Proton Report Says Many VPN Apps Sold in U.S. App Stores Contain Hidden Trackers
Technology & SocietyWell-covered
|
The Facts
- Proton, a VPN provider, published a report on trackers embedded in mobile VPN apps sold in U.S. app stores.
- The report says the apps collect user data, including physical location, that a VPN is marketed to conceal.
- Proton identified 64 of the VPN apps it examined as owned by Chinese companies.
- The affected apps are available to both iPhone and Android users through the App Store and Google Play.
- Proton says the apps have been downloaded by millions of users in the United States.
- Outlets covering the report cited different headline figures: TechRadar reported 85% of apps containing trackers, CNET reported 25% actively tracking location.
- Proton develops and sells its own VPN service, giving it a commercial interest in flagging competitors' privacy risks.
- VPNs are marketed as tools that encrypt internet traffic and hide a user's IP address and location.
Context
What data does Proton say the trackers collect?
Proton says the trackers gather device IDs, network information, device models and mobile carrier data, and that a share of the apps also track users' physical location CNET,TechRadar.
Can users tell which apps contain trackers before installing?
Forbes reports that the apps carry "no warning labels" in the app stores, making the presence of trackers difficult for an ordinary user to detect at the point of download Forbes.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Apps collecting the exact location a VPN is sold to conceal is a broken promise, and the stores distributing them — not users — should be catching it; Proton's own VPN business warrants scrutiny.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about a privacy product betraying users who cannot detect the breach, or about Chinese-owned firms holding millions of Americans' physical locations.
- Why they won’t converge
- This is a values divide over what the harm actually is — deceptive data collection by any vendor, or foreign custody of that data — so agreeing on Proton's counts settles nothing about whether the remedy is store-level disclosure or ownership-based removal.
How left and right read it
A privacy tool that quietly reports your location breaks its core promise to precisely the people least able to detect the breach — yet that is what this report describes, across apps downloaded by millions through the App Store and Google Play. Proton sells VPNs, so check the numbers. But why do users, rather than the stores distributing these apps, carry the burden of hunting for trackers?
Handing millions of Americans' physical location to Chinese-owned firms is a sovereignty failure before it is a privacy one, because Proton counted 64 such VPN apps collecting the very location the product is sold to conceal. Proton sells VPNs too. But apps under that ownership belong nowhere in the App Store or Google Play — delist them, or force divestiture.
The receipts — all 39 sources
Independent coverage (39)
Facts first. Then every angle.
The day’s biggest stories in one short brief — the facts everyone agrees on, then the competing values behind the headlines. Free in your inbox.