People have always said using a VPN kills your phone battery, but a new report from West Coast Labs claims that isn’t the case. Its tests show that NordVPN, one of the most popular VPNs on the market, barely touches your battery in daily use. While this report focused specifically on NordVPN, West Coast Labs notes that most major VPNs with similar technology and protocols are likely to have a comparable effect on battery life.
So why does your phone say otherwise?
West Coast Labs ran the test in an interesting way
It’s all smoke and (black) mirrors
West Coast Labs ran the test on Android and iOS, using six different devices: the Galaxy S24, S25 Ultra, Pixel 9, iPhone 15, iPhone 16, and the newest iPad. By hooking the phones up directly to special hardware, it could measure the actual electricity leaving the battery.
Turns out, NordVPN barely made a dent in battery life on any device, Android or iOS. According to this new report, NordVPN uses only about 1.6-2.1% of battery during a one-hour stream, regardless of the device. But if you’ve ever checked your battery settings with a VPN on, it’ll usually show NordVPN as the top battery eater. West Coast Labs even saw phones blaming it for about 49% of battery use in a session.
The reason for this is how your phone adds up battery use. When you turn on a VPN, all your internet activity goes through the VPN app, so the phone tracks all the energy used for streaming, browsing, or any other online activity as if the VPN itself wereusing the power. In reality, the VPN is acting more like a messenger or tunnel for your data, but your phone doesn’t separate what the VPN is from everything else you’re doing online. That’s why the battery stats make the VPN look much more power-hungry than it actually is.
West Coast Labs also ran a full, scripted day (sleep, commute, work, and home) to test how VPN usage affects phone battery life. After testing a phone with the VPN both on and off, the results showed that after 24 hours of regular use, NordVPN only added about 1.4% battery use on Android and 1.8% on iOS. That’s about the equivalent of needing to charge your phone about half a day earlier over the course of a month.
According to the West Coast Labs report, the “VPNs kill your battery” warning is a myth that mostly comes from misinterpreted statistics. Your phone’s battery screen puts the blame for high usage on your VPN, but it’s measuring the wrong thing. The actual battery consumption is significantly lower than what on-screen indicators suggest.
NordVPN
- Logging policy
- Audited no-logs
- Mobile app
- Android, iOS
- Number Of Servers
- 9,000+
- Price Category
- Premium
NordVPN is a top-tier service known for its high speeds and robust security. It features a verified no-logs policy, Double VPN encryption, and built-in malware protection. With over 9,000 servers, it’s ideal for bypassing geo-blocks on streaming sites while keeping up to ten devices secure simultaneously.
So this means you can stay protected and keep any of your VPNs on all day without worrying about significant battery consumption. You also don’t need to toggle the VPN off or pause the connection to “save power” — and then forget to switch it back on right when you connect to risky public Wi-Fi.