SCIENCE & TECH: I’m a VPN expert — these are the 3 things I want the industry to adopt in 2026

The VPN industry is going to face intense scrutiny in 2026. As governments introduce new laws and censors develop increasingly sophisticated surveillance and censorship capabilities, it’s vital that providers continue to push their products to the next level.

I’ve spent this year hands-on with all kinds of VPNs, and several areas for development that stand out. Levelling up against continuous censorship and anti-VPN measures, optimizing for new users, and improving transparency are all key points for improvement.

But why?

The censorship problem

Several VPNs improved their anti-censorship capabilities throughout 2025, most notably NordVPN. That said, factors such as the Great Firewall of China and Russia’s evolving censorship system remain continuously changing dilemmas to solve.

Each VPN provider tackles these issues in their own way. Extensive details on these measures are tricky to find, however, since providers must avoid being thwarted by the authorities they’re trying to bypass.

The goal for each remains the same: to make a secure VPN connection appear identical to normal internet traffic.

We’ve been testing VPNs in regions such as China throughout 2025. Unsurprisingly, our top-ranked providers are among the most consistent, but even they don’t guarantee a connection every time. Download speeds are often inconsistent and latencies are high – and that’s if you get a connection at all.

Given the growing number of instances of social media blackouts and censorship measures, improving the stability of these tools is paramount.

In 2025 China’s ‘Great Firewall in a Box’ approach was discovered. Given that, it’s likely that China’s sophisticated approach to internet censorship will spread to yet more countries in the coming 12 months. Without improved obfuscated protocols, these approaches could leave more people scrambling to find ways to connect to the free internet.

VPNs for the masses

VPNs aren’t just used in extreme instances, however. Alongside government-mandated censorship, the global spread of age verification measures has led to more people engaging with VPNs than ever.

This means there’s a need for resources to educate new users properly. The goal shouldn’t just be to provide a quick connection, but to help users develop an understanding of a VPN’s potential and limitations.

Fundamentally, the product needs to work without the customer being educated”

Some VPNs already take great steps to do this. Proton VPN has a wealth of tooltips and explanations built into its apps, and NordVPN offers a huge bank of knowledge articles, but these methods aren’t adopted everywhere.

Norton VPN is one provider looking to take this simplicity to the next level. Speaking to TechRadar, Martin Budac, Gen Digital’s Head of Privacy Products, explained that “usability is one of the biggest problems” in the industry.

“Fundamentally, the product needs to work without the customer being educated,” Budac said.

Norton’s approach employs the same family-friendly style you see in its antivirus product: plenty of explanations, very little clutter throughout the app design, and no design flaws that could lead to accidentally turning on unwanted features.

Creating clarity

However, privacy is about more than just what the user can see on their screen – it’s also about what happens to their data behind the scenes.

Every year, VPN companies receive legal requests for user data that they either reject or are unable to comply with. These requests often go unreported unless the VPN provider publishes transparency reports.

These reports give users clear information outlining how a provider protects their privacy against legal requests. While no-logs audits provide a similar sense of security, full-length audits are rarely consumer-friendly, as they often include dense technical language.

Another step providers can take is to make parts of their service open source. If a provider makes either its apps or its protocols open source, users with the required knowledge can check the code to ensure everything is as it appears.

Providers such as Proton VPN and PIA already offer open-source apps. Proprietary protocols are rarely made open-source, although ExpressVPN’s Lightway protocol is a notable exception.

There’s rarely a need to be concerned about open-source protocols. If a provider is using standard WireGuard or OpenVPN, both protocols are already open source; it’s only once providers make unique additions to these protocols that they “close” the code.

It’s particularly important that a provider’s apps be open source due to privacy concerns regarding data collection. By doing so, a provider allows its users to confirm for themselves that there’s nothing amiss and that their data is being handled correctly.

The VPN industry faces several widespread challenges in 2026, so fixing these problems is a possibility rather than a certainty for now. However, over time, integrating these improvements should ensure the VPN industry remains both honest and accessible as more people look to these tools to support their digital lives.