WhatsApp is one of the most popular instant messaging apps. Users from all over the world use it to exchange messages and perform voice/video calls. But, is a WhatsApp VPN necessary?
Unfortunately, WhatsApp is blocked in some countries, depriving people of this highly convenient and free app. So yeah, you’ll need a VPN for WhatsApp to communicate with your loved ones if it is blocked in your region.
So to help you guys out, I’ve come up with a list of a few inexpensive and highly capable VPNs to unblock WhatsApp anywhere in the world.
But first a brief overview…
- PureVPN – A super affordable VPN with over 2000 servers and powerful unblocking features.
- Surfshark – An ultra-low-cost VPN with over 800 servers to help you unblock WhatsApp & other VoIP apps.
- NordVPN – A VPN with a massive server park consisting of over 5600 powerful servers.
- ExpressVPN – A blazing fast VPN capable of delivering high-quality WhatsApp calls and videos.
- CyberGhost – An affordable VPN with powerful features & over 5600 servers worldwide.
Best VPN for WhatsApp
After extensive research, I have shortlisted some great VPNs for WhatsApp. These optimized VPN WhatsApp services provide a seamless calling experience along with timely message delivery from any corner of the world.
So without further ado, here’s a list of the 5 best VPNs for WhatsApp in 2020..
1. PureVPN – Top VPN for WhatsApp
PureVPN is one of the most reliable VPN in the industry today. The provider is based in Hong Kong, which not only doesn’t have any mandatory data retention laws, but it is also free from the surveillance of five eyes.
As far as features are concerned, PureVPN offers 2000+ servers all over the world. Not only that, features like Kill switch, powerful encryption, tens of thousands of IP addresses is also offered by PureVPN.
Speaking of which, these IP addresses can help you unblock WhatsApp from anywhere in the world. Best of all, PureVPN is the best VPN for cheap costing only $2.91/mo and comes with a full 31-day moneyback guarantee.
Learn more about this provider by reading our full review of PureVPN.
2. Surfshark – Fastest for WhatsApp
If you don’t have the budget for PureVPN, you’re going to love Surfshark. Not only does it offer top-notch features, but only costs $1.99/mo , which is just insanely cheap.
Speaking features, Surfshark offers access to over 1000 serves worldwide, powerful encryption, benchmark protocols, and much, much more.
Surfshark is also super secure. Since the company is located in the British Virgin Islands, you don’t have to worry about data logging.
Similar to PureVPN, Surfshark also comes with a full 30-day money-back guarantee.
It is the fastest VPN provider of 2020. For more details about this provider, make sure you read the full review of Surfshark.
3. NordVPN – VPN with Great Coverage
If we talk about the most reliable VPNs, this list wouldn’t be complete without NordVPN. With over 5600 servers, NordVPN stands as a towering giant over other VPNs in the market.
Aside from the impressive server count, a lot of NordVPN servers actually supports obfuscation technology. Not only can easily WhatsApp with NordVPN, but other blocked VoIP services like Skype and Viber as well.
But despite the extensive features list, NordVPN only costs $3.49/mo .
Learn more about this provider by reading our full review of NordVPN.
4. ExpressVPN – Powerful WhatsApp VPN
ExpressVPN is one of the fastest VPN in the industry right now. Just like its name, ExpressVPN delivers superfast speeds without compromising on privacy.
The provider offers 3000+ servers all over the world, which is perfect for unblocking pretty much anything. Other than servers, ExpressVPN comes with features like split tunneling, zero-knowledge DNS, and many others.
Due to its servers, speed and strong unblocking potential, it qualifies as one of the best VPN for streaming movies from anywhere without restrictions.
Best of all, similar to Surfshark, ExpressVPN is operated from the British Virgin Islands, which has no mandatory data retention laws.
That said, ExpressVPN is a bit expensive, and costs around $8.32/mo on monthly basis. luckily, ExpressVPN comes with a full 30-day money-back guarantee.
Learn more about this provider by reading our full review of ExpressVPN.
5. CyberGhost – Secure & Compact VPN
Last but not least, we have CyberGhost. This a Romanian VPN company with a pretty spotless track record.
This provider offers over 5600 servers all over the world, which is perfect for unblocking WhatsApp and even streaming services if you’re into that.
Similar to other providers on this list, CyberGhost offers industry benchmark protocols, military-grade encryption, 45-day refund, and other awesome features.
Learn more about this provider by reading our full expert review of CyberGhost.
Why Use a VPN for WhatsApp?
WhatsApp has become a core need for everyone these days. No one can find any better communication means other than Whats App service.
Since it is a free service, people use it as their basic communication app also at the public places. However, one must use a VPN for Wifi whether it is a shopping plaza, hotel, restaurant, coffee shop or any public Wifi.
In addition, due to its free services, Some countries have banned WhatsApp and surprisingly the United Kingdom is debating over a ban too.
The UK’s Snoopers Charter requires companies to make their app less secure, requiring them to hand over the decryption keys to authorities. This makes WhatsApp unsafe for Britons as the company won’t need warrants to hand over user meta-data to authorities.
On the other hand, if you swear in a text message in Dubai, you will end up with paying a penalty of $70 or possible deportation if you are a migrant or traveling to the region.
The UAE Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) has started to look forward to banning WhatsApp VoIP calls even before its release. The authorities ordered the two largest telecom providers “DU” and “Etisalat” to block WhatsApp’s voice calling feature. The ban left users with no other option but to use over-priced package plans offered by local telecom providers.
Thanks to VPN WhatsApp, as you can now overcome the restrictions since an optimized WhatsApp VPN empowers you to make calls anonymously from anywhere where the service is banned.
Expats from various countries living in UAE can freely use WhatsApp over VPN and make international calls for free without worrying about incurring wallet breaking charges and receiving penalties.
Whatsapp down (or blocked?!) on @VodafoneUK? Suddenly couldn't connect for hours until I turned my VPN on, then connects instantly. Weird.
— Nate Lanxon (@NateLanxon) June 13, 2016
The best VPN WhatsApp services for WhatsApp listed above provide state-of-the-art VoIP servers which offer uninterrupted and seamless voice calls to & from UK, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, India, China and other parts of the world.
Does WhatsApp Work in China?
China has blocked WhatsApp completely. The country has very strict restrictions on online content. These restrictions are famously known as the Great Firewall of China. Since a long time, The government of China has been recognized for imposing strict censorship on search engines, social media sites, and apps.
They have developed alternatives of the worldwide popular apps like google, YouTube, and WhatsApp which are only available internally for the people of China.
Where is WhatsApp Blocked?
WhatsApp prides itself on being the world’s top instant messaging app. With the release of the one-touch video calling option, the mainstream free messaging service instantly connects you with friends no matter where they are.
WhatsApp is primarily popular among mobile-savvy millennials’ due to voice & video call support, end-to-end encryption and much more.
With over 1 billion global subscribers and 800 million active monthly users, WhatsApp remains the first choice for online messaging & communication, since it’s free.
But sadly, a growing number of countries have begun blocking WhatsApp as it assaults the interest of local telecom providers.
Now, if you live in a region where WhatsApp is banned, then let us guide you on how to unblock WhatsApp with VPN and make unlimited calls.
List of Countries where WhatsApp is Blocked
China is not the only country where it is illegal to use WhatsApp. In fact, the list of countries that block WhatsApp has grown over the years. Mostly, certain Asian and African nations have censored WhatsApp.
In some countries like UAE, WhatsApp can be used for messaging, but voice or video calls features are blocked.
In other countries like China, the entire app is banned and users might not even be able to download the app on their Android or iOS devices. Thus, you will have to use a VPN to download WhatsApp in these countries.
Specifically, the app is blocked in the following countries:
WhatsApp Blocked in China
Indonesia Restricts WhatsApp Following Riots
In an attempt to maintain law and order in the country, Indonesia has resorted to restricting the world’s most popular social media and calling app WhatsApp.
Since yesterday reports have surfaced of Indonesian residents having difficulties sending and receiving multimedia messages on WhatsApp.
According to various sources, the recent restrictions on WhatsApp come as Indonesia’s desperate attempt to dowse down political tensions following the alleged unfair results of the 2019 presidential election.
Soon after the defeated candidate, Prabowo Subianto announced a statement of challenging the unfair results in the constitutional court, riots erupted in the country’s capital Jakarta, which took the life of at least six people and left around 200 people injured.
Amidst the chaos, false propaganda about the nature of the riots started to flood social media, which only added fuel to the fire. [Source]
In an official press conference, Wiranto, Indonesia’s minister for legal, political, and security affairs stated that the government is restricting access to various social media apps and even disabling certain features in order to restore peace in the country. [Source]
The communications minister of Indonesia Rudiantara also addressed the issue and stated that users will experience lag while sharing videos and photos through WhatsApp.
Despite the recent social media frenzy, TechCrunch has confirmed that Indonesian residents are able to bypass the recently imposed restrictions with the help of VPNs. [Source]
Although law and order situation is under control as of now, there’s no telling when the restrictions on WhatsApp will be lifted.
As an early precaution, it’s always better to equip all of your devices with one of the best rated VPN in the market.
How to Unblock WhatsApp in any Country
Unblocking WhatsApp in any country is a fairly simple matter. All you need is to subscribe to one of the VPN services listed above. Follow the steps below for clarity:
- Download a VPN from PlayStore (for Android) or App Store (for iPhone)
- Launch the VPN service on your phone and choose a location where WhatsApp is unblocked (preferably, any European location)
- Now open your WhatsApp service and gain access to all features within the app
If you are also interested in using Skype in blocked countries, you can read our page on the best VPN for Skype.
WhatsApp Not Working With VPN
In some cases, you might experience problems getting access to WhatsApp in a blocked country through a VPN service. This could happen for a number of reasons. Below we discuss the most common reasons why WhatsApp may not be working for you with a VPN.
- ISP blocking VPN servers: Your ISP might have blocked certain IP addresses associated with some VPN servers. This can prevent you from accessing any website or service at all, not only WhatsApp. To solve this problem, you should contact the customer support of your VPN provider. They can help you identify the servers that are open to access, so you can use WhatsApp through these servers.
- Ports blocked by ISP: Some ISPs block online traffic moving through certain ports that your WhatsApp might be using. Again, you can contact your VPN provider’s customer support and ask them to route your WhatsApp traffic through a different port.
- DNS leaking: Finally, a DNS leak can allow your ISP to identify your destination and thus prevent you from accessing WhatsApp. We recommend using one of the VPN services listed above, as these provide strong DNS leak protection. With these VPN services, it is unlikely that you will have difficulty connecting to WhatsApp.
WhatsApp Blocked on Wi-Fi
Have you ever tried to use WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook or other social network apps in college, office or public Wi-Fi networks?
If yes, then chances are you may not have been able to access them at all. There are various security measures that public WI-FI hotspots implement to restrict WhatsApp access.
Usually the administrators grant the access rights and a they have banned majority of social networking sites, on-demand entertainment services, and blogs.
In case you have WhatsApp blocked on public networks like colleges and restaurants then the safest solution available for you is to use Whatsapp VPN.
A VPN over WhatsApp will not only unblock WhatsApp for you, but it will allow you to access instantly almost any geo-blocked social service including Twitter, Youtube, Snapchat, , Facebook Messenger and moreover any Wi-Fi network.
We are well informed that the Govt might block Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp. We advise you to bypass the shut down via VPN #SitukaMay5
— FDC (@FDCOfficial1) May 4, 2016
Here’s how to access WhatsApp on public Wi-Fi through simple steps:
- Choose a VPN provider (best WhatsApp VPN services listed above)
- Signup to chosen service on provider’s website, Select a desired VPN package plan
- Next, download the VPN software on your device
- Upon successful download, open the VPN app, enter your login credentials and connect to a foreign VPN server. For e.g. USA, UK, Germany, Netherlands, etc.
- Once connected you will be able to immediately access WhatsApp and other social networks without further restrictions on public Wi-Fi networks
Best Free VPN For WhatsApp Calling
You can evaluate A VPN by its performance, speed, servers, protocols and unblocking ability. Moreover, despite tons of premium WhatsApp VPN providers, there’s some free VPN for WhatsApp available that gives you decent uploading/downloading speed, adequate tunneling protocols, and some server locations.
You can try one of the following free VPN for WhatsApp. But you should know that you cannot compare a free VPN to a premium VPN regarding performance, speed, reliability, anonymity, and security.
Here’s the list of best free VPN for China to unlock WhatsApp which you can use to test the blocked features of WhatsApp in your region:
Final Words
While users from various countries have been using WhatsApp without restrictions, foreign residents and expats in the Middle East (UAE, Kuwait, Qatar & Saudi Arabia) and a handful of other regions can use VPN WhatsApp to enjoy hours of unlimited free calls and access thousands of blocked websites.
To conclude it, WhatsApp VPN providers listed above with exclusive editorial reviews in our guide are the best. They offer stable speed, reliable security, 24/7/365 customer support and wallet-friendly plans for a top-notch online experience.
Thus, you should use one of the specified VPN for WhatsApp calling on your Android and iOS devices from college, office and other public networks.
Thank you, good tips on how to unblock whatsApp in Turkey! I agree that vpn is the most reliable way to unblock sites. Safe and private.