You'll find plenty of free VPNs on the Google Play store. But be careful: Many of these same apps can leak your internet activity or ask for suspicious permissions from your phone, which can involve your personal information, a new study has found.
Review site Top10VPN examined 150 of the most popular free VPN apps on Google Play. It found that over 25 percent of the apps suffered from Domain Name System (DNS) leaks, which can expose the websites you're visiting to an internet service provider. Most of the apps, at 85 percent, also asked for excessive permissions upon activation. This included the ability to read, modify, or delete data on the phone, determine the device's phone number, and collect your location.
"Surging consumer demand for free VPN services is being met by opportunistic Android developers," said Simon Migliano, head of research at Top10VPN. "My advice to anyone considering using a free VPN is to do extensive research before installing and using one.
Ideally, a virtual private network will encrypt your internet traffic through a private server run by the VPN provider. This can prevent an ISP from learning what sites you've been visiting. However, the study found that 38 different free VPN apps on the Google Play store suffered from DNS leaks, in which internet website requests were being exposed to the ISP. One of those apps, called SuperVPN Free VPN Client, has over 50 million downloads.
The same app will also ask for some suspicious permissions when you install it. For instance, you'll have to grant it access to your location, identity, and to your device's storage, none of which is needed to run the actual VPN service.
Another app called SkyVPN also requests permission for your camera, in addition to the phone function and access to the onboard storage. "It's disturbing to see just how many apps contain code for getting the user's last known location," Migliano said in an email. "It's also hard to believe that any developer could expect anyone to trust their VPN app when it includes permissions and commands for using the camera or accessing your contacts."
The study is good reminder to be aware what you're getting into when downloading a free VPN product. Not all are created equal. Many also make money by collecting some of your personal information to serve up an online ad tailored for you.
To protect yourself, consider reading the VPN provider's privacy policy. Or look at investing in a paid VPN service, which generally don't employ as many shady practices as free VPNs do.
So far, Google hasn't responded to the study.