While it doesn’t have the same flexibility as other VPNs for accessing region-locked content, Google One VPN does the primary job of hiding your browsing data from your network and your metadata from websites. It’s a great feature for subscribers.
to
- Available across Android, ChromeOS, iOS, Windows and Mac
- Data tunneling and strong encryption
- Free for Pixel 7 owners
- Monitors the dark web to protect information
against
- Doesn’t hide your location
- Only available in 18 countries
(Opens in a new tab)
Apple iCloud Private Relay
Apple’s privacy protection extends only to Safari browsing, which limits its usefulness for some. But anyone Do Safari users have every reason to encrypt their metadata with iCPR. Even if it isn’t a “VPN”, it will protect your DNS requests and make sure Apple doesn’t even know what you’re doing.
to
- Browsing data masks from ISPs
- Double hop architecture and strong encryption
- Available at a low monthly rate
against
- Doesn’t hide your location
- It only works in Safari
After a series of acquisitions and mergers, many of the best VPN services fall under the same few corporate umbrellas. It’s not always clear who owns your information, and you’ll have to pay a decent monthly rate unless you pay years in advance.
That’s why so many Android and iOS users find Google One VPN or iCloud Private Relay tempting: they’re controlled by two companies they’re familiar with. actually They collect a lot of information about themselves, and they bundle their protection services with affordable cloud storage packages.
So if you’re paying for Google One or iCloud +, you have every reason to switch between their respective privacy tools. But is it as good as a “regular” VPN, or should you pay for something like NordVPN instead? And is Apple or Google doing a better job with your browsing security? Let’s dig deeper.
Google One VPN explained
In Google’s own words, Google One VPN does the following:
- “Provide encrypted passthrough It hides your data and network activity from hackers and network nodes along the way, such as public WiFi hotspot or other service providers.
- Hide your IP address from trackers and the websites and apps you visit, which can be used to track your location or network activity. “
Essentially, Google One VPN hides and encrypts your traffic from your network operator, carrier, or Wi-Fi network and your IP address from the apps or sites you visit – they will see an address that matches your general area. Bandwidth and connection times are also not stored.
In terms of securing your data, Google says it uses a “cryptographic encryption step” to ensure that users can’t be associated with a session ID. It claims that it will “never use a VPN connection to track, record, or sell your online activity.”
He. She Do Save the number of times you used the VPN (but not the times or duration), the number of times you connected (to enforce device limit), and any logged errors. Also keep in mind that Google still collects data whenever you use Chrome or the Google Workspace apps, regardless of whether or not you have an active VPN.
Until Google’s plan to kill third-party cookies bears fruit, sites can still monitor and monetize your activity in this way.
You can use Google One VPN across six devices simultaneously. It works on Android phones and tablets, iOS, iPadOS, ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows 10 or 11. Plus, you can get a free VPN if you own a Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro, no Google One subscription required.
Unlike other VPNs, Google One doesn’t let you choose a server and always geo-restricts your browsing to wherever you actually live. This means no cheating to unblock watching international broadcasts or sports content; And Google does not publicly list the number of servers it has, unlike other VPNs.
Google One VPN is only available in 22 countries Do Work when you travel to other countries, but not all. This link shows which countries VPN supports and which countries it temporarily works in.
Its main traditional VPN feature is the optional “kill switch”, which ensures browsing stops automatically if the VPN stops working, in order to protect your identity. Like any VPN, this will consume more data and battery life browsing and may cause a slight increase in latency and load times.
Previously only available to 2TB Google One subscribers, the VPN will become available to all Google One members in 2023. We’ve got a guide on how to set up a Google One VPN, if you’d like to access it.
Apple iCloud Private Relay explained
Unlike Google, Apple does not claim its own relay as a “VPN”. Like many Apple services, Private Relay only works if you stick to Apple’s own apps and hardware. In this case, this means that it only works on iPhones, iPads, and Macs that use Safari browser. Other apps and browsers won’t benefit from this protection, even if you’re using an Apple device with iCloud+ active.
With that disclaimer, here’s how it works, in Apple’s own words:
When private relay is enabled, your requests are sent through two separate, secure Internet relays. Your IP address is visible to your network provider and to the first relay, which is operated by Apple. Your DNS records are encrypted, so neither party can see The address of the website you are trying to visit.
“The second relay, operated by a third-party content provider, generates a temporary IP address, decrypts the website name you requested, and connects you to the site. All of this is done using the latest Internet standards to maintain a high-performance browsing experience while protecting your privacy.”
Unlike Google One VPN, your IP address is visible to your network – even though it’s actually your IP address Do It should not be visible to that network. Instead of using its own proxy servers, Apple relies on content delivery networks like Cloudflare to handle your traffic on their exit proxy servers, with no way of knowing who is using their traffic.
Like Google One VPN, iCloud Private Relay won’t let you pretend to be browsing from another country. You can either “Keep general location” or “Use country and time zone”, which is broader but still geo-locked.
Private Relay collects data such as performance data, code validation success rate, and resource usage, but without ticks associated with your account. Apple says it doesn’t collect any data from your browsing, which must be true since third parties handle this side of things. In this sense, it should be absolutely safe.
Since Private Relay Browsing uses the same IP flag on websites, any of those applications that require audited network traffic can prevent you from accessing them while iCPR is active. You will need to “Show IP Address” individually in Safari for that particular website.
Also, some cellular carriers may choose to automatically disable the Private Relay feature if it conflicts with a particular feature; For example, T-Mobile disables it if you have family controls active because of the two conflicts, according to The Verge. (Opens in a new tab).
Our friends over at iMore have a guide on how to activate iCloud Private Relay, but it’s pretty simple: Just go to Settings on your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook and search for Private Relay, then toggle it on. Apple doesn’t say which countries support it – some countries like China and Saudi Arabia have denied it – but we suspect the list is longer than Google’s.
Google One VPN vs. Apple iCloud Private Relay: What’s the Difference?
Google One VPN is available on any cloud storage plan starting at 100GB for $1.99 per month or 200GB for $2.99 per month. iCloud+ starts at 50 GB for $0.99 or 200 GB for $2.99. So the prices are basically the same unless you hardly need any iCloud storage.
If you are looking for a VPN alternative that spreads across all your devices no matter who made it, Google One VPN is the one and only solution. Unlike Safari’s iCloud Private Relay, Google will protect your traffic from any browser or app.
This includes Chromebooks and Android phones with Google software, but also Windows laptops or Apple’s own devices. Even if you’re a die-hard Apple user with iCloud storage, you’ll need to pay for Google One (or another VPN), too, if you want to hide usage on other apps.
However, if you can use Safari for everything, these are the two services Basically perform the same function. They prevent sites from identifying you easily or prevent networks from tracking your browsing (and possibly restricting traffic to specific sites). And Apple, unlike Google with Chrome, does not associate your Safari browsing data for advertising purposes.
Neither gives you the flexibility of a cheap VPN in terms of accessing geo-locked data, and some VPNs even come with cloud storage! But I would argue that these services are aimed at more casual users who don’t need powerful VPN tools and just want to make their web browsing more private.
The Google One VPN vs. Apple iCloud Private Relay conversation is meaningless for Android users, who can’t access Safari anyway. But for iOS users, I’d say it’s fair to consider both on their merits.