Il servizio è ora disponibile in USA, Canada, Messico, Italia, Francia, Germania, Spagna e Regno Unito: ecco come funziona e come attivarlo.
Una delle funzionalità più interessanti di Google One, il servizio di spazio in cloud in abbonamento di Google, è arrivata anche in Italia: si tratta della VPN per gli smartphone Android, la Virtual Private Network grazie alla quale è possibile navigare in modo sicuro e anonimo sul Web criptando i dati e mascherando l’indirizzo IP del telefono.
Lanciato a fine 2020 negli Stati Uniti, questo servizio è stato ora esteso ad altri Paesi: Canada, Messico, Italia, Francia, Germania, Spagna e Regno Unito. E’ già disponibile ed attivabile, gratuitamente, per gli utenti Google One che hanno i prerequisiti necessari e, secondo Google, è diversa e migliore dalle altre VPN disponibili in commercio. The very interesting thing about the Google VPN is the “no log” policy: not even Google tracks the user’s behavior and browsing, something that many free VPNs and even some paid ones do. Here are the details of this new feature and how to activate it on Android smartphones.
Google VPN: how it works
Technically, Google VPN doesn’t work any differently than any other: once activated, it creates an encrypted connection, through which all data passes. If a hacker managed to get into the transmission (through a so-called “man-in-the-middle” attack), he would only have a stream of encrypted data, therefore unreadable.
The IP address of the device is also anonymized, but the fictitious one will still result as an Italian address. This means that the sites we visit will still know that the connection starts from a phone or tablet in Italy, even if they won’t know exactly where from.
This choice of Google has a very simple reason: using a masked IP address of another country is one of the most used methods to access streaming content not available in Italy. If Google had allowed this practice it would have found itself against the entire streaming industry and all platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Google, finally, promises a very fast connection, although it doesn’t explain exactly how it will be achieved. Browsing via VPN, in any case, will never have the same speed as a connection without VPN.
Google VPN: how to activate it
Google’s VPN is free for all Google One users with a plan with at least 2 TB of cloud storage space (€9.99 per month or €99.99 per year) and at the moment it is not possible to add it as an option to lower denomination plans, not even by paying for it separately.
Those with a 2TB plan need only open the Google One app and activate the appropriate toggle. Those with a Family Plan linked to the Google One account can activate VPN on up to 6 devices, but you’ll need to install the Google One app on each of them.