What Is The Best VPN That Works With Whatsapp?
Whatsapp has swiftly become one of the go-to apps for those who love chatting but also appreciate their privacy.
Due to its encryption standards, you can chat and even make phone calls with the confidence that ‘big brother’ is not going to be invading your privacy.
This is important to everyone who loves their privacy, not just journalists or reporters with a story to tell. Due to the high encryption standards of Whatsapp, it is actually banned in many countries. So a solution is required.
What is the best VPN that works with Whatsapp? NordVPN is among the great options of services that allows this application to work. But other services are available depending on your location and specific needs, actually.
You must consider the level of encryption for privacy concerns. If you are streaming music or videos not allowed in your country then geolocation speed and reliability are a concern.
In this article, we’ll tell you about the countries where Whatsapp is banned and include information on specific VPN providers available to you so that you can use Whatsapp and other geo-location bound apps with speed and confidence.
Let’s discuss the Best VPN providers for Whatsapp!
In what countries would I need to use a VPN with Whatsapp? Why is it banned?
As the world’s most popular chatting app it might seem strange to hear that it is actually banned in some locations.
So, where is Whatsapp banned and do we know the ‘why’ of it all? Currently, Whatsapp is completely banned or has its voice calling functions limited in the following countries:
- China – China has a bit of a love/hate relationship with Whatsapp. Political campaigning and censorship concerns often result in a Whatsapp ban, though we have learned that sometimes such bans are lifted within a period of months. This means that you might be able to use it but if a long enough ban comes into play then you might find your account is no longer valid. This makes a VPN service a good idea.
- Cuba – Cuba has a history of censorship and legally only journalists, politicians, and a number of qualified students are given access. The reasoning cited is reportedly not so much for censorship reasons, however, but for bandwidth concerns. The Cuban infrastructure means that the cost of obtaining internet access is cost-prohibitive, as it is more than the average salary would allow for.
- Iran – Iran has not always been on the best of terms with reporters. Couple this with the strong censorship tendencies and you’ve got a recipe for disaster for Whatsapp users, who are subject to periodic bans of the app. A VPN is a very good idea.
- North Korea – Relying heavily on local propaganda and the limiting of outside information, North Korea is one of the most ‘censored’ countries in the world, with frequent blocking of Whatsapp, Facebook, and other common sources of social media which the country cannot easily regulate.
- Syria – With the dynamics of constant change coming from war-torn Syria censorship is rampant, with arrests often following for journalists or others who attempt to use the internet to obtain or disperse information. Facebook, Whatsapp, and especially YouTube are blocked here as well and impossible to access without a VPN.
- UAE – The reasons cited for the banning of Whatsapp and many other apps in the UAE are mostly financial in nature. Specifically, the loss of business for local telecoms when the large numbers of foreign workers from countries like India or the Philippines who are employed in the UAE make use of an app like Whatsapp to keep in touch with family and friends. A VPN is definitely a must-have in the UAE if you wish to use Whatsapp, so is it legal? That’s where things get complicated. The passing of recent Cybercrime laws mean that fines ranging from 500,000 to 2 million DHS (approximately $136,121.00 to $544,484.00 USD) can result from using a VPN in the UAE for what is determined as illegal activities (such as circumventing the local telecoms, gambling, and pornography) and while you may not get in trouble using one for geo-based services like Netflix or Whatsapp it IS still technically illegal.
While a VPN may be a good idea (or not, use your own discretion!) if you are residing in or temporarily working in one of these countries, how do you know which is the best to use?
We’ve taken the liberty of reviewing a number of the best selections and we’ll tell you about them so that you can get a good idea of which one might be the best fit for you!
The best VPN services reviewed
Before we begin we want to make sure that we stress the following. We are NOT advocating violating local laws if you currently reside in a country where certain apps or websites are banned.
Instead, we are simply advising in regards to excellent VPN services which you may take advantage of should you decide that you require a quality VPN service.
If you will be working in a foreign country you should keep in mind that you will want to download any VPN apps that are associated with the provider that you choose to use in order to make sure that the apps themselves are not banned locally to thus ensure that you can employ the service of your choice.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the best VPNs that you can use with Whatsapp!
PrivateVPN
Boasting 6 VPN protocols, including popular choices such as OpenVPN and IPSec, Swedish-based PrivateVPN also offers a high level of security by incorporating AES-256 encryption, HMAC SHA-256 authentication, and an RSA-2048 handshake.
Diffie-Hellman key exchange is also supported should you want to make sure that your security is top-notch and this is an excellent boon for privacy enthusiasts.
Another bonus of this service is that no logs are kept in order to provide you with an additional level of protection.
Their default level of encryption is AES-128 so that when you aren’t using a higher level of PrivateVPN encryption for Whatsapp you can switch back to the defaults in order to stream services such as Netflix without compromising quality.
Overall, we found PrivateVPN to be one of the easiest VPNs to use as well and we liked the overall speeds (which are not blazing fast but are quite decent for the price) and the unlimited bandwidth.
Pricewise, they won’t break the bank at $7.67 per month or $49.68 annually for their ’12 + 1-month’ plan. This also comes with up to 6 simultaneous connections and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
As far as cons, their live support is not available 24/7, so this can be a bit of a strain based on your local time zone when you need support.
Their Android app can sometimes close-out and take a few times to connect, as well, which is not optimal but we hope that this issue will be fixed in later builds.
VyperVPN
If you may be spending some time in China and would like to use a VPN with a good track record for ensuring Whatsapp communications and access to other outside resources then VyperVPN may be the right choice for you.
The Swiss-American company offers a fast and reliable VPN service although there were a few things that we noted that we didn’t like which we will discuss in the tail-end of this entry.
First, let’s talk about security. Incorporating AES-256 CBC encryption to go with an HMAC SHA1 authentication and an RSA 2048 handshake. They also offer their own protocol, called ‘Chameleon’, for premium users as well.
This helps to ensure protection without sacrificing a lot of speed, so this is a nice option. Other protocols offered are L2TP/IPSec, OpenVPN, and PPTP, so VyperVPN should work just fine with Whatsapp and many other of your favorite applications.
Pricewise, VyperVPN is a little highly-priced. At $12.95 per month or an annual rate of $80 (bringing it down to $6.67 per month) it’s not a crippling cost but it a little more than many other providers.
As far as ‘cons’ with the service, we should note that while the VPN hosting is through Swiss servers, some of your data is collected as it is subject to the US-EU Safe Harbor act and VyperVPN can provide this data is requested.
Their logs are only kept for a period of 30 days but if complete privacy is a concern of yours then this VPN may not be the best choice.
NordVPN
Our third entry is registered in Panama in order to ensure their ‘no-logs’ privacy and they are a great budget VPN provided by a large company, so you can be sure that you will like the features.
Security-wise, there are quite a few. NordVPN uses AES-256-CBC for Windows and Android but for Mac and IOS users, it employs NGE (Next Generation Encryption) with IKEv2/IPsec.
AES-256-GCM is also employed with SHA-384 authentication and Perfect Forward Security technology is also incorporated through the use of 3072 bit Diffie Hellman keys.
Throw in their ‘double hop’ technology that lets you encrypt transmissions TWICE and you are looking at a pretty secure VPN.
This VPN supports a number of protocols, including OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP/IPsec, SSTP and IKRv2.
All of this can be yours for $3.99 per month if you go with the 2-year plan or $11.95 on a month to month basis (with a 1-year plan available at $6.99 per month).
The only con that we found is that additional security, if activated, is going to slow your connection down a bit but in all fairness, this is to be expected.
We also felt the month to month price is a bit excessive but the 2-year plan is quite affordable if you decide that you like the service and they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee while you are trying it out.
ExpressVPN
Our favorite on the list would have to be British Virgin islands based ExpressVPN, who tote themselves as ‘the fastest VPN on Earth’.
While we cannot verify that claim, we can say that they are indeed quite fast.
ExpressVPN can also unblock Whatsapp as well as a number of your favorite messaging apps both quickly and reliably. So, what about privacy concerns?
ExpressVPN offers security that on par with the U.S. Government level, in that you get an SHA-512 HMAC hash authentication along with an AES-256 cipher and an RSA-4096 handshake.
To add to your security even further, you can employ an Elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman ‘shared key’, which refreshes every 60 seconds for when you REALLY want to keep things private.
Protocol-wise they offer OpenVPN, LT2P-IPsec, and PPTP with up to 3 simultaneous connections/devices per subscription.
Due to their location, they cannot be legally forced to monitor or log your activities as well which can provide a little important peace of mind.
You can use your Whatsapp and your privacy is assured.
All this quality doesn’t come without a cost, of course, and ExpressVPN is a little higher priced than some of our other listings charing $12.95 per month if you want to buy them individually or you can get a special ’15 month’ rate of $99.95 that takes your subscription cost down to about $6.67 per month.
As far as cons, the only complaint is that you cannot take advantage of an Adblocker feature, but beyond this we found ExpressVPN to be the best overall for using with Whatsapp and a number of other applications in general.
With over 3000 servers available, including virtual servers in remote locations to help ensure connection, ExpressVPN is a good go-to option for connecting your Whatsapp just about anywhere.
The price is a little higher but we feel that for the features and reliability this is a very good deal.
Frequently Asked Questions – Best VPN for Whatsapp
1. How do I use a VPN with Whatsapp?
Using a VPN with Whatsapp is actually quite simple. Just do the following:
- Download the VPN app which you have decided to use through Playstore or App store
- Install your VPN application
- In your VPN settings, choose a location where Whatsapp is not banned and connect. You should now be able to access Whatsapp.
2. Is it illegal to use a VPN in Dubai?
Dubai is one of the 7 countries which make up the United Arab Emirates and as such, VPN usage is regulated by their stricter cybercrime laws and may be subject to fines.
3. What VPN works best in China?
ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and VyprVPN are your best choices for use in China. We liked ExpressVPN the best for its overall reliability and speed.
There are 30-day trial subscriptions which you can get from most VPNs that are a good idea, as they let you know how your connection rate is going to be by testing it firsthand, so we highly recommend taking advantage of offers of this type.
4. Are there any good, free VPNs I can use?
Some VPNs can be used for free but you will be subject generally to limitations on your usage.
How much restrictions will depend and you will want to sample some of the various offerings to see what works best for you.
Some providers which you can try are as follows:
- Hotspot shield – This VPN provider will give you 500 megabytes a day of VPN protection. The speed is one of the best for free VPN’s but you might want to consider a subscription if you will be needing more data.
- Tunnelbear – Tunnelbear has the lowest amount of free data at 500 megabytes per month but this gives you a chance to try the service and if you like it, paying for a subscription costs $9.99 monthly and but if you pay for the yearly subscription option then your rate drops to about $4.99 a month. Tunnelbear is very easy to use so it might be worth checking out if you want to save a little on configuration time.
- Windscribe – Windscribe offers 10 GB per month and an intuitive interface for when you want to take advantage of the VPN, coupled with good speed, ‘kill switch’ options for apps, and more. If you need something that is fast, reliable, and free, you should definitely consider giving Windscribe a try.
- ProtonVPN – ProtonVPN is a VPN option brought to you by the same team that ProtonMail(a popular option for encrypted email). They offer unlimited data but still have a low number of servers. This should not be much of a problem with Whatsapp so ProtonVPN is a good option for mobile phones if you aren’t going to be streaming a lot of data. If you have apps on your phone which you wish to use besides Whatsapp then another VPN provider might be a better idea or you can simply download the app and use it as a backup!
