Google launches VPN service for Android, iOS, macOS and Windows
Written by: Caleb Hill
Google has announced today their own VPN service for Android, iOS, macOS and Windows. VPN by Google One is available for users of Google One, a subscription service that offers users cloud storage that Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos use.
Google One offers free 15 gigabyte storage. Users who want more storage space have to pay a monthly fee. For subscriptions of 2 terabytes per month and more, the new vpn service will become available in the coming weeks. The vpn service is built into the Google One app and encrypts all data traffic from the phone, regardless of the app or browser used.
At launch, the VPN service will use a VPN protocol developed by Google. This protocol should ensure fast throughput and low energy consumption. However, the intention is to quickly switch to IPsec as a VPN protocol. Other VPN protocols such as WireGuard may be supported in the future.
Google states that it will never use the VPN connection for tracking, logging or selling the browsing behavior of the user.
"The online activities of the user are not visible to the VPN and will not be logged by the VPN", the company states. To achieve this, the authentication of the user is separated from the use of the VPN service.
Certain data is logged in order to guarantee the quality of the service, notes Google. "But your network traffic is never logged and your ip-address is not linked to your activities". In a document about the service, Google states that it does record the use of the service in the past 28 days, the number of recent attempts to set up a vpn session and server error logs (pdf).
In the coming weeks, the VPN service will become available to Google One users with an Android device in the United States. The plan is for the service to appear in more countries in the coming months and for iOS, macOS and Windows. The source code of the VPN client is open source and Google will publish an audit of the solution carried out by a third party.