Google VPN is coming to Windows and Mac

If Apple offers a function to protect the IP address to users of paid iCloud storage, Google offers access to a VPN to certain subscribers of its Google One offer. As a reminder, this is the Mountain View company’s online storage offer.

And the firm has long been offering access to a VPN, at no additional cost, to subscribers of the Premium plan, which costs 9.99 euros per month, and which gives access to 2 TB online storage that we can share with 5 people.

Until now, this VPN was only accessible on mobile, which was a big flaw. But the good news is that this will change. Indeed, as our colleagues from The Verge report, this VPN included in Google One’s premium offer is coming to Windows computers as well as Macs.

Google One’s VPN comes to Mac and Windows https://t.co/LhXIEJ6TxA pic.twitter.com/vQvD25KNbB

— Engadget (@engadget) November 10, 2022

The access conditions remain the same. To use this VPN provided by Google, you still need to have a premium subscription. The service is only available in 22 countries, including France.

In any case, by offering this computer version of its VPN, Google is catching up with the competition (the other VPNs). And users will no longer be required to use their smartphones to take advantage of this benefit.

Google says it’s secure

In contrast, Google One’s VPN is still limited to securing connections. You may not use this service to access geo-restricted content.

Regarding the security of its VPN, Google indicates that it has put the code in open source, and uses an independent entity for the audit. And according to the firm, its offer has a few advantages over other VPNs on the market.

“Conventional VPNs can compromise a user’s identity or online activity by associating use of the service with their activity through a session ID. VPN operators or hackers could use it to “spy” and identify the user and their activity”, says Google on its website. “We wanted to remove this flaw by separating the authentication of the subscriber and his use of the service. The cryptographic blinding step, introduced between the validation of the subscription and the connection to the VPN, allows us to offer a better guarantee to the user that his online activity will not be linked to his identity.”

Otherwise, it should be remembered that Google will offer this Google One VPN for free to users of its latest smartphones: the Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7 Pro.