Whether for security reasons or more practical ones like evading geo-restrictions, a VPN has become an invaluable tool for many modern internet users.
We all know how a VPN works and its benefits and uses, so we won’t be focusing on that here. Tests of the effects a VPN has on network speeds are also nothing new.
What we set to find out is whether running a VPN connection on your smartphone constantly has a notable effect on battery life and how much exactly. It turned out the question is not that simple.
Our test setup
We used NordVPN for this test, which is one of the most popular service providers in the space. Setting it up was dead simple – all it takes are a few clicks in their mobile app.
We picked four phones in different price segments with different grade chipsets. The list includes Motorola Edge 50 Pro, a Realme GT 6, a Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G and a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
We tested the battery life with the VPN on and off in two distinct use cases.
First was the standby test, where we evaluated if there was an increased battery draw when you are not using your phone but still have the VPN connection running in the background.
Second was the active web browsing test with pages loading, page scrolling and frequent screen touching. The screens were set to 200nits, so this one represents casual indoor daytime web browsing and social media scrolling.
Standby test
Let’s look at the standby test results first – the numbers below represent how many hours the phone will keep going until the battery runs out entirely.
It appears having the VPN connection always on hardly makes any difference to the phone’s battery life. If there was any difference, it was so small and negligible that we couldn’t catch it.
Web browsing test
Active web browsing turned out to be a different thing, though. Again, the numbers you see below are the hours the phone’s battery charge would last you before it calls it a day.
And using a VPN connection in the background does have a measurable negative impact on battery life here. And yes, we ran each test a couple of times to verify the results.
As for how much impact it is, there was a twist in the results. We were surprised to see that the impact will vary greatly depending on the device being used.
The Motorola Edge 50 Pro showed as little as 1.13% decrease in runtime. The Realme GT 6 also lost a rather modest 3.75% of its total runtime.
At the other end of the spectrum was the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which had a 10.57% shorter battery life. And the Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G ended up with a whopping 17.56% shorter run with the VPN on.
Remember, this test represents using the entire battery charge for web browsing. Since you probably won’t be using your phone for 8-14 hours straight, the overall effect of having the connection always on might not be so big. As we have seen, the VPN connection barely takes any toll on battery life when your phone is idle and not in active use.
Conclusion
There are several considerable benefits of having a subscription to a service like Nord VPN’s:
- The information you transmit and receive online is secure and anonymous and can’t be intercepted.
- Your ISP has a harder time seeing how much of your data cap has been used or enforcing speed throttling.
- You keep your web browsing history to yourself.
- You get access to geo-blocked online services.
So with these benefits in mind, it makes sense to have a VPN connection always on, especially if you will be traveling and you might be relying on open Wi-Fi networks, which might be compromised. This way, you don’t have to remember to turn it on whenever you use such an unsafe network.
And yes, the VPN connection will have an effect on your phone’s battery life. How much exactly will depend on the specific device you are using, but it may shorten your battery life anywhere between 1% and 17%. But that’s with the worst-case scenario where you are using your phone actively without giving it a minute of rest. And even then, the trade-off is worth it.
If you want to give NordVPN a try, check out this VPN deal, which also includes their eSIM solution Saily.
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