The Toronto-based company has recently announced that they will be closing Opera VPN on Android and iOS devices on the 30th of April. The announcement clearly makes the VPN’s Viking mascot, Olaf, sad.
Read the announcement at their site: https://www.operavpn.com
The mobile application for Opera VPN was first made available in 2016. Among the many paid, or free but unsafe VPNs, Opera’s was a breath of fresh air. It offered unlimited usage, an integrated ad-blocker, and a variety of countries to choose from. Opera also had a paid VPN service on iOS in the form of Gold, which had increased speeds, twice the amount of regions, as well customer support. It had the yearly fee of $30.
Opera VPN is urging its former user base to migrate to SurfEasy, which is also available for Android and iOS.
All former users of the free Opera VPN are granted a discount of 80% for SurfEasy’s Total VPN plan, which they can redeem through the Opera VPN app. The plan normally costs $5 per month and has 16 regions. Furthermore, those who have paid for Opera VPN Gold will have a free 12-month period of the Ultra plan of SurfEasy. The service otherwise costs $12 per month, has 28 regions, provides unlimited usage to up to 5 connected devices, and it also has a strict policy on not keeping logs. The service is compatible with Netflix and boasts fast speeds.
Thankfully, Opera’s shutdown of the mobile VPN app does not impact the desktop browser, where users will still be able to enjoy the option of minimizing their online footprint.
While Opera VPN is not a wide-spread or very popular choice for a virtual private network, its service on Android and iOS was one of a kind in its reliability and availability.