Do you know what we think are the best mobile VPN apps this year? But first, let’s give you an overview of what is a VPN and it’s importance to your daily Internet activities.
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What is a VPN
VPN is short for “virtual private network“, and if you’ve been on the Internet for a while there’s a good chance that you’ve already heard of this term, but maybe you don’t know exactly what it’s all about.
When they were first popularized, virtual private networks were used for a vastly different purpose than the one they’re utilized for today.
VPN was primarily used to privately share files between remote business PC’s within a “virtual network” so that the two computers don’t necessarily have to be located in the same place. This way it was possible to privately and securely access a file from your office PC from the comfort of your own home, which can come in pretty handy if you potentially have to work overtime.
However, considering how much the Internet and information technology, in general, have evolved since those days, it’s perfectly understandable that VPNs are now used for different reasons today.
In this post, I want to talk a bit about using VPNs on your mobile device; how they work, why you should considering using them and what are some of the best mobile VPN apps you can choose from.
How VPNs Work
Previously, we discussed how to best encrypt your Internet connection.
But, here we will give you more information about how VPNs work. The concept behind a VPN is rather simple.
Every device that uses the Internet through a certain provider has something called an IP address. Your IP address is your primary means of identification on the Internet; it’s how other computers and devices can recognize you and how you can potentially end up sharing data via the network.
Without this kind of system, it would be pretty much impossible to use the Internet as efficiently as we do today.
It’s important to remember that your IP address is tied to your location and that no two IP addresses are the same.
When someone looks at your IP address, they can get their hands on some pretty interesting information about you, like your approximate geographical location, the browser and operating system you’re using, and so on.
Why Use VPN At All?
Alright, so now we know what IP addresses are, and what kind of information one can get just by looking at one.
What if you don’t want to share this kind of information with anyone else, and you want to remain as private as possible on the Internet?
Nowadays this is becoming a pretty serious challenge, and you can find examples of this all over the place. A very interesting example is the fact that the moment you search for a product or service using Google, the search engine will actually remember your search, and immediately send that information over to Facebook.
The result of this that you can often find your Facebook homepage littered with ads about the very thing you’ve just searched for.
Facebook and Google claim that this is their way of improving your online experience and is merely a suggestive way of helping you get your hands on a product that you might need.
And while this may be true, it still means that they know exactly who you are and what you just searched for.
One of the ways you can sidestep this kind of tracking is finding the best mobile VPN app and use it.
You see, when you connect to a VPN server, to the rest of the Internet is now looks as though you’re browsing from the location of the said VPN server.
This means that your IP address changes, and now it is much harder for a server to get any concrete information on you. This makes you safer from cyber attacks on the Internet and makes it much more difficult for people with malicious intents to get their hands on your personal information via the Internet.
But that’s not the only benefit you can get from using a VPN.
In case you’re browsing from a country that has legally enforced some geo-blocking policies and succeeded in censoring certain websites on the Internet so you can access them through conventional means.
China is a good example. You can use a VPN in order to “fake” your location and make it seem like you’re browsing from a completely different part of the world.
This means you can access these websites completely free and with no limitations.
However, there will be a “possible” slower connection speed at times because of the larger distance your Internet signal has to travel.
Aside from discussing the best mobile VPN apps here, you might be interested what are the VPN apps recognized by GreatFire in China.
Finding the most appropriate or best mobile VPN app you need is easy. But if you have no idea about which VPN you want to use, I highly recommend that you check out some of these to see if they work for you:
PureVPN
Since its launch, PureVPN has spread to more than a hundred countries worldwide and acquired thousands of satisfied customers, and it’s easy to see why.
First of all, this VPN is compatible with a wide range of different devices, so it doesn’t matter whether you use a PC, a Mac, an Android or an iPhone – this app can do it all.
If you’re a fan of P2P file sharing, you’ll be glad to hear that PureVPN supports P2P in its entirety over its servers so sharing data is a breeze.
Besides that, this VPN provider gives you access to a number of useful features, such as an Internet Kill Switch (very useful if you’re serious about hiding your identity on the Internet), a NAT firewall and even anti-malware protection.
Cyberghost
If you need a nice, budget-friendly VPN, be sure to look up some Cyberghost reviews and consider giving this one a shot.
Cyberghost offers a free version of their service which you can use to test their servers and see if you’re happy with their servers. Of course, as any good VPN provider, Cyberghost uses state of the art OpenVPN technology to transmit your connection, which is considered to be the most secure and most stable protocol to date.
Private Internet Access
What’s great about Private Internet Access provider is that they give you the option to connect up to 5 devices to their service at the same time. This means that you can set this VPN up on your smartphone, your tablet as well as your PC, and you can use them all at the same time.
Their customer support is also hands-down some of the best I’ve ever seen in any industry – the team is qualified and capable of coming up with clear, short, concise answers to any questions, queries, and issues you might have with their service, so whatever problem you might be having, be sure that they are on it and that it will likely be resolved in a matter of minutes.
VyprVPN
VyprVPN is one of the best VPN application which is available on both desktop and mobile that we were able to use while we’re in China. Aside from that is it gives you a free trial which you can use every month. Every month, why is it monthly? Well, if you are going to use the trial version there is a bandwidth cap which will allow you to use only per month. Not bad, right? VyprVPN is one of the best-recommended VPN apps for this year.
NordVPN
NordVPN is yet another one we could recommend for you if you are looking for a secured connection. The NordVPN is a VPN service which is currently based in Panama. The company has optimized its services now with around 4,400 servers (as of writing this). You will now experience a faster and secured VPN connection. And not only that, NordVPN is known for its best features that stand out from others. They offer from double-hop VPN servers down to ad blocking. NordVPN also has strong leak protection settings. You can check out their best deal prices and see if NordVPN works for you. And if you are not satisfied they have a 30-day money-back guarantee – so no need to worry.
INFOGRAPHIC: The Rise of VPN Usage
Here’s a good infographic of VPN usage from Business 2 Community.
Summary
That’s about all I have to say about our collective best mobile VPN apps and why everyone should consider using one to improve their online experience and keep themselves safe from potential cyber attacks.
Internet privacy is extremely important, especially since information technology is evolving at an alarming rate and it is becoming much easier to acquire one’s information over the Internet.
Staying safe if your number one priority, and using the best mobile VPN is currently the easiest way to do this without breaking the bank.
Good luck!