Google has recently upgraded its virtual private network (VPN) feature for Project Fi customers, allowing users the option to use a VPN for everything they do on Project Fi—wifi and cellular connections alike.
Google’s Android-only phone carrier piggybacks off Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Three’s cellular networks, and can also automatically connect to more than two million wifi hotspots around the U.S.
When you’re on the latter, Google enables a free, always-on VPN to encrypt your online activity, hiding it from the rest of the network. An update to the Project Fi app, which began rolling out this week, includes a beta of a new “enhanced network” feature. Enable it, and all of your cellular activity will route through Google’s VPN as well—and Google won’t be tracking what you do (so it claims):
“When you enable our enhanced network, all of your mobile and Wi-Fi traffic will be encrypted and securely sent through our virtual private network (VPN) on every network you connect to, so you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing that others can’t see your online activity. That includes Google—our VPN is designed so that your traffic isn’t tied to your Google account or phone number (just like mobile traffic that isn’t sent through the VPN).”
According to Google, the enhanced network feature should also reduce connection downtime when your device switches between cellular data and a wifi hotspot. To reduce interruptions, the Project Fi app switches your mobile data on once your wifi signal strength drops below a certain threshold.
You’ll have to turn Google’s enhanced network feature on if you want to use it—it isn’t enabled by default, and for good reason. Google warns that turning on the feature may bump your data usage by 10 percent and cause slowdowns, in some instances, since all of your data gets routed through Google’s VPN.
If you don’t mind these trade-offs, enabling the enhanced network is simple:
Make sure you’re running the latest version of the Project Fi companion app from Google Play
Pull up the app
Locate and tap the “Fi Network Tools” option
Enable “Enhance network” by tapping the slider
Only devices running Android 9 Pie—Pixel smartphones, right now—support the new feature.