Opera has just made its free built-in VPN feature smarter. Starting today, users in the US and France can opt in to have the VPN turn on automatically whenever they connect to public or unsecured Wi-Fi networks. It’s designed to remove the hassle of remembering to activate privacy protection manually. This feature is rolling out now in those two countries, and it’s fully optional—users choose to enable it via settings.
Why the change matters
Opera introduced this built-in VPN back in 2016, motivated by a belief that basic online privacy should be easy for everyone. Over time, VPN usage has grown more mainstream, but recent data shows only about 23% of internet users aged 16 and up have ever used a VPN in some capacity. That leaves many people vulnerable—especially when they use Wi-Fi networks that lack strong security.
Public Wi-Fi can expose users to risks like snooping or data interception. With the new option, Opera detects such networks and automatically activates its VPN to protect browsing, email, online banking or anything else. Key privacy protections like an ad blocker and tracker blocker are already part of Opera’s built-in suite, and the VPN is treated with similar priority.
Privacy, regulation, and safety
Opera emphasizes that its free VPN is GDPR-compliant and has passed independent audits by Deloitte, underscoring its commitment to trustworthy privacy practices. It also makes clear that user control remains central: the auto-activate function is opt-in and can be disabled at any time in settings.
Beyond this update, Opera’s broader privacy toolkit—tracker and ad blocking among the features—ongoes as before, part of Opera’s strategy to bake privacy into the browser without expensive add-ons or subscriptions.
For Opera users in the US and France, this shift turns online privacy from a conscious step into something that works silently behind the scenes. Over time, it could reshape expectations for how browsers guard users in risky network environments. Expect that auto-VPN functionality may expand in the future—and that users elsewhere will watch closely to see if this becomes standard across Opera’s global installs.
