Google adds a free VPN service for users of its 2TB plan on Google One, rolling out first to US Android users, with more countries, iOS and web to follow
Back in July, Google's storage subscription service made phone backups free on Android and announced plans for iOS.
Context & Ripple Effects
This launch turns Google One from a storage product into a bundle: the VPN was already slated for international expansion before it even shipped in the US, signaling Google planned the perk as a tier differentiator rather than a regional experiment. It follows July's move to make Android phone backups free, part of the same push to sweeten the subscription beyond raw gigabytes.
The full arc matters here: after this US Android debut, the VPN reached iOS in early 2022 on the 2TB plan and above, then Windows and macOS across 22 countries, and finally opened to every Google One tier starting at $1.99 per month in March 2023.
First-order effects
- US subscribers on the 2TB ($9.99/month) plan immediately get a VPN at no extra cost, raising the effective value of that tier without changing its price and giving existing 2TB users a reason not to downgrade.
Second-order effects
- The perk becomes Google One's main upsell lever: once the VPN proved out on Android, Google pushed it to iOS, desktop, and eventually every plan at $1.99/month, using it to lift lower-tier subscribers rather than just defend the 2TB tier.
Third-order effects
- Despite the multi-year, multi-platform rollout, Google ultimately discontinued the Google One VPN citing lack of use, keeping only the free Pixel VPN that debuted with the Pixel 7 — evidence that bundled consumer VPN demand collapses when detached from hardware, and that security features work better as device differentiators than storage-tier perks.
The trend: Consumer subscription bundles keep absorbing security features like VPNs as churn-fighting perks, but sustained usage — not bundle breadth — decides whether they survive.