VPN Proxy Master is one of the most popular free VPNs on Android: its Google Play listing showed more than 100 million downloads and a 4.7-star rating from about 1.49 million reviews when we checked on November 14, 2026. Those numbers show that lots of people use it, not who runs it or how well it protects your data. This guide pulls together the app’s own privacy policy and store listings, the Tech Transparency Project’s 2025 ownership investigation and the 2025 “Hidden Links” security paper, which tested VPN Proxy Master directly. We did not run our own tests for this page.
This article contains no affiliate links. See our affiliate disclosure and how we review. Updated: November 2026
Bottom line: VPN Proxy Master will change your IP address, but we would not trust it with private or sensitive traffic.
- Ownership is hard to pin down. The app has been published under Lemon Clove Pte. Limited, a Singapore company the Tech Transparency Project traced to Chinese security firm Qihoo 360. Today its Google Play listing and privacy policy name a different Singapore company, SECUREGUARD GROUP PTE. LTD.
- Researchers decrypted its traffic. A 2025 peer-reviewed paper showed that hard-coded keys in VPN Proxy Master let a network eavesdropper decrypt its traffic, and found the app used a deprecated cipher.
- Its privacy claims were contradicted. The same paper observed this app family uploading users’ ZIP code data even though their privacy policies said they did not collect addresses.
- The free version is ad-funded, and its policy names ad and measurement partners including AdMob, Liftoff, InMobi, Unity and Adjust.
- Better options exist. Free tiers from companies with clear ownership and independent audits are a safer choice.
What VPN Proxy Master is
VPN Proxy Master is a free, ad-supported VPN with paid upgrades. On Google Play, “VPN Proxy Master – Safer Vpn” is listed as containing ads and in-app purchases, with 100M+ downloads, and a Lite version shows 10M+. The listing advertises “AES 128-bit encryption,” IPsec, SSR and OpenVPN protocols, more than 6,000 servers and a “strict no-log policy.” On the Apple App Store, “VPN Proxy Master – Super VPN” is free with subscriptions such as a $12.99 monthly plan and yearly plans from $79.99 (prices as listed on November 14, 2026).
Who owns VPN Proxy Master?
The answer depends on which page you read, which is itself a warning sign for an app that sees all your traffic:
- The current privacy policy and terms of service (both effective April 30, 2025) say the service is operated by SECUREGUARD GROUP PTE. LTD., at 61 Robinson Road, Singapore. The Google Play listing names the same developer.
- An older terms page still online on the same website says the services are provided by Lemon Clove Pte. Limited, at 18 Robinson Road, Singapore.
- The iPhone app is listed under a third name, ALL Connected Co., Ltd. The Tech Transparency Project’s June 2025 spot check describes that developer as linked to Qihoo 360.
In its April 2025 investigation of the top 100 free VPNs in Apple’s U.S. App Store, the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) said VPN Proxy Master ranked 12th in 2024 and belonged to the same network of companies as Turbo VPN. According to TTP, Qihoo 360 (360 Security Technology), a Chinese cybersecurity company, reported in its 2019 annual report that it acquired Lemon Seed Technology and two other companies, Lemon Clove and Autumn Breeze. The U.S. Commerce Department added Qihoo 360 to its Entity List in 2020. Qihoo 360 later said it sold this “Project L” to unnamed “external parties,” but TTP found that March 2025 filings for Lemon Seed, Lemon Clove, Autumn Breeze and Innovative Connecting all listed one director, Chen Ningyi, a name TTP matched to a Qihoo 360 patent and a former Qihoo manager.
We could not find any public explanation of when or why the app’s listed operator changed from Lemon Clove to SecureGuard Group, or who owns SecureGuard Group. A new company name on a store listing does not by itself tell you whether the people behind the app have changed. TTP’s spot check also reported that in May 2025 VPN Proxy Master was still available in both Apple’s U.S. App Store and Google Play.
What security researchers found
In 2025, researchers including Benjamin Mixon-Baca and Jeffrey Knockel published “Hidden Links: Analyzing Secret Families of VPN Apps” at the FOCI 2025 workshop (summarized by Citizen Lab). They placed eight Android apps from Innovative Connecting (Turbo VPN, Turbo VPN Lite, VPN Monster), Lemon Clove (VPN Proxy Master and VPN Proxy Master – Lite) and Autumn Breeze (Snap VPN, Robot VPN, SuperNet VPN) in one family, “Family A.” The apps contained nearly identical code, shared libraries and assets, and the researchers connected to the providers’ servers with the same hard-coded credentials, confirming that the three companies share infrastructure. Key findings:
- Traffic decryption: the apps store a Shadowsocks password inside an encrypted file in the app, and the key to unlock that file is built into the app itself. The paper includes a figure showing that hard-coded keys in VPN Proxy Master “enable a network eavesdropper” to decrypt its traffic.
- Weak encryption: the Shadowsocks configuration used rc4-md5, which the paper calls one of several deprecated ciphers.
- Undisclosed location data: even when the app did not request location permission, apps in the family requested the ZIP code of the user’s public IP address from ip-api.com and uploaded it to a Firebase endpoint. The paper notes the apps’ privacy policies said they did not collect user addresses.
- Connection attacks: all eight apps were vulnerable to client-side “blind in/on-path” attacks that let an attacker interfere with active connections.
Help Net Security and SecurityWeek covered the paper, which concluded that these providers mislead users about both their ownership and “the extent of their security properties.” The research reflects the app versions tested in 2025. VPN Proxy Master’s iPhone listing now advertises WireGuard and IKEv2 as well, but we have not seen any public evidence showing whether the Android issues above have been fixed.
What VPN Proxy Master says it collects
The privacy policy says VPN Proxy Master “never collects, stores, or logs browsing activity, VPN traffic content, destination websites, DNS queries, or connection metadata.” It does list other data it collects:
- Anonymized usage data: connection success or failure, country, device type, operating system version and general error logs.
- Account and payment data: your email address and password if you register, plus subscription records such as plan, transaction ID and payment channel.
- Third-party SDKs: Firebase for crash reporting, Adjust to measure advertising, Zendesk for support, and AdMob, Liftoff, InMobi and Unity for advertising in the free version.
- Cross-border transfers: data may be processed or stored outside your country.
Google Play’s data safety section says the app may share device or other IDs with third parties for advertising or marketing, and may collect crash logs, app interactions, device IDs, user IDs and, optionally, email address and photos. On the App Store, the developer says data is not linked to your identity, but lists location, contact info, identifiers and usage data among the data it may collect, and usage and advertising data used for third-party advertising. Apple notes this information has not been verified. The policy mentions only “internal review” of its systems, not an independent no-logs audit.
Who should and shouldn’t use VPN Proxy Master
If you only want to change your apparent location for something low-stakes, like seeing how a website looks from another country, VPN Proxy Master will probably do it. We would avoid it for:
- Online banking, work logins, health information or anything you would not want a stranger to read.
- Public Wi-Fi protection, since the point of a VPN there is encryption you can trust.
- Journalists, activists or anyone concerned about government access to their data.
- Children’s devices, given the ad-supported model and unclear ownership.
If you already use it, uninstalling the app stops future data collection; if you have a paid plan, cancel it through Google Play or the App Store first. After switching, run a VPN leak test to confirm your real IP address and DNS are hidden.
Safer free VPN alternatives
The safest free VPNs are usually free tiers of paid products from companies with transparent ownership, published no-logs policies and independent audits. See our guides to whether Proton VPN Free is safe and Windscribe vs Proton VPN. VPN Proxy Master shares its code and servers with Turbo VPN, and we found similar trust problems with Urban VPN and Hola VPN.
FAQ
Is VPN Proxy Master safe to use?
It is a real VPN app, not malware, but we would not rely on it for privacy or security. In the 2025 “Hidden Links” paper, researchers showed that hard-coded keys in VPN Proxy Master let a network eavesdropper decrypt its traffic, found it used the deprecated rc4-md5 cipher, and observed apps in its family uploading users’ ZIP code data that their privacy policies said they did not collect.
Who owns VPN Proxy Master?
Its current Google Play listing and privacy policy name SECUREGUARD GROUP PTE. LTD. in Singapore, and its iPhone app is listed under ALL Connected Co., Ltd. The app was previously published by Lemon Clove Pte. Limited, which an older terms page on its website still names. The Tech Transparency Project reported in 2025 that Chinese security firm Qihoo 360 said it acquired Lemon Clove in 2019, and that March 2025 filings for Lemon Clove listed a director matching a former Qihoo 360 manager. We found no public record explaining the change to SecureGuard Group.
Is VPN Proxy Master Chinese?
Its listed companies are in Singapore, but the Tech Transparency Project and the Hidden Links researchers both connect it to Qihoo 360, a Chinese cybersecurity company. Qihoo 360 is on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List. Qihoo 360 said it sold the related app companies to unnamed external parties in 2020, but TTP found filings in 2025 that suggested an ongoing connection.
Is VPN Proxy Master the same company as Turbo VPN?
They are published under different company names, but researchers grouped them together. The Hidden Links paper found that apps from Innovative Connecting (Turbo VPN), Lemon Clove (VPN Proxy Master) and Autumn Breeze (Snap VPN) share nearly identical code and libraries, and that the researchers could connect to these providers’ servers using the same hard-coded credentials, confirming shared infrastructure.
Does VPN Proxy Master keep logs?
Its privacy policy says it operates under a strict no-log policy and never logs browsing activity, traffic content, destination websites, DNS queries or connection metadata. It does say it collects anonymized technical data such as connection success, country, device type and error logs, plus account and payment records. We found no independent audit of the no-logs claim in its policy.
What is a safer free alternative to VPN Proxy Master?
Choose a free tier from a company with transparent ownership that earns money from paid plans, publishes a no-logs policy and has had it independently audited. Proton VPN Free and Windscribe’s free plan are common examples; check their current terms before installing.
Related guides: Is Turbo VPN safe? · Is Urban VPN safe? · Is Hola VPN safe? · Is Opera VPN safe? · Is Proton VPN Free safe?
Sources: VPN Proxy Master privacy policy · terms of service · older terms page (Lemon Clove) · Google Play listing · data safety section · Apple App Store listing · Tech Transparency Project, Apr. 1, 2025 · TTP spot check, June 2025 · Hidden Links, FOCI 2025 (PDF) · Citizen Lab summary · Help Net Security, Aug. 19, 2025 · SecurityWeek (store listings and policies checked Nov. 14, 2026)
