When we launched ProtonVPN a year ago, we did it because now more than ever, we need robust tools for defending privacy, security, and freedom online. In particular, we saw a rising risk of increased online censorship targeting secure communications systems such as ProtonMail. Unfortunately, this prediction has come to pass, so ProtonVPN was launched just in time.

In the past 12 months, we have seen a number of governments and corporations take aim at encrypted services: Turkey blocked ProtonMail, Iran and Russia blocked Telegram, and Google and Amazon have enabled Iran to block Signal, to give just a few examples. Authoritarian regimes are using censorship to suppress ideas, and Internet service providers are consolidating power over the web. Our mission to make online security and privacy available to all has become more crucial.

While ProtonVPN was born out of our desire to provide a trustworthy free VPN service that would help ProtonMail users access their email even under censorship, the project has now grown beyond that. Today there are many people who are using ProtonVPN for more than just accessing their ProtonMail. Today, over half a million people use ProtonVPN for things like accessing Wikipedia, reaching blocked news sites, or even watching Netflix or the football World Cup.

All this and more is possible thanks to the support from the ProtonVPN community, which has made it possible for us to accomplish our mission faster and to continue improving the service. Here’s a look at just a few of the things you’ve helped us achieve:

ProtonVPN is now a massive community passionate about security and privacy. In addition to over 500,000 users, we have over 23,700 Twitter followers, over 7,000 followers on Facebook, and over 4,000 on Reddit.

We have made privacy more accessible with easy-to-use native VPN apps. We’ve already launched native apps or tools for four operating systems: Android, Windows, Mac and Linux. Our iOS application is also in development and scheduled for release later this year.

We now have over 100 servers in 15 countries. We plan to increase the number of countries to 20 by the end of this year.

We’re breaking down Internet censorship and providing security no matter what content you choose to access. ProtonVPN has several dedicated servers for streaming, from Netflix to Hulu to your favorite sporting events.

ProtonVPN is still a free VPN. We believe access to security and privacy should not be limited by someone’s ability to pay. Thanks to the support of our paid users, we have been able to stay true to our promise of providing a free VPN that does not abuse your privacy.

We’re also proud of the feedback we’ve received from users. Our social media feeds and our inboxes are full of encouragement—and constructive criticism—that we take very seriously. We’re grateful to have a community that cares so much about the product and the mission to engage with our team.

We’ve also gotten great reviews from TechRadar, and around the web, from which called ProtonVPN “a smart choice for experienced VPN users,” to ghacks.net, which wrote that ProtonVPN is “one of the best, if not the best free VPN options right now, hands down.” You can check a full list of ProtonVPN reviews.

We set out to make the Internet a better place. Thanks to you, after just one year, we have already made a great deal of progress. Going forward, we will continue to listen to your feedback and make further improvements. If you have ideas for features you would love to see, don’t hesitate to let us know on social media. We look forward to continuing to improve ProtonVPN with your support!

Best Regards,

The ProtonVPN Team

You can follow us on social media to stay up to date on the latest ProtonVPN releases:

Twitter | Facebook | Reddit

To get a free ProtonMail encrypted email account, visit: protonmail.com