NymVPN is officially entering the VPN market with a big ambition – being the world’s most secure VPN app.
NymVPN’s Alpha version originally broke through in November 2023. Now, it aims to offer a fully decentralized virtual private network (VPN) . Looking to protect against AI-driven surveillance and censorship, the service uses new mixnet technology to protect your metadata alongside the content of your communications.
As of today, March 13, 2025, NymVPN is available for iOS, Android, macOS, Linux, and desktop. TechRadar will join Nym’s in-house security expert, activist, and whistleblower, Chelsea Manning, and Nym CEO Harry Halpin, at an event in London tonight, where NymVPN will be officially unveiled. So, stay tuned for more exclusive information.
An “untraceable VPN” “Nym was created with the core principle that secure, private, and uncensored access to the Internet is as fundamental and essential as access to clean water and electricity,” said Halpin. “NymVPN marks the split between Big Tech’s exploitative control of the internet with a new vision – one where privacy is a right, not a privilege.”
Halpin explains the technology behind NymVPN was built with the support of the original ‘cypherpunks’ and the world’s top cryptographers to defeat even government-level mass surveillance.
Early adopters of the NymVPN alpha and beta versions then helped to shape the service in countries plagued by strict censorship, while others leveraged its security features to prevent attacks on their cryptocurrency transactions.
NymVPN sets itself apart from some other best VPN apps on the market by seeking to be a truly “untraceable VPN” that protects users from metadata surveillance . Metadata refers to all the data attached to your communications that’s not the content, such as device type, activity type, timestamps, and more.
This is crucial, said the provider, as the rise of AI-driven tracking has proven that hostile actors – those being cybercriminals or intelligence agencies – can “generate more value from metadata than analyzing specific user activity.”
Based on the idea of mix networks proposed by the cryptographer David Chaum in the 80s, Chelsea Manning came up with the Mixnet concept independently while in prison for disclosing classified documents to non-profit media organization WikiLeaks. (Image credit: Nym Technology) Nonetheless, NymVPN offers two modes to provide flexibility between protection and performance. These are:
Fast (WireGuard). Better suited for causal browsing, streaming and sharing, this mode uses the AmneziaWG protocol , a highly censorship-resistant version of WireGuard developed by the team behind Amnezia VPN . Here, your internet connection is rerouted through two independent servers for maximum privacy and security.Anonymous (mixnet). What truly sets NymVPN apart from the competition. This mode claims to secure your metadata by using its noise-generating mixnet . This tech employs several network strategies to confuse data surveillance efforts (data fragmentation, dummy data packets, timing delays, and data packet shuffling), while rerouting your connections over five independent servers .Anonymous by design Not only does NymVPN claim to be better at keeping you anonymous when browsing the web or carrying out any other activities on the internet.
The provider also promises to never collect any of your personal information, going further than existing no-log VPN solutions in several ways.
For starters, the decentralized Nym network is built to prevent any single identity from linking the activities with a user. All the servers claim to be operated independently, so it should be impossible for Nym to trace traffic records.
You don’t need to give up your email, name, or other personal details to sign up either. NymVPN has found a way to leverage the blockchain technology (the same tech used by cryptocurrencies, for example) to increase users’ privacy and security.
So-called “zk-nyms” are zero-knowledge proofs that enable users to verify payment and account usage without revealing their identities.
Part of these anonymous proof of payments are then turned into NYM tokens to reward the independent contributors running the nodes worldwide. At the time of writing, you can choose among servers in 51 countries worldwide.
You can choose between a dark and light appearance, directly within the NymVPN app settings (Image credit: Future) All in all, Chelsea Manning said: “Even in democratic nations, people are faced with unrestricted data collection, hyper-narrow algorithmic feeds, and normalized censorship tactics. NymVPN takes an infrastructure-based privacy approach to try and combat this increasingly uncertain and splintered internet.”
You can now download NymVPN across all the major platforms, with pricing starting from a $5.49 monthly fee – even better as you can try it out for 30 days at no cost.
