Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro come bundled with a free VPN by Google One.
- Google has announced that the VPN will be free as long as the phone continues to receive security updates.
- The Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro will get five years of security updates.
One of the selling points of Google’s new phones is that the company will bundle a VPN by Google One with the Pixel 7 series. And it looks like that VPN will stay free for quite some time.
If you don’t remember, Google One is Google’s cloud storage platform. It’s a subscription service that offers 15GB for free, 100GB for $1.99 a month, 200GB for $2.99 a month, and 2TB for $9.99 a month. If you subscribed to the premium 2TB plan or higher, a VPN would be added as a free perk.
During Google’s Pixel launch event earlier this month, the tech giant announced that it would be bundling that VPN with purchases of the Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro at no additional cost. This also means that you would get the VPN by Google One without the need to subscribe to a storage plan.
Although that’s a nice benefit to have, there was no mention of how long that perk would remain free. Now we know how long it will last thanks to a post on Google’s Security Blog.
Near the middle of the page, the company dives into how its VPN can keep Pixel 7 series owners safe. A couple of paragraphs down, Google states, “VPN by Google One will be available at no extra cost as long as your phone continues to receive security updates.”
The Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro will be getting three years of major OS updates and five years of security updates. That means owners of the Pixel 7 series can expect to have a free VPN for up to five years. Given that most people upgrade their phones before five years, this offer may last longer than you keep the phone.
We ran a poll recently about if you would trust Google to be your VPN provider. After over 5,000 votes, 43% of readers told us no, they wouldn’t trust Google. You can see the full breakdown here.
