However, the real challenge is finding the correct VPN that will deliver the best uptime possible with your smartphone’s internet connection. More so, getting a dose of a great VPN with little or no Ads is also a hard nut to crack since the best VPNs are often premium/paid variants.

On merit, all VPNs work on the same model of tunneling all your data and traffic to securely bypass Internet sanctions. But before choosing any of the android VPNs, you should consider noting whether the VPN logs your browsing activity and whether it has a kill switch or not. And so, here are the best 5 android VPNs you can consider installing on your smartphone.

List of the best 5 Android VPNs

On the list of the best 5 Android VPNs you can consider installing on your smartphone, popular variants like Psiphon Pro, Nord VPN, Betternet, Proton VPN, Ultra Surf, Hotspot Shield, Tunnel bear and Cyberghost rank as some of the best you can consider downloading for your Android.

Ultra Surf

Ultra Surf is a lightweight and AD free VPN service available on the Google Playstore as one of the most downloaded VPNs built with privacy, link quality, and speed in a single package. By Design, the VPN has a single kill switch which you can toggle ON or OFF with ease and no complicated menus attached to its layout.

By pricing, Ultra Surf is 100% free and doesn’t feature any paid/premium plans for users. Once you Install the VPN on your Android Smartphone, you will not be charged for any coin, or even required to signup for the service in order to have an active tunneled connection.

Betternet VPN

Think of the best VPNs that can allow you to unblock any website or online service for free, and see what Betternet has to offer. Ranked as one of the most downloaded and trusted VPNs, Betternet VPN is a great application you can use to bypass internet censorship on your smartphone.

By pricing, Betternet has a paid/premium version of the app you can consider upgrading to for better privacy, speed, and functionality. But as per its functionality standards, Betternet VPN automatically switches between servers with no ability for you to choose your preferred country as a mode to dynamically switch to the nearest servers available in your region. You can download Betternet from the Google Playstore, or the VPN’s direct website.

Hotspot Shield

Hotspot Shield is currently the most downloaded VPN for Android with mass installations attached to its dynamic functionality that allows you to bypass any form of internet sanctions and service limitations on your Smartphone.

Unlike other free VPNs, you can choose a VPN server location with Hotspot shield in order to have uninterrupted flow of traffic with a free plan. With the premium plan, you get more server locations and unlimited bandwidth to have the best connection speeds on your Smartphone. With 2G/3G/4G and WiFI support, you can easily download Hotspot shield from the Google Playstore.

CyberGhost

Cyberghost is another Android VPN application that allows you to bypass Internet sanctions with over 6000+ VPN server locations in 90countries to choose from. This means, you can choose the nearest server to your location in order to have the fastest internet speeds through your connected tunnel.

With the free version of Cyberghost, you can connect using a single kill switch to limited server locations in order to secure the connection on your Android Smartphone. By ranking, Cyberghost is one of the most downloaded Android VPNs pimped with great functionality and speed available on the Google Playstore.

Tunnel Bear

Tunnel Bear is a legendary VPN service that is one of the most downloaded android VPNs of all time. Tunnel Bear has its glory lineage attached to its secure connections created through tunnels as the name describes. The Tunnel Bear interface is straight forward and allows you to swipe through all options available to encrypt your internet connection.

However, Tunnel bear has a big limitation for its free account with only 500MB of browsing data every month. But once installed, you’ll be able to bypass all possible internet sanctions and download music, movies, among many others.

While VPNs became the ultimate saviors from OTT tax with maximum downloads detected on smartphones to a point that UCC instructed service providers to put a stop to this. Protesters never stopped airing their views about the tax and its to this that a stronghold opposition politician Hon Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine will be answering charges related to the protests against social media tax in Uganda.

Well, does this mean all social media tax protesters will face the dock to answer charges of protesting against a GDP spicer? Yes/No the great question of the day would lie back to the legislators who previously bowed to the 0.5% mobile money tax sequence.

So, as court will soon make its ruling on the new social media tax charges, the arrest means UCC’s take on OTT tax violaters would see everyone bypassing it with VPNs facing the same dock. Henceforth, the results of social media tax in Uganda seem to be boiling from a partially filled pot proving a point of erasing the free Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter dreams from the Ugandan timeline.

Given the fact that VPNs can now be downloaded from multiple archives on the web with developers sighting a steady smartphone audience on the Google and Apple store. Well, the mobile VPNs have become popular in Africa after Zambia borrowed the OTT tax concept from Uganda giving users a hefty task of relying on VPN apps which we think you should not cash in your maximum trust

How a VPN Works

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a secure interrupted service that encrypts all traffic sent over your Internet connection to a remote VPN server situated miles away from your physical location.

Initially, VPNs connected offices, but in this digital age, you can use this particular network to bypass any censored websites in any country by utilizing the address of your VPN server. So, a VPN simply gives you a different IP address (country) by hiding your actual address for a new channel of access

For instance, let’s say you’re in the UGANDA and you establish a VPN connection with a server located in the UK. Then, each website you access is directly encrypted with your VPN server header for anonymous surfing. Additionally, your social media accounts register the anonymous address and if you try to access your Facebook account, the changes must be effective like cheese and wine with a temporary lock in most cases. Well, temporary locks are just a drop in the ocean of the negative impacts you might have to subscribe to with a VPN

Unreliable Internet speeds

5G is a futuristic internet connection standard we might not see until 2023, though several internet providers are already running tests of this technology, 4G LTE is still the maximum standard we can rely on. However, the fantastic speeds are not the same when you connect to a VPN, by mere switching on your VPN button, you completely rely on the remote server speeds trashing your original internet speeds in duo-exchange process. But then, some servers usually provide reliable internet speeds only if you pay an extra dollar to the developers for a premium package

Little or No privacy

Privacy is an online companion that lets you have some peace of mind before someone else exploits it. With a VPN, privacy must be a long gone story since all information you transfer through the tunnel can be accessed by an anonymous developer. However, the perfect solution to this would be gearing up some premium subscriptions or choosing non-public servers like company affiliated leaks. On the contrary, you must forget about any sort of privacy each time you power on your VPN application

Your VPN could be trading your data/traffic for cash

Whenever you power on a VPN, you’re placing a huge chance in the hands of the developer to make some extra cash from traffic sent over your link. First of all, a VPN tunnel blocks out your Internet service provider or Wi-Fi hotspot operator from eavesdropping your browsing capabilities. But the story is different on the other side you can’t control. Well, you must have seen a few ADs or two in your VPN app or overlaying on your smartphone from nowhere, that’s probably the power of relying on these softwares whether you pay for one or retain a free version

You’re Placing a Lot of Trust to Your VPN provider

A recent investigation discovered that the majority of free VPN apps have links to China and 86% of them had unsatisfactory privacy policies. Some explicitly stated they transfer user data to China. Most of them had customer support emails pointing to generic personal email accounts on services like Gmail or Hot mail. These don’t sound like services worthy of your trust.

If you’re using a VPN for privacy or escaping Internet censorship, you probably don’t want to use an Asian based VPN. However, you don’t choose what to connect with, but instead! shift through the available country IP addresses you can instantly connect to. By the same trail, your app gets a great scent of trust per power-up exposing you to more privacy and traffic for cash threats whether relying on a free or premium package

What You Should Use Instead

Why would a developer code a killer design VPN just to be used for free? Or why would a VPN server provide a free connection to everyone who wishes to connect? These are both questions many users don’t put in mind before downloading or connecting to a VPN app.

If you still love to use VPNs, the best option would be paying for a high-end well secured VPN server or a trial based free VPN like Tuddle bear which has 60minute time outs(trial expiry) for free usage. Nonetheless, in countries where OTT tax is the order of the day, sacrificing the extra dollar could save you from all the above risks

List of free VPNs you can download

• Tunnel Bear
• Windscribe
• Hotspot Shield
• Speedify
• Proton VPN
• Hide.me
• SurfEasy (Opera Free VPN)
• Private Tunnel
• Cyber Ghost

All the above can be downloaded from the Google playstore freely or you can open your Google search tab to hook up your favorite flavor of these VPN apps.

Procedure 1: Download a VPN

Greeting from Russia, Greetings from China or even Greetings from Jamaica. The sounds of internet users steadily connected outside Uganda flow from every direction of blocked websites including Facebook and Twitter. If you wish to download a VPN and BYpass social media tax, make sure your phone has enough data or Modem that will support you through the connection. They are very many VPNs but here are some of those we recommend you to download and you can read our how to download & install a VPN tutorial like these below.

Procedure 2: Change your browser proxy settings

Proxy settings in each and every browser direct your information to go through a specific direction set. Yes, previously social bundles used proxy VPNs to be rediverted to even stronger zones converting them into actual data bundles.

Now, you can search and copy any proxy settings you wish to set in your browser and set them in the privacy settings option on either your phone or desktop browser. We recommend installing chrome proxy apps like Hola VPN from the chrome store.

Procedure 3: Quit social media after all

Quitting social media could be your one last resort but Leaving it for good could spare you some peace with the Government. Even though the maximum penalty for bypassing social media tax is 3years, your best chance could be preventing the fact that UCC may buckle up on a search for VPN users in Uganda.

Procedure 4: Pay the Tax

Social media tax may be hard to pay, but how about actually paying it to avoid the bypassing tricks fraudsters may trick you into sending them a penny. Given the rate at which bypass messages are scrolling on the internet, you can choose to pay the tax if everything fails as popular VPNs have been blocked and here a some of those that will help you bypass social media tax if you land on blocked ones.