Mullvad VPN 2026.12 for Android

Mullvad VPN is the Android app for Mullvad, a Swedish VPN service known for asking you for almost nothing about yourself.

The app is free and open source, but the VPN behind it is not - you need a paid Mullvad account, at one flat monthly fee with no free tier and no tiers at all.

If that suits you, this page covers which file to take, how setup works and what the privacy features actually do.

What Mullvad VPN Actually Does - in Plain Terms

A VPN sends your phone's internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a server run by the VPN company. Websites and your mobile network then see the VPN server, not your real address, and public Wi-Fi can no longer read what you send.

The catch with any VPN is that you move your trust from your internet provider to the VPN company. Mullvad's answer is to collect as little as possible: there is no email or name at sign-up, only a randomly generated account number, and the company states it keeps no activity logs.

The apps and servers have been checked by outside security auditors, and the app's code is public on GitHub under the GPL licence. That openness is a large part of why privacy-minded users pick Mullvad over bigger brands.

What It Costs, and What You Get for It

Mullvad charges one flat monthly fee, the same whether you pay for a month or a year, with no discounts for long contracts and no upsells. Check the current price on Mullvad's own site, since it is set in euros and the local figure moves with exchange rates.

One account covers up to five devices, so your phone, laptop and a tablet can share it. You can pay by card, PayPal, bank transfer or cryptocurrency, or even by posting cash in an envelope, which is about as anonymous as payment gets.

There is a 14-day money-back guarantee if the service does not suit you, except on cash payments. There is no free trial and no free plan, and that is deliberate rather than an oversight.

Which File to Download

The download page carries three releases. Mullvad numbers its versions by year and release count, so 2026.12 means the twelfth release of 2026, not December.

All three need Android 9.0 or newer. If your phone is older than that, the app will not install, and there is no older build here to fall back on.

Installing the APK and Logging In

Allow installs from your browser or file manager, open the APK and tap Install. Our guide to installing an APK safely on Android covers that step and what to switch back off afterwards.

Want to check the file before you install it? Our APK Checker reads the package name, signature and permissions straight out of the file.

If your phone has no Google services, drop the file into our Play Store dependency check first. Mullvad also publishes a build on F-Droid, the open-source app store, for phones without Google Play.

On first launch, either paste in an existing account number or tap to create a new one, then add time to it on Mullvad's website. Write the account number down somewhere safe - it is the only key to your account, and there is no email to reset it with.

The Privacy Features Worth Knowing

• WireGuard. The modern tunnel protocol Mullvad uses, which connects fast and is light on battery.
• DAITA. Short for Defense Against AI-guided Traffic Analysis, it pads and reshapes your traffic so its size and timing give less away about what you are doing.
• Multihop. Routes your traffic through two servers in different places, so no single server sees both who you are and where you are going.
• Quantum-resistant tunnels. An optional extra layer of encryption meant to stay safe even against future quantum computers.
• Split tunneling. Lets chosen apps skip the VPN, handy for banking apps that block VPN connections.
• Kill switch. Stops all traffic if the tunnel drops, so nothing leaks out unprotected for a moment.

Since 2026.10, the app switches multihop on by itself when a setting such as DAITA needs it, and shows servers on a globe you can spin and zoom. Mullvad warned that 2026.10 could fail on the first connection attempt with DAITA or quantum-resistant tunnels on, so if that happens, simply connect again.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

If you want a VPN for free, Mullvad is the wrong pick. Proton VPN for Android offers a free tier with no data cap, limited to one device and medium-speed servers.

If your main goal is watching another country's streaming catalogue, a privacy-first service is not built around that. Mullvad does not market itself for unblocking streaming services, so treat any success there as luck.

And if you only need privacy in one browser on a computer, a whole VPN may be more than you need. Our Security Tools section and the browser picks below are the lighter route.

On Your Computer Too

Mullvad has desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux that use the same account. We host the Windows version of Proton VPN, which is the free-tier alternative on a PC.

Mullvad also co-built a browser with the Tor Project, designed to make every user look alike to trackers:

• Mullvad Browser is the private browser meant to pair with a VPN, without the Tor network.
• Tor Browser routes traffic through the Tor network instead, slower but with no account needed.
• LibreWolf is a privacy-hardened Firefox with tracking protection on from the start.
• Brave blocks ads and trackers by default, for people who want privacy without settings.

Curious what actually leaves your PC? Wireshark shows the traffic on your network, which is a hands-on way to see a VPN tunnel at work.

Quick questions

More apps for your phone are in the Android APK section.

Download Mullvad VPN 2026.12 for Android and see how it suits you, or tell us how you got on if you have used it before.