14 DAY TRIAL // The Opera VPN service for Android and iOS is shutting down on April 30, 2018, but a paid alternative is being offered.
Users usually underestimate the ability to use a VPN, but the truth is that it’s a really useful tool. It’s also important to mention that most of the VPN services out there that offer this type of service are not doing it for free.
Maintaining an infrastructure of VPN servers across the world is not cheap or free, and most of the time companies that offer it for free are getting funding in other ways, like ads for example. In any case, the official Opera VPN app is going away, and it will be missed.
No reason for the shutdown
Why Opera VPN is going to be shutdown remains a mystery, at least for now. While it’s not hard to guess that it probably has something to do with costs, it would have been nice to know what’s behind this decision.
“We’re discontinuing the Opera VPN app for iOS and Android on April 30, 2018. But don’t worry. We’re helping to make sure your privacy is still looked after. All of us here at Opera VPN (including Olaf) are sincerely grateful for all your support over the last couple of years, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause,” reads the announcement made by the company.
They are also recommending going to another service called SurfEasy, which is supposed to have 99.9% uptime and offers access to 23 different regions all over the world. It’s not going to be free, although the Opera Gold users will get a free upgrade, for a year, to SurfEasy Ultra VPN.
You might also think that the Opera service for the regular browser might be in jeopardy, but there’s no indication that is going to happen. It’s an embedded service in the Opera browser, and shutting it down would be a terrible blow for the users.