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Your VPN App Is Not the Tunnel: Proton's 2026 Tracker Study

A VPN can encrypt every byte you send and still hand your location, device identifiers and carrier to libraries inside the app. Proton AG's 2026 study reports trackers in most mobile VPN apps. Here is what the app layer sees, why it identifies you even with your IP hidden, and how to audit your phone.

September 20, 2026

Security News7 min read

Your Free VPN Is Not Free: The Largest Independent Investigation of Free Android VPNs and What It Found

An independent lab tested the 100 most popular free Android VPN apps — roughly 2.5 billion combined installs — and found DNS leaks in 83 of them, malware flags on 19 percent, third-party tracker SDKs in 84 percent, and misrepresentations of data collection in 93 percent of the Play Store data safety labels. Here is what the data says, which apps were the worst offenders, and what to use instead.

August 12, 2026

5 min read

Free VPN vs Paid: When Free Is Actually Safe (and When It's a Trap)

Is a free VPN worth the risk? Compare Free VPN vs Paid models to secure your data. Discover hidden traps and learn which "Privacy Armor" actually works in 2026.Imagine you are walking into a high-end security store. You see two safes: one costs $\$500$ and comes with a 10-year warranty; the other is completely free, no questions asked. Which one would you trust with your life’s savings? In the digital world of 2026, choosing between a Free VPN vs Paid service is exactly that choice. You want protection, you want to unblock content, and you certainly don't want to pay if you don't have to. But in an era where data is more valuable than oil, is "free" ever really free?

May 3, 2026