Guides

Your Android smartphone may be very different to your laptop or PC but that doesn’t mean you are safe from hackers or that you can’t be spied on.

Meaning, you will have to take some precautions to protect your Android device.

This is why it is always a good idea to subscribe to a good VPN service that natively supports Android smartphones (and other Android devices such as tablets, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Kodi) to protect yourself while you are online.

NordVPN is one of these services and if you want to learn why they are one of the best (even the best VPN for iOS as well), check out our comprehensive NordVPN review.

Why NordVPN is the Best for Android Devices

We’ll be the first to admit that our full-length NordVPN review is a long read. If you don’t have the time, here are a few key quick-fire things to know—

• They offer over 5,000 servers in over 60 locations (the largest VPN network around);
• NordVPN has tons of native apps for a range of devices plus router support;
• With AES 256-bit encryption and OpenVPN, your traffic is 100% secure;
• Specialty server types—e.g. P2P Servers—satisfy different types of VPN user;
• Their zero-logs policy has been approved by an external PwC audit;
• All their native apps (including the one for Android) are fast, easy to use, and have additional features;
• NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans; and
• Plans can be as cheap as $2.99 per month.

Impressed? So were we!

Your Choices for Using NordVPN with Android

Unlike iOS, Android users are not restricted to a pool of Apple devices.

Smartphones, tablets, TV boxes, and even refrigerators use it. It is the world’s most popular “mobile” operating system designed and developed by Google. As a result, you can protect a whole suite of devices with NordVPN’s Android support.

When it comes to installing Android on your devices you have two primary options. No you won’t need to install it on your fridge! However, phones, tablets, and other “portable” devices that you can use to browse the internet should all be protected with a VPN.

Native NordVPN Android Apps

On some Android devices, most notably smartphones, tablets, and Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, you can install NordVPN’s Android native app directly from the Google Play Store. This is by far the easiest way to install NordVPN onto an Android device.

1. Head to the Google Play Store and install NordVPN then launch it

You can either sign up for an account through the app or purchase a subscription via another means and then log in.

If you choose to sign up through your Android device then it will use your Google Play Store payment details, this is something to keep in mind if you were thinking of using cryptocurrency payments for a more anonymous way of paying. We think signing up from a computer is a much better option.

2. Use the ‘Quick Connect’ option

Quick Connect chooses the best server for you based on several parameters and a “complex formula”. Unless you have a specific country in mind (i.e. the US because you want to stream Hulu or the US Netflix library) then you can just go ahead and use Quick Connect.

3. Trust NordVPN to use OpenVPN

As this will be your first time using NordVPN on your Android device, you will be greeted with a notice as soon as you try to connect. This is an Android security feature that prevents devices from controlling OpenVPN and thus your entire network traffic without permission.

Go ahead and check ‘I trust this application’ then tap ‘OK’ and ‘OK’ again. Instead of ‘Quick Connect’ you can also tap on the pins above a country to connect to the most optimum server within that country by clicking ‘Quick Connect’ or swipe up and choose a specific server.

That’s how easy it is to download, install, and use NordVPN on an Android device through the Google Play Store.

You can also modify some basic settings by tapping the cog wheel in the top-left corner of the screen.

There are also some advanced settings you can tinker with, if you already know what you’re doing.

NordVPN APK for Android

Not all Android devices, for example–Raspberry Pi devices, have access to Google Play. In such a scenario, you install NordVPN using the NordVPN APK file. An APK (Android Package) file is the file format used by the Android OS for the installation of apps.

Think of this as manually installing NordVPN.

1. Visit NordVPN on your Android web browser

Visit the main nordvpn.com website and open the side menu in the top-right corner.

Then select ‘VPN Apps’ from the list.

Their site will detect that you are using an Android device and automatically recommend that you download the .apk file.

3. Download .apk

Tap ‘Download .apk’ below the big Google Play button.

Once it has downloaded, tap the NordVPN APK file in the status menu.

The installation process will begin once you tap ‘Install’.

Once it has installed, you can use NordVPN as normal as we did above. The main difference here is that you won’t be able to use your Google Play Store payment details to register.

Why NordVPN APK?

Due to Google Play Store policies, there’s only one major difference between NordVPN when it is downloaded from the official store vs. when it is installed using the APK file.

NordVPN CyberSec is a smart built-in ad blocker and anti-virus that provides extra protection when you are using your device. Due to Google’s policies, however, CyberSec does not block ads when NordVPN is downloaded from the Google Play Store.

CyberSec can block ads, meaning Google would lose out on ad revenue.

If you want NordVPN’s CyberSec feature to work as an ad blocker, you will need to install using the APK route. Additionally, if you are using a device that cannot access the play store then you have no choice—you will need to install NordVPN using the APK file.

Try NordVPN Today

As we said above, we highly recommend signing up for NordVPN through your internet browser on a laptop or PC first. This way, you’ll not only have an easier time registering, but also have the chance to use anonymous payment methods.

NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for first-time users, too. This means that you can try out NordVPN on Android and a range of other devices without risking a single cent. If you later decide that NordVPN isn’t right for you, it’ll be a breeze to get a refund.

Sign Up Here

NordVPN is packed full of features and specialized server types, one of which is known as “Double VPN” that provides you with a doubled level of security by encrypting your traffic twice.

Double VPN isn’t something that many VPN providers offer, however, those that do proudly talk about it openly—and rightly so.

What is Double VPN?

And is it really all that important?

As you may have guessed from the name, double VPN (sometimes called “multihop”) is a feature that sends your traffic through two different VPN servers as it travels from your device to the internet.

By doing this, NordVPN increases your security and privacy two-fold.

When you opt to connect to NordVPN’s Double VPN servers, all the data you send and receive is encrypted twice during its journey. In addition to this, it will pass through two different servers and thus its original source will be hidden behind two different IP addresses.

It works like this—

1. Your traffic is encrypted and travels from your device to a NordVPN server.
2. It then travels to another NordVPN server and is encrypted again.
3. It reaches its destination and is decrypted securely.

Since NordVPN’s double VPN feature sends your traffic through servers located in two different countries, it is nearly impossible to trace the origin of the traffic back to you; the second VPN server never sees your true IP address and has no idea where the traffic has come from initially. As far as trackers are aware, the second server is the original source of the traffic.

With NordVPN, however, this isn’t something you need to worry about since they operate a proven zero-logs policy. Still, it is worth mentioning as it applies to double VPN (or “VPN chaining”) in general.

How to Use NordVPN DoubleVPN

Unsurprisingly, it’s very easy to use.

All you need to do is either:

1. Select ‘Double VPN’ from the left-hand column; or
2. Hover over ‘Double VPN’, click the three dots (. . .) and choose a combination from the list.

As you can see, there are plenty of options. The benefit of the second option is that you can manually choose which two NordVPN locations your data is routed through. With the first option, however, you are automatically connected to (what NordVPN considers) the most optimum choice.

From here on in, you are all set.

Until you turn the NordVPN double VPN feature off, all your traffic will travel through two different encryption points. This leaves no way for your data to be compromised. Before you start using NordVPN Double VPN, you should probably weigh the pros and cons, though.

NordVPN Double VPN Pros and Cons

While double VPN is a great feature, it comes at a cost. Before you use it, you may want to weigh up some of the pros and cons.

Pro: When you use double VPN, it makes it virtually impossible for any of your activity to be traced back to you. This level of privacy cannot be achieved in any other way from a single VPN provider.

Pro: You will feel secure. The weight off your shoulders will allow you to breathe for a change.

Con: Whenever you use a VPN, you sacrifice some of your download and upload speeds. Unsurprisingly, when your data goes through two servers, you sacrifice even more.

Con: Double VPN servers can become heavily congested during peak times which has a negative impact on performance.

Who Should Be Using Double VPN?

This is a specialist server type for a specific type of end-user.

If you are simply streaming content online, there is absolutely no need to make use of double VPN. If, however, you are extremely privacy-conscious, are participating in some unscrupulous activity—we won’t ask!—, or are living in a country with heavy internet censorship, then there is clearly a better use case for it.

Additionally, while double the level of encryption sounds great, there’s not really any need to do this.

AES 256-bit encryption, the encryption NordVPN uses, is extremely secure and is, with present computing power, not possible to break. Data passing through a single VPN server encrypted once with AES 256-bit encryption is just as secure as data that is encrypted twice.

You should only use NordVPN Double VPN if you are extremely privacy-conscious and want complete anonymity—it is the fact that your IP address is hidden from the second VPN server that provides this, not the double encryption.

If you’re extra paranoid, you can even use NordVPN to make use of Onion Over VPN. It might take a minute to load a simple website, though.

If you want to try this feature out, sign up using the link below.

Sign Up Here

With NordVPN, it is easy to create your own manual OpenVPN connection by using the open-source OpenVPN application. By doing this, though, you do not use the NordVPN native Windows app.

Sometimes, though, using the native NordVPN Windows app is not an ideal solution (even if it’s the best VPN).

This can either be because users have had trouble setting up and using the native app itself or because the user is technically adept and prefers to configure things manually.

Additionally, if you are configuring a VPN connection through your computer’s network settings or preferences, then you will need to configure some things manually.

It is very easy to do, though. Let’s find out how!

Getting Started With OpenVPN

Before we get going, there are a few things that you need to do to make this process a success.

1. Download the OpenVPN GUI

OpenVPN is an open-source commercial software released under the GNU General Public License. This is what makes it the safest tunneling protocol available; its source code is freely accessible and so any attempts to add in back doors or loopholes will immediately be found by its worldwide community of volunteer contributors.

The same can be said about the OpenVPN GUI—it is completely safe to download and install as it is the most widely used protocol. It takes a couple of seconds to download since it’s a tiny executable file. Once it has, click the .exe installer.

2. Go through the setup wizard

The setup wizard will walk you through the OpenVPN GUI installation. Again, this is a very quick process that requires minimal input on your part.

OpenVPN Config and Settings

When the installation is complete, we can start setting NordVPN up via the GUI. Don’t try to run or launch the OpenVPN GUI yet—it has not been configured and will not work.

1. Download NordVPN server files

The first thing we need to do is download NordVPN server configuration files.These files tell the OpenVPN app how to connect to the NordVPN network. You can set up as many NordVPN servers as you like—up to a maximum of 50—however, we recommend starting with one.

You can download configuration files from the NordVPN website.

For this tutorial, we are going to use NordVPN’s US server #3430 as this is the one the site recommended to us as the most optimal.

When you have settled on a server, click ‘Show available protocols’ and then download both OpenVPN configurations—OpenVPN TCP and OpenVPN UDP by clicking ‘Download config’.

2. Add them to OpenVPN’s config folder

Go to your downloads folder (or wherever your files download to) and copy both of these OpenVPN configuration files.

Once copied, paste them in the OpenVPN config folder. You can find this in one of two ways—

1. Navigate to its installation location, likelyC:/Program Files/OpenVPN/Config
2. Find the OpenVPN GUI shortcut on your desktop, right-click, and then click ‘Open file location’.

We used the second option as an example:

If you use the second option, you will end up in OpenVPN’s ‘bin’ folder, not the ‘config’ one. Make sure you back out of the ‘bin’ folder and head to the ‘config’ folder before you paste your two copied OpenVPN config files.

3. Block outside DNS

To prevent leaks, you may or may not need to manually add the line below to the .ovpnconfiguration files to prevent DNS leaks. We recommend doing this anyway.

block-outside-dns

To do this, simply right-click on your OpenVPN config files and open it with notepad or whichever word processor you use. Scroll to the bottom of the file and paste in the ‘block-outside-dns’ line above.

Do this for both OpenVPN config files.

4. Launch OpenVPN

Double click the OpenVPN GUI desktop shortcut to launch OpenVPN. The app may ask for administrative permissions, click ‘Yes’ because it needs these to function.

It will start running in your system tray (note: the program will launch without connecting) at the bottom-right of your taskbar. Right-click the OpenVPN GUI icon, hover over one of the servers, and then click ‘Connect’.

Enter your NordVPN login credentials and then press ‘OK’.

After a few seconds, the OpenVPN GUI will connect you to the NordVPN server you have chosen and the OpenVPN GUI window will disappear. In the system tray, the OpenVPN icon will turn green to indicate a successful connection.

That’s it—this is how you set up OpenVPN manually with NordVPN on a Windows device. The process of setting up OpenVPN for NordVPN is quite similar across all devices.

If you’re unsure about whether you set up OpenVPN correctly, then visit NordVPN. You’ll see on the top of the website which indicates that you’re “Protected” in green.

Try this feature out yourself.
Sign Up Here

Today, we are thinking more about our online safety and privacy than ever before. A growing general awareness surrounding these things has grown alongside the Internet—we’re living in a world that is increasingly reliant on data, data such as your own personal information (which is sold to the highest bidder).

With consumers more tuned into safety and privacy concerns, people are going to additional lengths in protecting themselves online and the use of VPNs such as NordVPN and TOR is growing bigger year-on-year.

You may be unfamiliar with these cybersecurity concepts and want to jump right in. We highly recommend that you read this article in full before you jump into using Onion Over VPN.

What is NordVPN in Brief

NordVPN is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service that protects your identity and traffic when using the internet. NordVPN protects you by routing your internet traffic from your computer through a secure and encrypted ‘tunnel’ to one of its servers before passing it onto its final destination.

By doing this, NordVPN hides the true source of your internet traffic—your IP address—by masking it with their own servers’ IPs instead. Additionally, any data passing through the encryption tunnel cannot be intercepted or spied on my third-parties such as government entities, hackers, or your ISP.

This eliminates problems such as monitoring, throttling, and identity theft, particularly when using insecure public networks.

Good VPN networks often have thousands of individual servers dotted around the world—NordVPN has over 5,300 spread across all continents—so users have plenty of choices when choosing where they want their traffic to look like it’s coming from.

What is The Onion Router in Brief

TOR (The Onion Router) and the Tor Browser are very similar to the regular internet and the regular browsers you use to navigate it such as Google Chrome. The primary difference is that when you use Tor Browser, your internet traffic is routed through the Tor network for encryption and anonymity.

Using Tor, you can visit regular ‘surface web’ websites as well as websites that can only be found on the ‘dark web’ at .onionURLs.

Tor protects your data, information, and traffic by routing it through several network layers (relays) rather than sending it directly to its final destination.

Why You Need to Be Using Them

To truly provide full and complete protection that cannot be compromised, we recommend using Tor alongside a VPN—NordVPN being the best option to use with Tor.

While using Tor alone does provide some anonymity and protection, when Tor data packets exit the network through the exit node, you can be compromised and traced if the exit node is being monitored.

In contrast, while a good VPN service provider will never keep any logs—NordVPN, for example, has a zero-logs policy that has been proven by an external audit by PwC—they can still see the websites that you are visiting while using the service.

If you are truly dedicated to protecting your privacy online, you should be using both a VPN and Tor. A VPN will encrypt and spoof your internet traffic while using the internet via Tor will prevent anyone, your VPN service provider included, from seeing the websites that you are visiting.

Options for Using a VPN and TOR Together

You have two great options to choose from. The two methods of using NordVPN and Tor sound similar but work differently. Let’s break it down below:

1. Onion Over VPN—Connecting to NordVPN First

Onion Over VPN is the most popular way to do it. You will connect to NordVPN first and then launch and use the Tor browser.

By doing this, you not only prevent NordVPN from seeing your browsing activity, but you also prevent your ISP (and, consequently, government or law enforcement agencies) from knowing that you are using Tor.

While using Tor is 100% legal, there are negative connotations associated with its use due to how it facilitates illegal activities. This means that if your ISP et al knows you are using Tor, you may be monitored. By connecting to a VPN before launching Tor, they have no way of finding out.

To do this, simply:

1. Launch NordVPN and connect to a server first
2. Launch Tor browser second

2. VPN Over Tor—Connecting to Tor First

This method isn’t used very much because it is tricky to set up and is not as secure as Tor over VPN. Furthermore, many VPN services don’t support it.

With VPN over Tor, your traffic first enters the Tor network and then leaves through an exit node before being passed to a VPN server.

How NordVPN and Tor Work Together

NordVPN offers what they call “Onion Over VPN” (OOVPN) servers to their customers. These OOVPN servers have been designed to create a seamless, secure, and reliable connection between a pre-select group of NordVPN servers (what you connect to) and the Tor network (where your traffic goes) to provide an additional layer of security.

By doing this, NordVPN hides your IP address from Tor’s entry node and the owner of this node will see the IP address of NordVPN’s server instead of your own. When connected, your traffic first passes from you to NordVPN to the Tor network to its destination.

Want to Try Onion Over VPN?

Thanks to NordVPN’s 30-day money-back guarantee, you can try out NordVPN risk-free. This money-back guarantee applies to all plans—monthly and annual—and gives you plenty of time to try out NordVPN and decide whether it’s right for you.

If it is, great—keep your subscription! If not, just email customer support and ask for a refund to be processed.

If you want to use NordVPN and Tor, you probably care about your privacy a lot more than others. The good news is, you can also pay with crypto (BTC, ETH, XRP) for an additional layer of anonymity.

Sign Up Here

A kill switch is a must-have VPN feature that helps to protect your identity, information, and browsing activity should your connection to a VPN suddenly drop.

If a VPN does not include a kill switch as standard then you should never, ever use it.

Fortunately, NordVPN offers a kill switch across its entire range of native applications and an ‘app kill switch’ on its Windows and macOS apps. They are not automatic, though—you have to enable them yourself and this is what we are going to cover in this guide.

Make sure you keep reading because if you are using NordVPN you need to enable it manually. In some cases, the VPN is installed with the kill switch turned on by default. We do not know which versions and for which device… but we do know how to check and turn it on.

What is a Kill Switch (A Quick Explanation)

Imagine you are connected to a VPN because you are doing something sensitive that you want to protect from prying eyes and all is going well. All of a sudden, your connection to your VPN drops and you have no idea it has done this.

This is bad news for two reasons:

1. Because you are no longer protected and all your traffic, information, and IP address are out there in the open and vulnerable.
2. You will continue your activities unknowingly. For example, you carry on torrenting in blissful ignorance of the current situation. Whether it breaks the law or not, you are now at huge risk.

This is something that a kill switch could have saved you from.

A kill switch steps in when your VPN connection drops and helps to protect your data by “killing” your entire internet connection, stopping any traffic or data transfers.

NordVPN is an extremely stable and reliable VPN. That said, disconnections do happen with all services—NordVPN included. The best and only protection against this is a kill switch.

How to Enable the NordVPN Kill Switch

Using the Windows desktop application, we are going to show you how you can turn the kill switch on. Regardless of what app or device you are using, it is simply a case of flipping a switch in ‘Settings’.

1. From the main NordVPN window, click ‘Settings’ in the top-left

2. Find ‘Internet Kill Switch’ (fourth down) and switch it from ‘Off’ to ‘On’

Click ‘Yes’

Remember to read the fine print – you will lose Internet access and will need to disable the Kill Switch or re-connect in order to get your Internet access again.

What About the App Kill Switch?

You can choose to use either the Internet Kill Switch or the App Kill Switch. It just depends on your personal preference and what apps you use.

The Internet Kill Switch will ‘kill’ your entire internet connection, including your connection to any apps (e.g. Skype), so if you are using the Internet Kill Switch you don’t need to use the App Kill Switch.

If you want more granular control, however, you can enable the App Kill Switch and choose which apps it should ‘kill’ your connection to if your VPN connection drops.

You can add anything that utilizes an internet connection such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Skype, Slack, Microsoft Office, uTorrent… you get the idea!

Here’s a scenario where this would come in handy:

You’re playing a casual online game, watching Netflix on your second monitor and torrenting at the same time. You lose your connection to NordVPN and the App Kill Switch goes to work and kills the torrent client. You still retain all connectivity—you won’t lose your game progress and you’ll still be able to watch Netflix with the VPN on. Only your torrent client will stop running.

Try NordVPN Out Today

Have you been researching NordVPN and now you are ready to purchase a subscription?

Now you know NordVPN comes with all the features like a kill switch!

You can try out NordVPN risk-free for 30 days. If at any point you are dissatisfied by NordVPN, you can simply contact customer support and ask for a full refund within 30 days.

Sign Up Here

Sometimes, things just break… especially with computers and tech.

All of a sudden, something that was working perfectly no longer wants to play ball. It’s frustrating and stressful but there’s almost always a fix if you are patient and do your research.

VPNs are no exception to this, even the very best ones like NordVPN! The complicated nature of VPN services means that sometimes issues can arise that cause all sorts of problems, from constant crashing to connectivity issues.

Here are three of the most common NordVPN issues that Windows users have and how you can fix them.

Issue #1 – Your NordVPN Account Is Not Active

By far, the most common NordVPN issue is an account that hasn’t been activated. If you want to use the NordVPN service, you must activate your account via email. When you register, you get sent an activation link—don’t ignore this!

You will still be able to log in to the app with an inactive account, but you won’t be able to connect to anything.

The Fix: Check the status of your NordVPN account

Head on over to nordvpn.com, log in, and navigate to ‘My Account’. From there, you can check the status of your account.

If you do not see the green ‘Active’ box it means your account (and subscription) has not been activated via email. If this is the case, there will be a button you can press to have an activation email re-sent to you.

Once you’ve activated your account through email, you will be able to use NordVPN.

Oh, and make sure you have the latest version of NordVPN.

Issue #2 – Unable to Connect to Servers with an Active Account

This is a problem we had once upon a time—NordVPN simply would not connect to any of their servers. We would choose one, it’d start connecting, and then it would just drop.

Caused by Windows networking problems, this can be fixed by resetting winsock.

The Fix: Launch command prompt as an administrator

You can do this by pressing the START key and then typing “cmd”. Right-click the “Command Prompt” app and then press “Run as administrator”.

Type in “netsh winsock reset catalog” and press ENTER.

Then type in “netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log” and press ENTER.

Then type in “netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log” and press ENTER.

Restart your computer and this problem will be fixed.

Issue #3 – TAP Driver Error

OpenVPN uses the TUN/TAP driver to pass and receive data packets from your operating system’s network stack. The TAP driver itself is a virtual Ethernet network device. If OpenVPN cannot communicate with the TAP driver, NordVPN will not work since this is the tunneling protocol it uses. Usually, restarting the TAP driver will fix this problem.

1. Close down NordVPN

In the system tray, right-click the NordVPN icon and press ‘Quit App’.

2. Restart your TAP drivers

Navigate to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change Adapter Settings.

One of the local area connections will say “TAP-NordVPN Windows Adapter v9” underneath it. Right-click it, select ‘Disable’ before right-clicking again and selecting ‘Enable’.

The TAP driver error should now be fixed, and you can connect to NordVPN as normal.

Got Another Problem?

These are three common problems that NordVPN users face.

If you have another issue that isn’t listed here or these solutions didn’t work for you, reach out to NordVPN’s 24/7 customer support team and they will be able to provide you with further assistance.