How to Set up a Mobile VPN in Opera for a Secure Browsing Experience on Android
Updated 03.20.19: Opera’s free VPN for Android users (built into the Opera app) is out of beta and will begin rolling out to all users today via the Google Play Store . Update your app today!
We’ve discussed the importance of using a VPN for web browsing several times already, but almost always in the context of finding a VPN for use with a desktop browser (and for other activities). However, many mobile app developers are implementing VPNs right into their browsers, the latest being Opera for Android.
Technically, Opera’s new VPN feature is still in beta and therefore requires a beta app to view . However, a VPN is quite flexible, letting you decide when to turn it on or off, and even letting you grant certain sites permission to bypass the VPN when needed (for example, when doing location-aware searches).
How to find and enable Opera VPN Beta on Android
Opera offers several apps for mobile browsers, including Opera , Opera Mini, and Opera Touch, but VPN is currently only available in the Android Beta version of Opera , where new features are tested and programmatically launched before deploying to others.
At the time of this posting, VPN is still rolling out to Opera Beta users on Android, so you may not have this feature yet, even if you’ve updated the app to the latest version. Here’s how to check if you have a VPN (and, if so, enable and configure):
- Open the Opera Beta app, then tap the Opera icon in the lower right corner.
- Tap Settings.
- In the “Settings” find the VPN switch between the option “Save data” and “Ad Blocking”. If it is not there, then the function has not yet been implemented. (One small note: enabling VPN will disable the data saver feature, which cannot be used in tandem with a VPN due to the extra data the VPN requires.)
If you followed the above steps, the VPN should be activated, but this does not mean that your mobile activity is completely protected. By default, Opera only uses VPN when you’re browsing your personal tabs, and the app also allows search engines to bypass the VPN to access your location data. You can change both of these parameters in the VPN submenu:
- In the settings menu, tap the VPN option (not the switch) to open additional feature settings.
- To enable VPN on all tabs, turn off the “Use VPN for private tabs only” option .
- To turn off search engine bypass, turn off Search VPN bypass.
- You can also force the VPN to connect to a proxy in a specific region (Europe, America, or Asia), or automatically select the optimal location in the Virtual Location setting in this menu.
You can check if the VPN is active by looking at the blue VPN icon in Opera’s address bar. If you’ve turned it on but don’t see the blue icon, make sure the above settings are turned off as well.