Private Internet Access (PIA) is making its Android VPN app and dependencies code open source. The move comes as part of the company’s commitment to open-sourcing all clients in the name of transparency and privacy.
Private Internet Access says its proud to be able to give back to the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community by open-sourcing the hard work of its developers, for the benefit of all.
The roll-out of all the Android-related PIA repositories will take place over the next couple of weeks and is starting today with PIA’s slightly altered Android OpenVPN repo. The next repo will be PIA’s Android VPN tunnel libraries and the final repo will be the PIA Android app itself.
Private Internet Access first announced plans to open-source its VPN client software on all platforms in 2018. As part of that goal, PIA has already open-sourced its Chrome Extension, Firefox Add-On, Private Internet Access tunnel for Apple Platforms, and Desktop client — the last of which even included the code for how to allow users to resolve Handshake names. And now PIA’s Android app is joining in, allowing anyone to review the code. And that, PIA claims, is the point of its new mentality: “Don’t Trust, Verify.”
In that sense, allowing users to verify that there is no malicious code running on their computers, and Android and iOS smartphones are just the beginning. Private Internet Access is also developing a Verifiable zero access infrastructure as well as allowing random audits so there is additional verification that no logging is happening on its VPN servers.
Links to all of the repositories can be found at pia-foss on Github. More information on PIA’s FOSS codebases can also be found here.
Private Internet Access has been on the market for a decade now, having attracted over a million paying subscribers. That feat alone prompted Kape Technologies to acquire the company in November 2019, and add PIA to its roster of VPN services that also include Zenmate and CyberGhost.
Alas, Private Internet Access is not the only VPN committed to open-source. Last month, ProtonVPN emerged as the first VPN provider to open-source apps on all platforms — including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. At that time, the company also announced an independent security audit to prove to the world that it really stands behind all of its (zero logs) claims.
Pros
Cons
- Fast, reliable download and upload speeds
- Works great for Netflix and torrenting
- Dedicated Chrome and Firefox extensions
- Connect 10 devices simultaneously
- Doesn't work well in China