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VPN Apps: 85% of Those Downloaded in the U.S. Include Trackers
For several months, Proton reviewed more than 7,000 mobile VPN apps. In the United States alone, 85% of downloaded apps contain advertising or analytics trackers, and some even access the user’s GPS location. Here’s what we know.
Note: this first analysis published by Proton focuses on VPN activity in the United States. However, David Peterson, General Manager of Proton VPN, told TechRadar that his teams are tracking 7,500 VPNs and have datasets for the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. A further report that will be more directly relevant to us should therefore be published soon.
13.2 Million Downloads in One Month
This new study published on the Proton VPN blog on August 27, 2026 includes interesting statistics about VPN apps. To conduct this analysis, Proton relied on two external sources: download estimates via AppTweak, and data from the open source Exodus Privacy project, which detects code signatures for analytics, advertising, and profiling trackers in Android apps.
According to Proton, 85% of VPNs available in the United States include tracking features. These range from collecting the device advertising ID, handset model, network type, or even the mobile carrier name. That data is then sent to other destinations, including China and Russia. The report details where this traffic goes, based on download volume for June 2026:
- Trackers sending data to Israel: 2.6 million downloads
- Trackers sending data to China: 1.5 million
- Trackers sending data to Russia: 1.4 million
- Trackers sending data to all three destinations: 800,000
- Trackers sending data to Five Eyes countries: 4.6 million
In addition to what was mentioned above, 64 apps go even further: they actively access GPS data (geolocation). Proton also identifies apps behind this type of practice, though the list is not exhaustive: VPN Proxy Master, VPN-Fast VPN Super, and X-VPN. These apps alone account for more than 3 million downloads in the United States, in June 2026 alone.
"This means that roughly 20% of all VPN downloads listed in our database come from apps that track your location, which is probably exactly what you were trying to avoid by installing a VPN.", the report states.
Chinese Owners Hidden Behind Shell Companies
Out of the 390 VPNs studied for the U.S. market, Proton links 64 to Chinese companies. Among these VPN apps, some appear to be operating quietly: 31 of them present themselves through shell companies based in Singapore, Hong Kong, or the United Kingdom.
"Under Chinese law, companies are required to make user data available to the authorities upon request.", Proton points out. This opens the door to surveillance through this channel. Once again, this calls into question the no-logs policies of some VPN services.
The report also highlights three VPNs owned by market research firms: Phone Guardian Safe WiFi (Sensor Tower), My Mobile Secure VPN (Comscore), and Urban VPN (BiScience). I don’t know if you remember, but in December 2025, I published an article about free VPN extensions that intercept users’ exchanges with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini: Urban VPN was on that list.
Proton’s Position
Proton regularly publishes reports to call out Google, Microsoft, and others. So it is hardly surprising to see a report like this one. But we should not forget that Proton is both judge and jury: the Swiss company also offers its own VPN service, Proton VPN. In other words, on paper, Proton is in direct competition with the VPN apps it analyzed.
For its part, Proton has asked Apple and Google to perform technical checks rather than rely on developers’ statements. It has also called for the actual corporate footprint and data collection practices to be published. One thing is certain: you should not trust just any VPN app. Choose a service from a well-established company whose security has been audited by third parties: on that front, Proton VPN does fairly well (see this page).
Check out Proton’s report on this page.
