Opera VPN is ad-free (for now) and free to use as much as you like.
It was just a few weeks ago that Opera added a free virtual private network (VPN) tool to its web browser, and now it’s launching the option in a new iOS app as well. The update, announced Monday, brings free and unlimited VPN to iOS.
Opera VPN, as it’s being called, lets users circumvent blocked content online. For instance, certain websites might be blocked in your office, or certain TV shows on your favourite streaming app blocked for your location. To be more specific, this is something that Netflix says is a big no no, and are actively clamping down on its use.
A VPN effectively borrows the IP address (the unique identifier for your device on a network) of a device in another area, hiding your own IP in the process. Opera VPN lets you pick a virtual location from the US, Canada , Germany, Singapore, and the Netherlands, but the company says more locations are in the works. The tool also has a built-in ad-blocker, and actively blocks ad-tracing cookies.
Opera VPN is absolutely free, for you to use as much as you like, with no microtransactions, although the company has admitted that VPN maintenance costs will force it to include ads in the future. While the VPN service is available for both web and iOS, Android is on its way soon. However, there’s a catch.
Aside from the future plan for ads, Opera detailed how else it might make money off the app, in a blog post. “The other way we make money is by collecting anonymous data about how people use their mobile device. We make this information available to third parties who are interested in better understanding the mobile ecosystem and how it’s evolving. It’s important to understand that this is not data about what you do with your phone, but rather this is data about how a large group of people use their phones. It’s very much like taking part in a survey – there is very little value in your personal answers since your answers may not be representative of the larger population. But if you ask 100,000 people, then you start to get answers that are statistically significant. We do not store or distribute any data that could be used to determine your personal online activities”.
While the may not hinder most of you from signing up, the privacy conscious among you are likely fidgeting in your seats right this minute. In that case, the company also offers a premium, paid-for VPN service that has zero logging, so you can choose what tradeoff you prefer.
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