“Not free anymore — Most reviews love how it was free now you have to pay for something that was free Scummy”
Independent automated assessment · 3 signal sources · 511 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-04.
4.7 ★85,064 ratings
—Downloads
4+Age rating
135 MBApp size
FreeIn-app purchases
About this app
TunnelBear is a simple VPN app that helps you browse the Internet privately and securely. TunnelBear changes your IP and protects your browsing data from online threats, letting you access your favourite websites and apps worldwide.
Join over 45 million TunnelBear users who worry less about browsing on public WiFi, online tracking or blocked websites. TunnelBear is an incredibly simple app that can help you:
• Change your perceived IP address to help keep your identity private • Reduce the ability of websites, advertisers and ISPs to track your browsing • Encrypt and secure your browsing traffic on public and private Wi-Fi networks • Get around blocked websites and network censorship • Connect to a lightning-fast private network with access to more than 48 countries
Learn more about our features and the benefits of using TunnelBear today: https://www.tunnelbear.com/features…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
Evidence and review signals
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
This analysis describes version 4.16.1 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 4.16.1, updated 2026-09-17.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to fewer than 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
1 theme reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
80–89% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
No package has been scanned for this app, so nothing is published about what it ships. That is an absence of evidence about the app, not a finding about it.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
One source only — shown, not confirmed 1
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
Reported by users: Paywall blocks the basics
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
What we saw: Paywall blocks the basics: raised by 6 distinct reviewers (1.2% of 511 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“Everything is behind a paywall in 2026 — I updated the app and could no longer vpn to other countries for free . It kept charging me . RIP tunnel bear”
“Disappointing update. — I’m normally not one to write reviews on apps (this is actually the first one on my apple account), but TunnelBear used to be great! Very heavy emphasis on USED TO. I just haven’t used it recently and the latest…”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 4.16.1.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Business modelFree
Prices and terms as disclosed by the store listing.