Introduction
VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, are essential tools for individuals in authoritarian contexts, enabling them to bypass censorship and protect their anonymity through encrypted internet traffic. These tools are critical in safeguarding against surveillance, retaliation, and prosecution, thereby supporting the rights to freedom of information, freedom of speech and privacy. The accessibility and functionality of these apps in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store have significant implications for global users and their human rights. We conducted an exploratory and comparative study to analyze the availability of 50 of the most popular VPNs across 175 App Stores, and 176* Play Stores.
| * The 176 Play Stores include a ‘rest of the world’ category, which refers to a default grouping used by Google to manage the distribution of apps in territories that do not have a dedicated national Play Store. The ‘rest of the world’ Play Store actually includes 49 countries/regions, which are not individually listed among the countries Google explicitly supports with a local Play Store. For the purposes of this short study, this Play Store is counted like any other. |
Methodology
Our research methodology was structured around a two-step process: First, we compiled a list of the top 50 VPN applications, selected based on their popularity and availability on both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, to ensure comparison across the two major mobile app distribution platforms. Secondly, we tested the availability of these VPN apps across all 175 App Stores and 176 Play Stores. We analyzed the results, comparing the availability of VPN apps across Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, and examined how each platform’s offerings vary by geographical and national context.
Data and Findings
All data and test results are available here.
General figures:
- A total of 17,550 tests were conducted across two platforms, involving 50 VPN apps tested in 175 Apple App Stores and 176 Google Play Sores.
- In the Apple App Store, out of 8,750 tests across 175 stores, apps were unavailable 108 times, representing 1.23% of the total tests.
- In the Google Play Store, out of 8,800 tests across 176 stores, including the ‘Rest of the World’ category, apps were unavailable 277 times, representing 3.15%, of the total tests.
- Overall, we detected 385 instances of unavailability, resulting in a combined cross-platform unavailability rate of 2.19% (385/17,550). This indicates a relatively high rate of VPN accessibility worldwide upon initial examination.
Apps and Platforms:
- Due to the existence of a categorical ban of VPN apps in China, none of the 50 VPN apps tested are available globally across the two platforms, as all iOS versions of the apps are, at least, unavailable in the China App Store.
- On Google’s Play Store:
- 17 VPNs are available in all 176 Play Stores, including the China Play Store (blocked in China).
- 11 VPNs are only unavailable in one store: 9 apps in China’s store and 2 apps in Russia’s store.
- 16 VPNs are unavailable in 2 to 11 stores.
- 6 VPNs are unavailable in 18 to 42 stores.
- On Apple’s App Store:
- 39 VPNs are only unavailable in 1 App Store: China.
- 10 VPNs are unavailable in 2 to 10 App Stores.
- 1 VPN is unavailable in 25 App Stores.
- Disregarding the availability of apps in the China Play Store, which cannot be accessed from mainland China, we looked at the consistency of regions of unavailability across platforms for each app. The following can be observed:
- 27 VPNs show the exact same unavailability across both platforms. These 24 VPNs are only unavailable in 2 stores or fewer. (13 of these are actually available in China’s Play Store while they are unavailable in the App Store.)
- 23 VPNs show discrepancies in unavailability, presenting a different number of unavailable stores on the 2 platforms. Those discrepancies can sometimes be very significant.
- Only 3 of these 23 apps show more unavailability in Apple’s App Stores compared to the Play Store. For all 20 other apps, the VPNs are unavailable in more Play Stores.
- However, Play Stores which are unavailable are often countries and territories which do not have iOS App Stores, such as: Bangladesh, Comoros, Cuba, Eritrea, Guinea, the Vatican, Iran, Monaco, Samoa, San Marino, Somalia and Sudan. The Rest of the World Play Store also includes territories which do not have App Stores. In total, 79 instances of unavailability in the Play Store concern territories which have no App Store.
- Apps with the biggest discrepancies include VPN Vault (unavailable in 25 App Stores vs. 2 Play Stores), VPN by Private Internet Access, (10AS vs.42PS), Surfshark (2AS vs. 37PS), Encrypt.me (1AS vs. 42PS), VyprVPN (1AS vs. 41PS) and HotspotShield (1AS vs. 23PS). Unavailability in the Play Stores for these apps includes 4 of the 5 instances for the “Rest of the World” Play Store observed in this study.
Geographical trends
- VPN unavailability by region shows that Asia-Pacific has the highest number of incidents, with 63 instances across 12 countries on Apple’s App Store and 77 (16 countries) on the Google Play Store, totaling 140 instances out of 386. This is primarily driven by China, which accounts for 78 of these instances across both platforms.
- Africa is next with 87 instances of unavailability (across 26 countries), followed by the Americas with 49 instances (across 13 countries) and the Middle East and Northern Africa region, also 49 cases across 11 countries. From these, Iran totals 16 instances (all in the Play Store as there is no App Store in Iran), putting the country in second position behind China in terms of unavailable VPN apps.
- After China and Iran, Turkmenistan and Russia have the highest instances of VPN unavailability, with 12 occurrences each.
Analysis and Comments
The data indicates that VPN apps continue to face systematic unavailability in China on Apple’s App Store, the only one of the two platforms available in China. In 2017, Apple began removing all VPN apps from its China App Store at the request of Chinese authorities. This led to a swift decrease in the number of VPN apps available in the country, culminating in a complete categorical ban that has been maintained to this day.
Countries like Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan also exhibit significant instances of VPN unavailability due to government censorship. These countries have strict controls over internet access and often block VPNs to restrict access to global information and maintain control over online content. Russia’s figures for VPN unavailability align with the country’s regulatory framework, which includes laws against technologies that enable bypassing official censorship.
When comparing the unavailability of VPN apps on the App Store and the Play Store, notable differences emerge in geographical spread and access levels. The Google Play Store has a significantly higher and broader total number of unavailability instances (277) compared to the App Store (108). The App Store mainly reflects app restrictions in China, with sporadic temporary restrictions also occurring in other countries. For example, in Vietnam, the ‘VPN – fast, secure, no limits’ app was available from December 18, 2023, to January 3, 2024, but became unavailable on March 21, 2024. In India, the ‘TunnelBear’ app was available from June 29, 2021, to June 30, 2022, and then became unavailable on December 28, 2022. Typically, these restrictions or unavailability affect only one or two countries per app.
In contrast, some Google Play apps are unavailable in up to 42 Play Stores (including the ‘Rest of the World’ one), like ‘VPN by Private Internet Access’ and ‘Encrypt.me,’ possibly indicating a higher degree of restriction.
At first glance, the Play Store demonstrates more extensive access restrictions, pointing to potentially stricter enforcement of internal or government-led app availability policies compared to the App Store. This is mostly true for territories with access to both Apple and Google platforms. When comparing territories with both platforms, 62 territories have more instances of unavailability in the Google Play Store (231 instances of unavailability) compared to the App Store (only 28 instances). Only 13 countries see more unavailability in the App Store (18 instances) compared to the Play Store (5 instances).
However, the Play Store’s global availability (224 countries and territories worldwide) is significantly higher than the App Store (175 App Stores). This means that many instances of unavailability counted in the Play Store should be considered differently. For example, in Iran, where 16 instances of unavailability are observed, the App Store is not available in the country, and the Play Store offers 34 VPNs to Android users while no VPNs are available to iOS device users. The same applies to users in Bangladesh, Comoros, Cuba, Eritrea, Guinea, the Vatican, Monaco, Samoa, San Marino, Somalia, Sudan, and many other countries included in the Rest of the World Play Store.
Ultimately, apart from China, no country or region is affected by widespread restriction over VPN apps, and most VPNs are available even in the countries that restrict digital rights the most. This suggests that governments most concerned about VPN usage in their countries tend to block the servers used by VPNs rather than restricting access to VPNs themselves. Unavailability of specific VPNs in the most authoritarian regimes, unless attributed to the app owners/publishers, might indicate that authorities need to restrict access to an app in addition to blocking its servers due to the VPN owners’ ability to adapt or circumvent the blocks.
Further research, notably by reaching out to VPN companies, is needed to understand these instances of unavailability better and differentiate between potentially very different situations despite similar observations in terms of availability/unavailability of VPN apps
