I resisted the urge to get a decent VPN for my Android phone for years. Why bother with an extra app just to get online, now that internet connections are ubiquitous?
Over time, however, the scenarios in which I needed a VPN became more common. I needed to check what this or that site looked like from another geolocation. Or I needed to test an app that wasn't available in my country. But what finally made me cave in was being unable to watch some of my favorite TV shows while traveling.
A VPN, or virtual private network, provides an additional layer of privacy when connecting to the internet. It's like using a private tunnel to browse the web, keeping you safe from prying eyes and enabling you to surf as if you were connecting from a server in a different place. Typically, all you need to do as a user is install the app on your smartphone, start it up, choose a server location, and then you can just continue browsing as usual.
Choosing which VPN provider to go with, however, is both easy and incredibly difficult. There are hundreds to choose from, but it's very hard to test how reliable they are in different scenarios. So below, you'll find a list of some VPNs, both free and paid, that are just plain good.
A word of caution: People use VPNs for various purposes, ranging from accessing a video stream to protecting their privacy from an entity that might be monitoring online communications, including oppressive regimes. Not every VPN offers the same degree of anonymity and the fine print can be important here; if privacy is important to you, carefully read the privacy policy of each service before you use it.
Various VPNs offer versions of their service for Android devices. Here are the best ones that we've tried, in no particular order, with prices listed per year:
Editor’s Note: IPVanish is owned by J2 Global, the parent company of Ziff Davis, Mashable’s publisher. Any J2 products featured on Mashable are covered independently by our content team.
