Psiphon: Free Proxy Outperforms the Paid VPN—But Both Fall Short

Psiphon’s logging policy is intrusive. It collects detailed activity and connection logs, as explained in its privacy policy.

Psiphon monitors the domain names (websites) you visit while connected, though not full URLs. It also saves your IP address to determine your location and keeps that data for an unspecified period.

At least Psiphon doesn’t require payment information or an email address to use the free app, which is a plus.

Psiphon VPN uses only L2TP/IPSec instead of our preferred OpenVPN protocol. It’s reasonably secure with AES 256-bit encryption, but it’s unnecessarily weaker than many competitors.

Importantly, unlike the VPN app, Psiphon’s proxy service does not encrypt your internet traffic.

Using Wireshark, we tested whether Psiphon’s proxy (image on the left) and VPN (image on the right) properly encrypted traffic.

Psiphon’s proxies use SSH, SSH+ (obfuscated), and HTTP configurations. Because Psiphon’s primary goal is to bypass censorship via the SSH+ proxy, its apps offer few advanced privacy settings.

There is no VPN kill switch, which would otherwise prevent your IP address from being exposed if the connection drops.

Security Flaws & Independent Audit

While Cure53’s 2017 security audit of Psiphon reported “no noteworthy security risks,” our tests still found several leaks affecting both the VPN and the proxy service.

Only 16% of the 90 most popular free VPNs we’ve tested leak DNS requests, including Psiphon. There are far more secure and private free VPNs available, and even affordable no-logs options like PrivateVPN.

In 2019, a follow-up audit of Psiphon’s apps by Cure53 had “mixed” results, with particular criticism of the Windows app,

Noting that several parts of the application felt heavily outdated.

In 2021, Psiphon engaged another auditor, 7ASecurity, which provided a more positive assessment.

No Viruses, but Lots of Trackers and Permissions

Using VirusTotal, we scanned Psiphon’s app and found no malware or viruses.

The Psiphon apps are quick and easy to download and set up. They require no registration or email address.Once installed, the apps are straightforward to use but include a few annoying quirks that could trip you up if you don’t know to look for them.

Each time you connect to the proxy or VPN, a new window opens showing your new IP address alongside online ads. We’d much prefer the new IP address to be displayed within the app.

Psiphon’s apps are available in over 40 languages (although not every language is offered on both mobile and desktop).

The Android app includes multiple Asian and African languages (including Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Oromo, Swahili, and Shona), as well as Arabic, Turkish, Russian, Hindi, English, Portuguese, Spanish, and many more.

For non-English speakers—especially those who don’t speak any European languages—Psiphon may be the only VPN available in your native language.

The Windows app defaults to proxy mode, as this is Psiphon’s main anti-censorship tool. If you want to use the VPN you’ll need to go to Settings > Transport Mode > tick the L2TP/IPSec box > Apply Changes.

During testing, we found repeatedly needing to click “Apply Changes” when switching between proxy and VPN modes frustrating. However, this becomes a non-issue if you consistently use one mode for regular browsing.

Psiphon on Mobile

For Android, ensure ‘Tunnel Whole Device’ is enabled to activate the VPN. On iOS, use the main Psiphon app rather than ‘Psiphon Browser for iOS,’ as it functions solely as a proxy.

Psiphon Pro offers straightforward functionality. After installation, you can freely switch between servers via the Options menu and connect with a single tap on Start.

The app’s design feels outdated, lacking features like a day/night mode, while frequent ads—both within the app and after connecting to a server—can disrupt the user experience.

Psiphon isn’t recommended for torrenting. The VPN blocks all P2P traffic, making it a subpar choice for this purpose. A reliable VPN should provide dedicated P2P-optimized servers and maintain consistently fast download speeds.

All P2P traffic is blocked on a Psiphon VPN connection.

Psiphon’s proxy service, however, does not block P2P traffic and achieves a fast average bitrate of 9.9 MiB/s. Unfortunately, the proxy lacks essential features needed to protect your IP address during torrenting. It does not have a kill switch or port forwarding and consistently leaks DNS and WebRTC requests.

Therefore, despite the fast download speeds, the proxy service’s limitations make it an insufficiently secure choice for torrenting.

Psiphon’s privacy policy raises serious concerns, as it actively logs users’ browsing activity, original IP addresses, and connection timestamps—data that could easily identify individuals if exposed.

The service fails to ensure safety or anonymity for torrenting due to critical flaws like DNS/WebRTC leaks and the absence of a kill switch or port forwarding. By contrast, our recommended VPNs for torrenting combine high speeds with essential safeguards: leak protection, verified no-logs policies, and functional kill switches.

Platforms like Astrill VPN, for instance, reliably mask your IP address during torrenting, protecting your identity from both ISPs and peers.

Router Installation Limitations:

Psiphon’s Confusing Split Tunneling Feature

Psiphon offers split tunneling on Windows and Android, but its implementation is cumbersome. On Windows, users can only exclude websites from the VPN tunnel via an option labeled “Don’t proxy websites within your home country.” This limits flexibility compared to typical split tunneling tools, which allow selecting specific apps or websites to exclude.

Android users face similar issues, with a binary “Tunnel whole device” toggle instead of granular app-based controls. These restrictive settings render Psiphon’s split tunneling functionally impractical for most use cases.

Unreliable SOCKS5 Proxy Servers

While Psiphon includes SOCKS5 proxy servers, they lack essential encryption for secure browsing. This oversight exposes users’ real IP addresses to visited websites, making the proxies unsuitable for privacy-focused activities.

Limited Effectiveness Against Censorship

Psiphon markets itself as a tool to bypass strict censorship, yet its performance in heavily restricted regions is inconsistent. As of 2025, the service fails to connect within China entirely—a significant drawback given its prior reliability there. The lack of traffic encryption further compounds risks, enabling ISPs to monitor user activity in countries like Russia and Iran where partial access remains possible.

This combination of weak encryption, outdated split tunneling, and deteriorating China accessibility severely undermines Psiphon’s value proposition for privacy-conscious users.

Psiphon warns users that its VPN configuration (L2TP or Transport Mode) isn’t effective at bypassing censorship. Testing confirms Psiphon VPN doesn’t work in China.

For a free VPN that works there and protects your data, Windscribe Free is a much more reliable choice.

Psiphon’s proxy servers provide additional obfuscation (SSH+) to bypass online filters in restrictive regions. While these SSH proxies encrypt browser traffic, other applications remain unprotected, leaving non-browser activity vulnerable.

The service offers a practical solution for downloading VPN software in countries where VPN websites are blocked. Users in places like Iran, for example, can email [email protected] to automatically receive download links, bypassing government restrictions—a unique feature not commonly found in similar tools.

Despite this functionality, Psiphon isn’t ideal for users in heavily censored countries. Relying on a proxy instead of a full VPN may expose online activity to monitoring, particularly by government agencies. Additionally, customer support options are limited, with no live chat and inconsistent email responsiveness.

Poor Customer Support

Psiphon’s customer support is quite limited, even for paying customers. The lack of live chat support is disappointing.

The Psiphon website offers FAQs covering basic troubleshooting, app compatibility, and other potential issues, though this resource isn’t extensive. A user guide provides instructions for Windows and Android apps.

Contacting Psiphon’s support team is only possible via the email address listed on the website. While we received thorough email responses in the past, recent inquiries have gone unanswered.

For a VPN with significant complexities and features – used for the vital task of bypassing government web filters – Psiphon must offer better customer support.

We’d like to see Psiphon add instructional walkthroughs like Surfshark, or implement live chat similar to NordVPN’s excellent feature. Even a ticketed support system would be preferable to unreliable email responses.