12 min read
TunnelBear is a Canadian VPN with a bear on its icon, owned by McAfee since 2018. For free it gives 2 GB a month; the unlimited plan costs from $3.33 a month; it runs on WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2. In Russia it is a struggle: it has no servers here, in January 2022 the media reported that its servers were being blocked by IP address, and as of October 26, 2026, the app isn't in the Russian App Store. On the Russian Google Play, the listing opens via a direct link, but its rating there is 2.1 out of 5.
If you need a VPN that disguises traffic as ordinary HTTPS and installs on your phone and TV, we recommend BessyConnect. Below is what is known about TunnelBear from primary sources and an honest comparison.
TunnelBear was founded in 2011 in Toronto, and in March 2018 it was bought by McAfee (TechCrunch, March 8, 2018). TunnelBear itself, in a blog post of July 10, 2025, calls itself part of the "McAfee family". The legal entity in the documents is TunnelBear LLC, and on Google Play the developer's address is in San Jose, California.
| Parameter | What primary sources say (October 26, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Company | TunnelBear LLC, Toronto; part of McAfee since 2018 |
| Free plan | 2 GB a month, no country selection or split tunneling |
| Paid plan | Unlimited from $3.33 a month, Teams $5.75 per user a month |
| Protocols | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, GhostBear obfuscation mode |
| Servers | From 5,000 to 9,000 in 46–48 countries (figures differ across the company's sources), Russia not on the list |
| Platforms | Windows 10 and later, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge |
| Devices | Unlimited |
| Russian language | Available in the iPhone app |
| Russian App Store | No |
| Russian Google Play | The listing opens via a link, but doesn't show up in search |
Different products are often confused under similar searches. «Медведь ВПН» (Medved VPN), i.e. BearVPN and the Telegram bot «Медведь VPN», has nothing to do with TunnelBear. A search for "tunnelbear vpn" on the Russian Google Play returns BearLine VPN from BearLine Net LLC, with an address in Wyoming, first — a separate app from another company. And BlockBear, which is still in the Russian App Store, is an ad blocker from the same developers, not a VPN, and it was last updated in February 2018.
The short answer: it works poorly and not for everyone, and nobody gives guarantees. TunnelBear has no servers in Russia, and its own servers abroad have been blocked by IP address since 2022.
The history:
Reviews on the Russian Google Play storefront confirm this. The average rating is 2.1 from 326 thousand reviews, compared with 3.4 on the US storefront. In a review from July 29, 2026, a user writes that the app connects only over Wi-Fi and won't turn on over 4G and LTE. In its reply, the developer called this "abnormal behavior" and suggested contacting support.
GhostBear, TunnelBear's obfuscation mode, is available only in the Windows and Android apps and the old Mac version (v4). It isn't on iPhone or in the new Mac version (v5). Against blocking by IP address, obfuscation is useless, according to Zdolnikov: the server address is visible even without decrypting the traffic.
For free, TunnelBear gives 2 GB of traffic a month without linking a card. That is enough to test the service, but not for video or daily use. Unused traffic doesn't roll over, and the limit resets on the day of the month you created your account.
The limit has changed twice:
For censored countries, TunnelBear has a Bandwidth Program: users there get 10 GB a month instead of 2 GB, without feature cuts. The help center has no full list of countries. Pakistan is described separately: in March 2024, during the elections, the limit for free users there was temporarily raised to 10 GB. Russia isn't named in the help center as part of the program.
Paid plans on the tunnelbear.com website on October 26, 2026:
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 GB a month |
| Unlimited | from $3.33 a month | Unlimited traffic, country and city selection, split tunneling, unlimited devices |
| Teams | $5.75 per user a month | The same plus centralized billing and an admin panel |
| Unlimited in the US App Store | monthly subscription $8.99–11.99, the most expensive options $47.99–59.99 | Ten purchase options in one app |
Paying from Russia is difficult. On its website, TunnelBear accepts bank cards via Stripe; the company no longer accepts PayPal. Russian users can't buy anything through Google Play: Google suspended payments for Russia on March 10, 2022. The app isn't in the Russian App Store, so there are no subscriptions through a Russian Apple ID either. Under the 30-day guarantee, money is refunded only for a first annual subscription bought on the website; under the terms of December 5, 2025, monthly subscriptions and those bought in the stores aren't refundable.
There is only one official source: the download page on tunnelbear.com and the app stores. On any device you need an account with a confirmed email: TunnelBear doesn't work without an email, even on the free plan.
Computer. The website has apps for Windows 10 and later and for Mac; you don't need an Android emulator. For Linux, TunnelBear offers only a manual setup guide with limited support. There are extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge: in the Chrome Web Store the extension has a million users and version 4.5.0 of September 4, 2026. Keep in mind that the extension, according to TunnelBear's own description, encrypts only browser traffic, not the whole computer. Options for computers are collected in our piece on VPNs for PC.
iPhone and iPad. TunnelBear isn't in the Russian App Store. According to Wayback Machine archive copies, on March 17, 2025, its page in the Russian store still opened with a rating of 4.4, and on December 27, 2025, it returned a 404 error. Neither Apple nor TunnelBear has publicly named the reason. The app is available in the App Stores of the US, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Georgia; version 4.16.1 came out on September 17, 2026. To install it, you need your own Apple ID from another country. What to do about a VPN that has disappeared from the store is described in the article VPN disappeared from the App Store.
Android. On the Russian Google Play, the TunnelBear VPN listing from TunnelBear, LLC opens via a direct link: more than 10 million installs, updated October 23, 2026. But a search for "tunnelbear" on the Russian storefront doesn't show it. Don't install APK files with "premium access" from third-party sites: under the same name you may get someone else's build.
TV and router. According to TunnelBear's help center, Apple TV, Android TV, game consoles and routers aren't supported.
If TunnelBear won't connect in Russia, the IP addresses of its servers are most likely blocked, and that can't be fixed on the user's side. TunnelBear's help center for restricted countries suggests several steps; go through them in order.
If nothing helped, the problem is most likely the protocol and the server addresses. How WireGuard and OpenVPN differ from VLESS and why the former are easier to spot is covered in our comparison of VLESS, OpenVPN and WireGuard. A general checklist is in the article why a VPN isn't working.
On paper, TunnelBear is one of the most transparent VPNs: for the eighth year in a row it has published the results of an external audit. In 2024, Cure53 spent 44 working days and found 10 medium- and high-severity vulnerabilities and 3 low-severity ones, all of which, according to TunnelBear, have been fixed (blog, November 24, 2025). The 2025 audit has already been conducted, but its results haven't been published yet.
What the privacy policy (version of May 11, 2026) says:
In the App Store, the developer states that the email and device identifier are linked to your identity and are used, among other things, for marketing and analytics. On Google Play, that data isn't shared with third parties.
Jurisdiction is a separate question. Canada is part of the "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance, and TunnelBear itself, in a post of July 10, 2025, acknowledges that this raised questions after the McAfee acquisition. The company's position: since no logs are kept, there is nothing to hand over on request.
If TunnelBear connects for you and you are happy with it, there is no reason to switch. You need a replacement when it doesn't work over mobile internet, when you can't pay for it, or when you need a VPN for your TV. The table includes only what is confirmed by websites and stores as of October 26, 2026.
| BessyConnect | TunnelBear | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol | VLESS with Reality camouflage | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, GhostBear | Has Stealth, including on the free plan |
| Free access | Trial period | 2 GB a month | Free plan with no traffic limit, 1 device |
| Registration | Optional | Mandatory, email required | Account required |
| Russian Google Play | Yes | Only via direct link | Yes, in search |
| Russian App Store | No | No | No |
| Windows | No | Yes | Yes |
| TV | Android TV, Apple TV | Not supported | Android TV, Apple TV |
| Logs | Not kept | Not kept, annual Cure53 audit | No-logs policy |
Where TunnelBear is stronger, to put it plainly. It has Windows apps, extensions for three browsers, a free allowance without linking a card and eight years of public audits. If you came from one-button apps with loud names, our review of popular VPNs in Russia is useful, and how to tell an original from a clone is explained in the article on fake VPN apps.
We recommend BessyConnect to those whose TunnelBear has stopped connecting over mobile internet. The VLESS protocol with Reality camouflage makes traffic look like an ordinary HTTPS connection; this is a different approach from WireGuard and OpenVPN. There are more than a hundred servers, no logs are kept, registration is optional, and there is a trial period. For TVs there is a separate Android TV app and an Apple TV version, while TunnelBear doesn't support TVs.
BessyConnect apps:
What neither BessyConnect, nor TunnelBear, nor any other VPN solves. BessyConnect has no Windows app; here TunnelBear is more convenient. Neither is in the Russian App Store: on an iPhone, both require an Apple ID from another country. If mobile internet has been restricted to whitelists, a VPN as a rule won't help. And BessyConnect has no free allowance like TunnelBear's: after the trial period it is paid.
If TunnelBear works for you only over Wi-Fi or you can't pay for it, try BessyConnect during the trial period: all versions are on the download page.
Does TunnelBear work in Russia? Unreliably. It has no servers in Russia, its servers have been blocked by IP address since January 2022, and 2026 reviews on Google Play say it connects only over Wi-Fi.
Is TunnelBear free? Partly: you get 2 GB a month for free without linking a card. Since December 2025, you can't choose a country on the free plan; unlimited costs from $3.33 a month.
Who owns TunnelBear? McAfee, since March 2018. The legal entity in the documents is TunnelBear LLC, and under the privacy policy personal data is stored in Canada.
Can I download TunnelBear on a PC? Yes, the tunnelbear.com website has apps for Windows 10 and later and for Mac, plus extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. For Linux there is only a manual setup guide.
What can I replace TunnelBear with if it won't connect? We recommend BessyConnect: the VLESS protocol with Reality camouflage, no logs kept, optional registration and a trial period. BessyConnect has no Windows app, and on an iPhone you need an Apple ID from another country.
An honest BessyConnect review: a VLESS+Reality VPN with 100+ servers in 15 countries, apps for iOS, Android and Android TV, and no browsing logs kept. More
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