Proton VPN's end-of-life (EOL) policy
Last updated: 18 June 2026
To maintain the highest security and privacy standards, Proton periodically ends support for app versions, operating systems and features. Outdated software may lack critical security fixes, rely on deprecated technologies, or be incompatible with improvement to our infrastructure.
Requiring you to upgrade enables us to respond faster to new privacy threats, deploy stronger encryption and obfuscation technologies, improve performance, and ensure a consistent and secure experience across all platforms. This allows Proton to focus our resources on actively supported versions, and to protect our community more effectively as the privacy threat landscape evolves.
We understand that upgrades can sometimes be inconvenient. However, this approach allows us to provide a safer, faster, and more reliable VPN service for everyone. We strive to give as much advance notice before ending support and to make upgrades as seamless as possible whenever feasible.
This policy explains how that process works: what lifecycle stages mean, how long each one lasts, how we'll reach you when a change occurs, and what happens if you can't move forward with Proton VPN.
This end-of-life policy (EOL) covers all personal Proton VPN plans: Proton Free, VPN Plus, Proton Unlimited, Proton Visionary, Proton Family, and Proton Duo. It does not cover Proton VPN for Business plans, which will be addressed in a separate document.
1. General EOL Principles
Only the latest stable release version of Proton VPN on each platform is actively supported. We recommend always staying up to date with the latest version to ensure full access to all features, performance improvements, and security updates.
While we try to ensure continuity of service for users on older versions, network changes may mean that those on app versions that were superseded more than months ago may start to experience some degradation of service. If you use a an app version superseded more than six months ago, you may be required to update to the latest version in order to continue connecting to our network.
The exception to this are "sunset releases" that we continue (but are not required) to support for operating systems that are no longer supported by their vendor (or developers, in the case of Linux).
2. Our commitment
When Proton VPN retires support for an operating system or a feature, we will give you advance notice, explain clearly what's changing, and provide guidance on what to use instead.
3. Scope of this policy
This policy applies to the following:
Operating systems: Windows, macOS, certain Linux distributions and desktop environments, iOS, iPadOS, Android, and any others for which Proton VPN offers an official app. This policy covers mainstream OS releases; niche or long-term servicing releases (such as Windows Enterprise LTSC(nowe okno)) are not in the scope of our guaranteed support timeline. We aim to maintain compatibility with these versions where practical, but cannot commit to specific timelines.
Features offered in our products, like VPN protocols (WireGuard, OpenVPN, Stealth), Secure Core, Tor over VPN, split tunneling, NetShield Ad-blocker, port forwarding, and more.
Server-side requirements for connecting to Proton VPN (like authentication APIs, minimums TLS versions).
This policy does not apply to the following:
Proton VPN for Business plans. We'll publish a separate document for these.
Account, billing, and infrastructure-level changes. These are governed by Proton's standard terms of service.
Experiments and beta features tested on Proton Free only. End-of-life conditions for these will be addressed on a case-by-case basis in their release notes.
4. Lifecycle stage definitions and commitments
There are three defined lifecycle stages for the operating systems and features covered by this document. For each operating system (OS) and feature we support, we make the following commitments based on their lifecycle stage, but there may be times when a stage is skipped or notification periods shortened. See Section 6 for details.
4.1 Operating systems
Stage: Supported
What it means: New app releases are designed for the currently supported OS versions.
Minimum duration: Until the OS version's end-of-life (as determined by its vendor/developer). This is different to a vendor's security update support commitments.
What to do: Nothing to do! You're using a supported OS
Stage: Deprecated
What it means: Existing application remains fully functional and will continue to receive security updates. But no future major releases are guaranteed.
Minimum duration: 3 months after OS EOL
What to do: Review migration guidance and plan your OS upgrade or change before the EOL date.
Stage: End-of-Life
What it means: No fixes, no quality guarantees. The app may stop working at any point.
Minimum duration: 6 months after OS EOL
What to do: Migrate immediately. Contact support if you need help.
4.2 Features
Stage: Supported
What it means: Feature is under active development. New capabilities and improvements are still being added.
Minimum duration: -
What to do: Nothing! You're up-to-date.
Stage: Deprecated
What it means: Retirement announced with a published EOL date. Still works, but may have reduced availability or quality.
Minimum duration: 3 months after OS EOL
What to do: Review migration guidance and plan your OS upgrade or change before the EOL date.
Stage: End-of-Life
What it means: Feature removed from apps and servers.
Minimum duration: 6 months after OS EOL
What to do: Migrate immediately. Contact support if you need help.
Usually, support progresses through the three stages (Supported → Deprecated → End-of-Life), but there may be times when a stage is skipped or notification periods shortened. See Section 6 for details.
5. How we'll notify you
We communicate lifecycle events through three channels:
- Lifecycle status page(nowe okno): Lists every product, version, feature, and protocol that we support with its current lifecycle stage and EOL date. It's updated whenever a status changes, and is the primary source for all lifecycle information.
- In-app notifications: Shown on affected platforms in the event of a required update(nowe okno).
- Emails: Sent to your Proton Mail account for significant or shorter-notice events.
6. When standard notice may not apply
There are circumstances where we cannot give the standard notice periods. When this happens, we will publish the reason, the revised timeline, and the suggested migration path if you're affected.
Security emergency
A protocol or version with an unfixable vulnerability that creates risk for users may be retired with shorter notice than usual. Your security takes precedence over notice period commitments.
Changes outside our control
Upstream platform vendors/developers, infrastructure providers, or third parties may force a change that we cannot delay (For example, if an OS vendor removes an API(nowe okno) that we depend on).
Legal or regulatory requirements
We may be required to make changes by law or regulation on a timeline we do not control.
Operating system end-of-life
When the underlying OS, platform, or third-party component is retired by its own vendor or developer and we cannot safely continue to support it, the item moves directly to the Deprecated stage with a minimum 3-month notice period.
Case in point: Windows 7 and Windows 8 use outdated TLS implementations. As Proton VPN upgrades our server-side security requirements (enforcing newer TLS versions and dropping support for older cipher suites) older operating systems that can't support those newer standards simply lose the ability to establish a connection to the servers at all.
7. Refunds
If you are on a paid plan and the EOL of an operating system or feature means you cannot continue to use Proton VPN (for example, your OS cannot be upgraded), we will refund the unused portion of your subscription. Contact our Support team(nowe okno) to arrange this.
Please note that we cannot process refunds for payments made in cash or by bank transfer. In these cases, we'll add prorated credit(nowe okno) for your Proton account.
If you are on our Free plan, you will receive the same advance notice and continue to receive service until the EOL date. Prorated refunds apply to paid plans only.