Opera launches a free VPN app for iOS

Just a couple weeks after introducing a free and unlimited virtual private network (VPN) for its browser, Opera is doing the same on iOS. The company launched a new iOS app Monday that brings an unlimited free VPN to iPhones and iPads. 

Officially called Opera VPN, the app allows users to securely browse and view content that may otherwise be restricted, due to their location or other restrictions. (While Netflix is starting to crack down on VPN use, virtual private networks are still widely used to bypass location restrictions on streaming platforms.) 

Like other VPNs, Opera's app allows you to mask your true location by "borrowing" an IP address from another area. Opera VPN lets you pick between five different regions — the United States, Canada, Germany, Singapore and the Netherlands — to use as your virtual location, though the company says it plans to add more locations in a later update. The app also blocks ad-tracking cookies and has an ad-blocker built-in. 

IMAGE: OPERA

While not the first company to offer a VPN service for iOS device, Opera's offering is unusual in that it's totally free. There are no in-app purchases, subscriptions or even ads — at least, not yet.

Though the app doesn't currently have advertising, the company did explain that it likely will use advertising in the future because, as the company explains rather bluntly, "the reality is that a VPN service costs money to operate."

"While we don’t offer this today, we will likely introduce advertising into the application in the future. This is just the same as playing a free game that has ads – we get paid by advertisers based on our users’ engagement with their ads," Chris Houston, president of Opera's VPN division, writes in a blog post. 

"The other way we make money is by collecting anonymous data about how people use their mobile device. We make this information available to third parties who are interested in better understanding the mobile ecosystem and how it’s evolving."

Though Houston insists the data the app collects is anonymized and won't track individuals' browsing habits, he acknowledges this may put off some privacy conscious users. In that case, he says, you may want to stick with the company's premium VPN service.

Opera’s ad blocker comes to its stable release channel and Opera Mini for Android

Opera today announced that its built-in ad blocker, which was previously only available in the experimental developer release channel, is now coming to all of its desktop users. In addition, it is now also bringing this same feature to mobile, starting with Opera Mini for Android.

While ad blocking isn’t exactly without controversy, there can be little doubt that it makes for a faster browsing experience — especially on mobile.

Opera argues that its built-in ad blocker is also faster than using Chrome or another browser with a third-party ad-blocking add-on. Indeed, the company argues that its solution is about 45 percent faster than using Chrome with AdBlock Plus.

On mobile, Opera says Opera Mini for Android with this new feature enabled loads sites about 40 percent faster than without it (and can save quite a bit of download data, too).

In addition, Opera argues that its solution also uses significantly less memory than comparable tools.

On Android, Opera offers both its regular fully featured Opera browser and Opera Mini. For now, Mini — which unlike its slightly more full-sized brethren features an always-on compression service — is the only mobile browser in the company’s lineup that offers the built-in ad blocker, but I would be surprised if the company didn’t bring this tool to the non-Mini version soon, too. Opera Max, the company’s system-wide compression proxy, is also a likely candidate for integrating ad blocking.

All of this activity around Opera’s browsers comes at a time of uncertainty for Opera, given that its proposed $1.2 billion acquisition by a consortium of Chinese companies (many of which are in the advertising business) still hasn’t closed. At MWC, Opera CEO Lars Boilesentold me this acquisition wasn’t really his decision and that the company would be just fine if the deal never closed. It’s hard not to look at the company’s current decisions, which also include building a VPN right into its browser, without thinking that they are almost meant to provoke the company’s potential acquirers (and maybe sabotage this deal).