. Protect your data
Your smartphone reveals more information about you than your computer — for instance, it will by default let other apps disclose your information to third-party apps.
If you’re using an Android-based device, you can hardly hide yourself from the prying eyes of Google — it’s their platform you’re using and they’ll know every step you take, and then some. Facebook will also know your location whenever you start one of its apps — including the Facebook app itself, as well as Whatsapp and Instagram.
For some apps, you just have to agree with their terms in order to be able to use them. Then again, there are many others operated by smaller companies that may use your personal information for some other purposes. And there are no good reasons to provide them access to your data. Instead, you can use a VPN that will make it harder for them to get to the relevant details, your location being just one of the data points they may want to collect.
A VPN app running in the background will also make your web browsing on a phone a more private experience, as the websites you’re visiting will get a different IP address.
2. Access geo-blocked content
Popular video streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video have different catalogs for different parts of the world. That has little to do with them, and everything to do with the way content is bought and sold on the international market. For example, someone may have purchased exclusive rights for streaming Friends in the UK, thus Netflix users there can’t access it from their favorite streaming service — and Netflix has bought those rights for the U.S. market.
With a VPN running on your Android smartphone and/or tablet, you can access your “home Netflix” wherever you happen to go. From the VPN app, select the server in your home country and then start the Netflix app. You’re good to go.
For what it matters, many users are getting a VPN app just to be able to access Netflix’s US catalog of movies and TV shows.
3. Bypass censorship
Say you’re traveling to a country with fishy Internet practices, and you end up with some of the sites you got used to being out of your reach. This happens in some high-censorship places where the government is trying to control what people are reading, listening and watching. Think of places like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and so on. In some of these countries you won’t be able to access Twitter, Facebook and even YouTube, whereas Google (presuming it’s available) won’t show complete search results.
A VPN can help you bypass these restrictions by channeling your traffic to a server in the U.S. or Europe. This is pretty much the same thing a VPN does when it lets you access Netflix from a foreign country. As far as Netflix is concerned (or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube), you are connecting from the U.S.
4. Download files with BitTorrent
You can run a BitTorrent client on your smartphone and/or tablet to download all the files you want while on the go. Based on what you want to download (and upload), that practice may not be allowed all across the globe. With VPN, however, no one knows what you’re doing online, and you are free to grab all the files you want.
The procedure is as simple as browsing the web anonymously: fire up the VPN app, select the appropriate server (if available, go for the one that has been optimized for P2P traffic), and start the BitTorrent client. Now, find the files you need and start downloading them. A VPN will make sure you’re doing this from some country that has nothing against P2P file sharing. It may sound complicated, but it’s really easy.
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You may be wondering where to start? Check out our list of Top VPNs for Android. These services also happen to work great on computers and could be used for different purposes. We’re sure you’ll find some that work best for you.