The free VPN built into Opera is getting a small but useful upgrade. Instead of relying on you to remember to switch it on before joining airport, café, or hotel Wi-Fi, the browser can now detect a public or unsecured network and activate the VPN automatically.
Opera has offered its built-in VPN since 2016. It is free, does not require an account, and has no fixed bandwidth cap. The new automatic protection is still opt-in, so users will have to enable it first in settings. The feature is rolling out to desktop users in the U.S. and France starting today.
The free VPN does not cover your whole device
Opera’s existing free VPN only protects traffic inside the browser. Websites opened in Opera can be routed through an encrypted connection to one of the company’s VPN servers, while apps such as Spotify, Steam, or a standalone email client continue using the regular network. Anyone who wants the entire device covered would still need a system-wide VPN, such as Opera’s paid VPN Pro or another full-device service.
A VPN helps on public Wi-Fi, but it is not a force field
Public Wi-Fi also is not quite the disaster zone it was years ago. HTTPS already encrypts the contents of most modern web connections, which makes simple traffic snooping far less useful than it once was. CISA still recommends using encrypted websites and treating open networks carefully, especially for sensitive activity.
A VPN still cannot protect you from every threat on an open network. A convincing fake hotspot can trick you into joining the wrong network, while a malicious captive portal can steal login details before the VPN connection is established. Attackers on the same network may also target exposed services such as file sharing or device discovery, which sit outside the encrypted VPN tunnel. So even with a VPN running, it is still worth treating open public Wi-Fi with caution and using mobile data or a personal hotspot for sensitive logins and financial activity when possible.
