13 min read
Urban VPN is a free VPN from the American company Urban Cyber Security, linked to the Israeli BI Science, with extensions for Chrome and Edge, a Windows program and apps for Android, iPhone and Mac. As of October 26, 2026, the Urban VPN Proxy extension has 7 million users in Chrome, and the Android app has more than 10 million downloads. The free mode is tied to data collection: the privacy policy openly calls the parent company a data broker, and in December 2025 researchers at Koi Security showed that the extension was collecting conversations with ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.
Below, based on primary sources: who is behind the service, where to download the official version, why it won't connect and what to replace it with.
Urban VPN is published by Urban Cyber Security Inc., a company registered in the state of Delaware (number 10158667). On Google Play, the developer's address is given as the Israeli B.I SCIENCE (2009) LTD of Tel Aviv, and the support phone number in all stores is Israeli. The urban-vpn.com domain was registered on July 5, 2018, and the first iPhone version came out on June 11, 2020.
The link to BI Science matters for everything else. Urban's privacy policy of September 4, 2026, states: "our parent company is a data broker", and user data may be sold or shared with its clients. In a report dated December 15, 2025, Koi Security calls BiScience (B.I Science (2009) Ltd.) a company affiliated with Urban.
| Parameter | What primary sources say as of October 26, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Company | Urban Cyber Security Inc. (Delaware, USA); on Google Play — B.I SCIENCE (2009) LTD (Israel) |
| Chrome extension | Urban VPN Proxy, 7 million users, 4.7 from 68.6 thousand ratings, version 5.14.4 of September 1, 2026 |
| Edge extension | 1.33 million installs, 4.4 from 1,054 ratings, same version |
| Android | Urban Free VPN Proxy Unblocker, 10M+ downloads, updated October 7, 2026 |
| iPhone | Urban VPN, version 4.5.3 of October 19, 2026, iOS 16+; not in the Russian App Store |
| Windows | free program and Premium, according to the website — Windows 7–11 |
| Protocol | OpenVPN (website FAQ); the Android app adds LinkX "based on WireGuard" |
| Servers | 632 servers, 82–84 countries (the company's own data) |
If you need a VPN with a single publisher, a clearly named protocol and no logs kept, we recommend BessyConnect: it runs on VLESS with Reality camouflage and doesn't require registration. Details below.
There is a free version, but the terms depend on the platform. According to the "Why free?" page on Urban's website, the extensions and the desktop program have no traffic limit, Android gets 100 MB a day for free, and on iPhone the app works only with a Premium subscription. The Mac version, judging by the privacy policy, is also paid only.
Premium gives dedicated servers and up to 8 devices at once. The annual plan, according to the Premium page, costs "less than $3.10 a month". A 3-day trial is offered only with the annual plan on Android and iOS; there is no trial on Windows or through the website. There are no refunds either, as the FAQ states plainly.
Why "free and unlimited" almost always means a different form of payment for a VPN is covered in our comparison of free and paid VPNs.
The official extension is called Urban VPN Proxy; its publisher in the Chrome Web Store is Urban Cyber Security INC. There is a page in Microsoft Edge Add-ons. In the Firefox Add-ons catalog, a search for "urban vpn" on October 26, 2026, showed only Urban Shield from the same publisher, and no Urban extensions were found in Opera Add-ons at all.
There is no separate version for Yandex Browser, and none is needed. According to Yandex's help center, the browser allows installing extensions from the Chrome Web Store and Opera Add-ons, and disables those installed from other sources. So «Урбан ВПН для Яндекс Браузера» (Urban VPN for Yandex Browser) is installed from the Chrome Web Store page. The browser will disable copies of the extension from third-party sites and CRX archives, and rightly so.
Two things to know before installing:
In Yandex Browser you can restrict the list of sites on which the extension reads data. Extensions there are managed on the browser://tune page.
The official sources are: the urban-vpn.com website (the Windows program), the Chrome Web Store and Edge Add-ons (extensions), and Google Play and the App Store (phones). Everything else, including searches like "urban vpn mod apk" and «скачать на пк apkpure» (download for pc apkpure), leads to files nobody has checked.
By platform as of October 26, 2026:
Modified APKs with "unlocked Premium" are a separate risk: they could contain anything, and the developer's signature has been replaced. How to tell a genuine app from a copy is covered in the article on fake VPN apps.
The short answer: as a VPN the service works, but the free mode, according to the company's own documents, is tied to collecting browsing data and using it commercially. We wouldn't choose it for messaging, banking or work accounts.
AI conversations. On December 15, 2025, Koi Security published an analysis of the Urban VPN Proxy extension. According to the researchers, starting with version 5.5.0 of July 9, 2025, the extension intercepted conversations with ten AI services, including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Collection was on by default, couldn't be turned off in the settings, and worked even with the VPN switched off. Koi found the same code in seven more extensions from the publisher in Chrome and Edge (1ClickVPN Proxy, Urban Browser Guard, Urban Ad Blocker), with more than 8 million users in total.
What the company itself says now. The extension hasn't been removed from the stores: on October 26, 2026, version 5.14.4 of September 1, 2026, is available in the Chrome Web Store. The current privacy policy of September 4, 2026, contains a section on "AI inputs and outputs": prompts and responses from ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude and Perplexity. The company explains the collection as protection against personal data leaks, but also uses anonymized and aggregated data "for market analytics", including for business clients. You can opt out of the collection in the settings. We didn't analyze the code of the current version.
Data sales. The same policy says the company may sell or share "raw" personal data with its parent company and affiliates, and that it sells "marketing insights and behavioral segments". Meanwhile, the "Data safety" section on Google Play states "No data shared with third parties" and "Data can't be deleted". The developer fills in that section itself.
A proxy network made of users. Older versions of Urban's documents described free users as part of a network:
| Document | Version date | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Terms of use | 19.04.2021 | Opting out of the "p2p network" is a feature of the paid version |
| Privacy policy | 25.04.2022 and 16.03.2023 | The desktop program is a "community product"; your "residential IP" is provided to other users |
| Terms of use | snapshot of 01.06.2023 | The IP of free Android and PC users is shared "for residential proxy services to third parties"; device resources are used and may slow it down |
| Terms and policy | 11.09.2024 and 04.09.2026 | No such wording |
Why this matters: through a residential proxy, other people's traffic goes out to the internet from your home IP. Whether free users' IPs are used this way now can't be seen from the current documents. The website FAQ still says that Urban routes traffic "through its proxy network and VPN".
How to remove Urban VPN. If you had the extension installed after July 9, 2025, and used AI chats, removing it won't bring back what has already been collected, but it will stop further collection.
Most often, Urban VPN won't connect because of the protocol, the free plan's limit, or because only the extension is on, not the program. Check in order:
If the connection still won't hold, choose a service on a protocol that disguises traffic as ordinary HTTPS. A selection of such services is in our review of popular VPNs in Russia.
The replacement depends on the task. For access to all your phone's apps under blocking, a VPN on a camouflaging protocol is the right fit. If you need a free VPN on a PC, choose a service whose privacy policy doesn't allow selling data, and check that in the policy itself, not in the store description.
| BessyConnect | Urban VPN | Proton VPN | Planet VPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol | VLESS + Reality (looks like HTTPS) | OpenVPN, LinkX based on WireGuard | WireGuard, OpenVPN, Stealth | OpenVPN, StarGuard, IKEv2 |
| Logs and data | no logs kept | policy allows selling data to the parent company | company in Switzerland | no logs claimed |
| Free mode | trial period | PC and extensions with no limit, Android 100 MB a day | no traffic limit and no ads | 6 servers in 5 countries |
| Registration | optional | not required for free mode | account required | not required |
| Windows | no | yes | yes | yes |
| Browser extension | no | Chrome, Edge | yes | yes |
| In the Russian App Store | no | no | no | no |
Where Urban VPN is stronger: it has a free Windows program and extensions for Chrome and Edge, while BessyConnect has neither. If the task is specifically in the browser on a computer, BessyConnect won't solve it.
We recommend BessyConnect to those for whom Urban VPN doesn't fit because of data, or whose Urban VPN has stopped connecting on their phone or TV. BessyConnect runs on VLESS with Reality camouflage: the traffic looks like an ordinary HTTPS connection, so the service works under blocking where OpenVPN and WireGuard no longer get through. There are more than 100 servers, no logs are kept, registration is optional, and there is a trial period.
Apps:
Honest limits. BessyConnect has no Windows app and no browser extension. It isn't in the Russian App Store either; on an iPhone you need an Apple ID from another country. Neither BessyConnect nor any other VPN will delete data an extension has already sent, or protect you from what another installed extension does inside the browser. If your account in a service is itself blocked, a VPN won't help either.
If you need a VPN for your phone, tablet, Mac or TV that doesn't sell data and uses a protocol that withstands blocking, install BessyConnect from the download page and test it during the trial period.
Is Urban VPN free? Yes, but in different ways: the extensions and the Windows program are free with no traffic limit, Android gets 100 MB a day for free, and iPhone and Mac are Premium only. For the free mode, the company gets browsing data; this is described directly in its privacy policy.
Can I install Urban VPN in Yandex Browser? Yes, from the Chrome Web Store: Yandex Browser allows extensions from there and from Opera Add-ons. The extension will change the address only for the browser, not for the whole computer.
Is it true that Urban VPN collected ChatGPT conversations? On December 15, 2025, Koi Security reported that the Urban VPN Proxy extension, starting with version 5.5.0 of July 9, 2025, intercepted conversations with ten AI services. The company's current policy of September 4, 2026, describes collecting AI prompts and responses and using them in anonymized form for analytics.
Why won't Urban VPN connect? Most often because of blocking of the OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols it runs on, or because the daily 100 MB limit on Android has run out. If only the extension is installed, other programs go online without the VPN.
What can I replace Urban VPN with? For a phone, Mac and TV, we recommend BessyConnect: VLESS with Reality, no logs kept, no registration required. BessyConnect isn't suitable for Windows and the browser; there, look at services that don't sell data, such as Proton VPN.
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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