Review Insights · App Store
Proton VPN: Fast & Secure
Proton AG · 44,618 ratings · ★ 4.6
4.6
★★★★★
44,618 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 61 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"doesn"
11 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Doesn’t even load, just greets you with a plain black screen. I opened this app it didn’t even decide to load, it is not reliable on iOS for me." - ThirteenFiftyEight
2
"work"
11 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "DOESNT WORK PROPERLY. STOPS MY TEXTS FROM GOING THROUGH." - CRYPTODOGG1
3
"proton"
11 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Disappointing. This VPN is very difficult to use. It constantly blocks apps so you cannot navigate browsers or login to apps. Most of the time it has to be shut off to use your mobile phone or desktop. Also the recent update has greatly decreased the amo…" - DGfg-1
4
"connect"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This "VPN" won't connect from US. There was a time when ProtonVPN would at least try to connect me (paid) to a server, but now all it does is block all network traffic. Uploading doesn't work. Cycling settings and power doesn't help. The only thing that works is turning o…" - Duzzenmatta
5
"servers"
7 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Disappointing. This VPN is very difficult to use. It constantly blocks apps so you cannot navigate browsers or login to apps. Most of the time it has to be shut off to use your mobile phone or desktop. Also the recent update has greatly decreased the amo…" - DGfg-1
6
"works"
7 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This "VPN" won't connect from US. There was a time when ProtonVPN would at least try to connect me (paid) to a server, but now all it does is block all network traffic. Uploading doesn't work. Cycling settings and power doesn't help. The only thing that works is turning o…" - Duzzenmatta
📋 All 61 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Doesn’t even load, just greets you with a plain black screen
I opened this app it didn’t even decide to load, it is not reliable on iOS for me.
DOESNT WORK PROPERLY
STOPS MY TEXTS FROM GOING THROUGH.
Disappointing
This VPN is very difficult to use. It constantly blocks apps so you cannot navigate browsers or login to apps. Most of the time it has to be shut off to use your mobile phone or desktop.
Also the recent update has greatly decreased the amount of servers available. This update has retained the busiest servers and deleted the least used ones which explains why service is so poor.
I am very disappointed in Proton. They used to be rated as #2 by top tech companies. Now they don’t even appear to be in the top 10.
They seem to be saving themselves money but I am not getting what I pay for. Would not recommend.
Also the recent update has greatly decreased the amount of servers available. This update has retained the busiest servers and deleted the least used ones which explains why service is so poor.
I am very disappointed in Proton. They used to be rated as #2 by top tech companies. Now they don’t even appear to be in the top 10.
They seem to be saving themselves money but I am not getting what I pay for. Would not recommend.
This "VPN" won't connect from US
There was a time when ProtonVPN would at least try to connect me (paid) to a server, but now all it does is block all network traffic.
Uploading doesn't work. Cycling settings and power doesn't help. The only thing that works is turning off the vpn.
Sure, I can in/reinstall, but until today it only would disconnect me every other hour. Now it's just a burden
-------------------
For awhile it seemed like my connection was being dropped once or twice a week. Things are twice as good now. According to the math... carry the 1... I'm only being dropped about once a week now. :-/
Uploading doesn't work. Cycling settings and power doesn't help. The only thing that works is turning off the vpn.
Sure, I can in/reinstall, but until today it only would disconnect me every other hour. Now it's just a burden
-------------------
For awhile it seemed like my connection was being dropped once or twice a week. Things are twice as good now. According to the math... carry the 1... I'm only being dropped about once a week now. :-/
Anti American and anti christian pro zion censor
I wrongly blamed brave but it is proton that throttles and hijack my browser when watching tucker, which is stupid as just makes me keep watching.. Pray jah destroys you all
打不开
刚下载完，app一直黑屏，软件打不开咋回事。
Changed my FYP’s
Almost every single FYP I have is now Indian people and I don’t like it because it’s not th type of content I watch
Will Not Stand By 30 Day Money Back
Do not buy through Proton for their unlimited subscription if you decide you want your money back before the 30days and will not stand by their “30 day money back guarantee” because they will claim they cannot help you with the refund and will not allow my money to be refunded to me through Apple Pay. Apple says that proton is responsible for getting my refund through my account with them. That is not taking care of your customers and not standing by your claims to customers. When you mess with peoples’ money, you get bad reviews.
Unbelievable! Not working
I’ve been with Proton since the late 2000s, if I remember correctly. Never had a problem until now. Can’t sign in and keep getting a error message in log which say user not authorized. I can’t send a report to the developer because NOW you have to sign in to send a report. BUT, this app doesn’t recognize my credentials. What a crock of….!!!
Lost extra credit points in my morning lecture
This vpn tweaked out in the middle of my lecture while it was on and the only way to solve this was to disconnect it, which was also hard to do because just having the VPN on made it so my phone had no connection. I bombed my last test and I’m trying to do extra credit live polls in my lecture and this vpn is setting me back. Yes it disconnects every once in a while but this incident just made me really mad and was the last straw for me
Not working
Not working in russia
Why
Why does it say free vpn but you have to pay for it
For free users CloudFlare warp is more appetizing
After ~3gb of download used the free tier falls apart and limits you to 1mbps. Gets tired having to switch servers all the time. It happens every time however their support team fails to acknowledge this probably because they want you to pay their overpriced subscription. Look at ivacyvpn or purevpn for a cheaper quality paid subscription vpn. App now requires iOS 17 going forward. CloudFlare warp is free and doesn't throttle you at all so it's a no brainer for anyone who wants a free vpn. Vpn super on the app store is also worth looking into for speeds for free. 1 star.
would give negative stars if I could
I was a premium subscriber for quite a while. the app simply doesn’t connect reliably.
Trash
Absolute trash unless you pay for it. Don’t even try to change the server, they’ll just give you the exact same one then try to make you wait 10 minutes 😂 no. All it made me do was leave the worst review I can, delete the app, never giving you my money, and making sure that when vpns are the topic of conversation I’m telling them stay away from Proton. Get literally any other vpn rather than them.
latest update broke it
ProtonVPN was my go-to for years now. I’ve always appreciated their no-logs policy.
But ever since this latest update from like two weeks ago, using the internet anywhere: browsers, apps, wi-fi, cellular; everything just takes so long to load if it even does.
Also, this update says it added actions to the Shortcuts app, which sounds great. But in my experience, using the “get VPN status” or the seemingly redundant “show VPN status” have not worked consistently. I had it setup to check if my VPN was active when I open an app, and it would constantly say it wasn’t when it should’ve been, unless this newest update also added constant disconnects too, but I don’t think it did.
But ever since this latest update from like two weeks ago, using the internet anywhere: browsers, apps, wi-fi, cellular; everything just takes so long to load if it even does.
Also, this update says it added actions to the Shortcuts app, which sounds great. But in my experience, using the “get VPN status” or the seemingly redundant “show VPN status” have not worked consistently. I had it setup to check if my VPN was active when I open an app, and it would constantly say it wasn’t when it should’ve been, unless this newest update also added constant disconnects too, but I don’t think it did.
Won’t let me sign in
I can’t sign back in (option won’t work) after logging out I’m stuck on a guest account despite paying. It works on pc not mobile
frickin angry
This VPN is honestly terrible. It constantly disconnects, slows my internet to a crawl, and half the time it doesn’t even connect at all. I tried using it for basic browsing and streaming, and everything either lagged badly or failed to load. Customer support is basically nonexistent, and the app itself is glitchy and frustrating to use. Definitely not worth the money-save yourself the headache and pick something else.
Too slow
Too slow
Kill switch don’t work
Very slow and kill switch doesn’t work.
Что за впн
Этот впн от слова совсем не работает не тратьте на это время
Шпионская программа
После установки этого приложения и авторизаци пришло уведомление из google о попытке злома .
Нерабочий впн
Скачала это приложение, оплатила, но так и не смогла подключится: меняла серверы, меняла протоколы впн, но это не помогло… техническая поддержка тоже ничем не помогла. В общем жаль потраченных денег и времени на бесполезное приложение! Никому не советую!
垃圾东西。把你妈烧了
垃圾玩意
STOP GIVING ME NETHERLANDS
IVE CHANGED SERVERS ALL THE TIMES I CAN AND EACH TIME IVE GOTTEN THE NETHERLANDS. JUST GIVE ME JAPAN VPN OH MY GOD
a s s hole!
big hole! don’t work!!!
Inconsistent speeds
Shockingly less reliable and usable than other no log VPN providers Ive used before. Regret purchasing a 2 year subscription.
не запускается
черный экран, приложение при открытии зависает на нём и все
Awful in 2026
I have been paying a subscription to Proton VPN for over 4 years and it has always worked flawlessly until this year. I constantly have to open the app, which as of 2026 takes forever to open) and disconnect it and reconnect it. I have tried everything suggested in my research, which is my time wasted trying to make this app work as one would expect.
Unfortunately I am stuck with this subscription until November 2027 and unless the performance of this app increases back to “works as it should” I will count the days until I can switch to Nord VPN.
I will not fill out a complaint ticket as the problems I am experiencing are very similar to other reports of decreased performance this year which points the finger back at Proton VPN.
Unfortunately I am stuck with this subscription until November 2027 and unless the performance of this app increases back to “works as it should” I will count the days until I can switch to Nord VPN.
I will not fill out a complaint ticket as the problems I am experiencing are very similar to other reports of decreased performance this year which points the finger back at Proton VPN.
Not working at all
Yesterday I was in China airport for transfer, I only needed VPN for 2 hours, so I chose the FREE plan, I know what FREE means, but unfortunately, from all of the limited nodes that you provided generously… none of them works, it kept trying to connect and failed… this is horrible …
花了美金订阅了一年，结果一直连不上，简直太坑爹了。
这个软件界面美观，容易上手。但是特别不稳定，我都已经花了美金订阅了，一直连不上，换不同的还是连不上。就算连上了网速也是超级超级慢。我试过新加坡，日本，德国，美国，澳大利亚，新西兰等不同国家和地区是连不上。我用苹果手机试了，连不上。换成安卓手机就连不上白白浪费美金，这软件的开发者能不能做点实事。
Caused WiFi issues
This made all of my wifi networks stop working
Не рекомендую
Ужасное приложение, ничего не грузит, 50 попыток уже сделали. Зачем создавать такие приложения и вводить людей в заблуждение?
doesn’t work
app doesn’t let me login on iphone 16e it just keeps spinning endlessly
Does not connect
I click on the connect button but nothing happens. No error message, nothing. I have to delete the profile from settings and then reinstall it through the app for it to work. Very cumbersome.
Excuse me?
I am very unhappy with proton VPN, everything from add blocking to being protected from malware is blocked by a paywall. I get that not much is free in this world but I’ve been searching google extensively for a VPN that works on all apps on my phone for FREE and it said proton was the best choice. I cannot express enough in this review how unhappy I am since it’s a text and no one can exactly feel emotion through a text but let me tell you, if I were to explain this review would be longer than a college essay, in short terms I’m disappointed and frustrated tha proton VPN isn’t as it’s advertised. Like one of those stupid Novak adds you’ll see on a game or something. -Sincerely to proton VPN.
ужасный
впн даже не грузит, само приложение молчит
Unreliable connections
They make changes and connections keep getting dropped. I have dealt with their troubleshooting department for a long time now and little progress has been made. They’re nice and professional enough but I have been asked to perform many tasks that often are not practical for an everyday user.
Не работает
Долго грузилась регистрация, был черный экран с загрузкой, впн не подключается от слова совсем
Fake Proton vpn application.
Payed monthly and do not get all servers stated...😖🤨🤔
ew
It takes a very long time to log in and also does not allow me to create an account. I waited 30 minutes, but nothing happened, only eternal loading
Черный экран
Черный экран - ничего нет. Хотя везде пишут лучшая программа.
Не работает
Даже не врубает лол
No Hybrid iPv4
What is going on? All my devices stop working today. iPhones, iMacs, iPads, router. Everything stopped around 4pm today.
Не работает
Не работает. Темный экран
Долгая регистрация
Я уже час жду пока он мою почту примет это отвратительно 👎👎👎
i got scammed
i paid for it right away then when i restarted my phone it was askin for an account which they didnt ask before i availed the 12 month subscription
Fake countries!
Dozens of servers are listed for each contry, but when you connect, the IP doesn't match the country.
So many glitches
I don’t recommend
Bad
New accounts cannot be registered in mainland China :|
+ 11 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
89%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
8%
Negative (1-2★)