There was a time when Opera was at the forefront of web browser innovation, and some of the features that it pioneered have become standard in modern web browsers, but these days, there’s little reason to choose it over Chrome or Firefox. If you value your privacy, however, then Opera might be the web browser for you, as it’ll soon be receiving a built-in VPN feature that will allow users access blocked websites and hide their IP addresses while they browse the web. What’s more is that this feature will be entirely free, will allow users to use an unlimited amount of data, and won’t require an account to use. This is an unprecedented move on Opera’s part, and might help reverse its shrinking market share.
Opera has just put a free VPN feature in its browser, and users get unlimited data usage. The VPN function will be available within its desktop browser with a simple flick of a toggle switch — making it one of the first mainstream browser makers to offer this. After users flip the VPN on, they’ll be allowed to change the country that they are displaying to websites, and the browser will show other information like how much data has gone through its VPN servers. Opera doesn’t require a sign-in to toggle the feature. Similar to features found in paid services, Opera’s VPN offers a pretty respectable 256-bit encryption level, and will allow users to hide their IP addresses, and access blocked sites. For now, the function is available only in its developer version of the desktop browser, and not in Opera’s other versions like mobile. Users will also only be able to choose between the U.S., Canada and Germany as spoofed locations. Eventually, Opera is expected to make the feature broadly available in future stable versions of its desktop browser. The VPN functionality is largely thanks to Opera’s Mar. 2015 acquisition of SurfEasy, which until now had offered its VPN client as a freemium Opera extension — offering a free tier of service, and charging if the user consumes more data.
