As a long-time paying user of Proton's services, I am completely disappointed with the new Android VPN app in general, and with this regression for free users in particular.

I agree completely. The VPN service is completely useless now. And as a reply to Proton Admin: if connection speed is supposed to be the most important to 99% of the users, why do you put a timer on changing servers if not to force people to a paid subscription?

I was actually thinking of taking a subscription, but this makes me rethink it unfortunately. Just be honest about why you have changed it...

You're just from those country which Internet was not blocked by gov and access any websites easily ，Why do you care if you can switch countries?

So it really is a thing!
I wanted to check something with one of the three countries I had on my plan
and let's not call it a FREE plan! I have the Mail Plus plan which included 3 servers!!!!
Now the support says there are 5 servers but they are rotating... and including my domestic VPN but why would I want a domestic VPN?
People use VPN to access services from other countries, OF COURSE not for BS like "because I want to feel safe" - as if logging in via VPN from Italy would be safe in any way.
And the support keeps repeating itself.
And why did you make the change just like that!
It's breaking the rules of the contract we established when I was purchasing the Mail Plus plan!
First you lie in the sales, comparing no discount to sale discount,
then you don't allow prolonging accounts with sale discounts
and now THIS?

I tend to watch the Dutch TV via VPN... now I can't. PATHETIC.

AND REMEMBER: It's not the free plan! I paid for Mail Plus which included VPN with 3 servers!!!!

You really want to antagonize people?
PATHETIC.
This is the "free world" service you were trying to create?

Give the basic universal VPN options and features back to the free users. Removing them makes 0 sense, especially those who need it. Scummy move on ProtonVPN, shame on them. In order to bring back trust to free users, revert the changes back and give the free users the options they need.

I only need access to VPN a few times per year, so the free plan and going to the most available server is usually fine. EXCEPT WHEN IT ISN'T.

It is not fine when I am away on a trip and I need to do some banking for a few minutes. My bank detects that I am not in North America and completely blocks my access. This happens maybe two or three times per year. Coming from a free VPN in the Netherlands do not solve my problem, it has to be a server in North America. I think paying for VPN service for 1 month at $10USD to do a few minutes of banking once or twice in that month is pretty expensive.

I like Proton products a lot and will continue recommending them to lots of friends and family. I think this change is a step in the wrong direction. Please consider bringing back "Select country on free plan". Put some creative limitations on it if necessary.

I absolutely do not believe to the fact that 99% of users use random server.

I agree comment the above.

I totally agree with all these comments.
I tried raising this issue with the VPN helpdesk - but just got a lot of marketing spin about how the number of servers is increasing. But CHOICE is the only issue AFAIK. As a relatively long time proton user and paying PM user - it really is a deal killer for me too as far as VPN goes. Bad idea guys and girlz!

I would like to select one country of my choice and all should be available not a list made for me.

I've been thinking more and more about the recent change to remove free ProtonVPN Users ability to select their country of choice. I keep coming back to the same conclusion; Why shouldn't I just go with another service? It may sound like I'm just being petty, and it would be very easy to dismiss these kind of complains, but I think it's valid.

When I was shopping for a VPN that fit my needs, I saw that ProtonVPN offered the feature I was looking for as a free option. At the time I was very grateful for this. However, I'm not just complaining because I want things for free. That's not it. I'm more than willing to pay. But now, the price is roughly the same no matter where I go.

My question is this;

Why would I pay the company that removed a free feature, lies while saying that it's for the benefit of the users, when in reality it makes the experience far less convenient and you're also constantly being shown offers and prompts to upgrade to their paid service to select a country. The INTENT is obviously to make us pay to choose the country. But the rhetoric is an EXTREMELY dubious claim that "99% of users care about connecting quickly to the server with the highest speed." Now the more I read about this, the more I've seen many valid complains from users. So I highly doubt that 99% claim is even true in the first place.

So if the price is the same here, and the price is the same with all of the competitors, why shouldn't I go spend my money somewhere else rather than giving it to the company that lied to me? Don't tell me this is for the user's convenience, while removing features that made the service more convenient to use, and constantly ask me to pay to get those features back. That is how you lose customers.

100% Agree with this feedback. The only thing that I used the VPN for was watching Japanese TV. In fact, when I first was looking for services, I was originally GOING to pay until I found out that Japan was on the list of free countries. I would still gladly pay if they were just honest about it.

But this made up line about changing the experience "for the users" so that we can connect more quickly leaves a BAD taste in my mouth. If you're going to extort me, don't lie to me about it too! Just be honest about the fact that you want people to pay to be able to select the country.

If you remove a feature and then tell me that it's for my own benefit, I'm going to go look for someone else to pay rather than paying you. Very dishonest behavior.

I have been using proton VPN from I don't know how long. It was a tiny company with half the features and I recommended it to everyone. Now with the latest update, they have ********* the main feature for free users. Why would I need a VPN if I can't select the country I need? This feature will not transform free users into paid users, it will only make free users change apps and not recommend proton to anyone, loosing potential clients.

The select fastest only connects me to the Netherlands, no matter how much I disconnect an re-connect. I need to connect to the US.

TLDR: Not being able to select the country ruins the experience for many free users. ****** business decision, ****** user satisfaction decision, will do the opposite of why the change was probably introduced.

Why is that option to choose which country to connect to removed in the first place? It's not making the application any easier to use. It actually reduces usability.

This is an absolute must. I wouldn't have a problem paying for the premium if I didn't have to give up my existing subscription to do so. I can't afford Ultimate right now, so I literally have to choose between a functional VPN or my core password manager and the many aliases I've set up so far... not cool. Limitations on the free version are 100% fair but not when it's like this, especially since running on a VPN server in a different country can get accounts locked or banned, as was the case for my Microsoft Rewards account, since I didn't realize I was connected to a server in another country.

Please reconsider this change, Proton. Again, limiting us free users is fair but not to this extent. It makes me want to switch to a competitor, which is saying a lot because I'm a huge Proton fan.

Before the last update you could select the free country to connect the free VPN, now it select a random country.

We've made some changes on the Free plan to improve connection speed:
- We've added new free servers in Romania and Poland (on top of the US, Netherlands and Japan).
- Now, you are auto-connected to the fastest server available by default (which is preferred by 99% of users).
- Load balancing formula has been improved.

The default connection will give you the best experience available. You can, however, choose to change to another randomly allocated server.

Our free VPN has no ads, no logs, and is as secure & private as our paid plans. It's made possible thanks to the support from our paid users, NOT your data. With that in mind, certain features are necessarily available only on our paid plans.

Proton VPN free recently removed the option to choose which country you connect to. This is incredibly frustrating, especially for those of us that pay for Proton Mail and have this version of Proton VPN included with our plan. It feels like a key feature was removed to drive sign up for other versions of Proton VPN, but as a paying customer this is making me second guess Proton as a trustworthy company. Please bring this feature back.

Old interface, in which we could select the country we want to connect the VPN, I want it back.
Now there is just a quick connect button and I can't select specific servers. There is also cooldown after every change server action.
Pls bring back old system

I agree, connecting to a VPN from Japan is difficult and this service had it, but in the last update they removed it and now the selection is random and it always connects you first to a server in the USA and when you click change location it takes a while approximately 1 hour to connect to a server in Japan.

For me they should have left that option of choosing the country, it is of no use to increase more countries otherwise it will take me much longer to connect to the country I want.