Norton VPN performance and experience updates for July 2026

Stronger encryption against future threats

Every time you connect through Norton VPN, the data you send gets encrypted before it ever leaves your device. The encryption standards some VPNs rely on today are built to hold up against classical computers — essentially, the kind most people use today.

But quantum computers work differently. Given enough power, a quantum computer can crack the mathematics that today’s encryption is built on. The machines capable of doing that aren’t common now, but encrypted traffic can be captured and stored today, then decrypted years from now once quantum machines are more common. That’s why guarding your data before the threat arrives, not after, is the way to go.

Mimic, a proprietary VPN protocol created by Gen (the company behind Norton), has used post-quantum encryption since 2021. What’s changed in this release is that we’ve upgraded the encryption to ML-KEM-1024, the newest and highest-security encryption standard according to NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology). It’s enabled by default on every platform where our VPN works, so if you connect with Mimic, you’re already using it. There’s nothing more for you to do.

WireGuard, which is already available on Fire TV and iOS, is where the bigger change is. Post-quantum encryption wasn’t available for this protocol before this release; now it is, on both desktop and mobile devices, using the same ML-KEM-1024 standard as Mimic. But unlike Mimic, WireGuard is not enabled by default — there’s a toggle in the Norton VPN settings where you can choose which protocol you want to use.

Screenshots of the Post-Quantum Encryption settings in the Norton VPN app.

A faster mobile experience

On mobile, the changes are most impactful as you’re connecting to the VPN. First, we’ve rebuilt the SDKs — the underlying components handling VPN tunnel setup — that Norton VPN runs on for iOS and Android. Based on our internal testing, we’re confident in saying that two key statistics have improved:

• Connecting is now more than 50% faster, so the wait between tapping “Connect” and receiving active VPN protection is roughly half of what it was.
• Connections are also getting more reliable — connection failures have fallen by more than 60%.

With this update, tapping “Connect” and being connected are now much closer to the same thing.

We've also implemented a third change, which you won’t see directly. Our updated architecture makes it quicker for us to fix bugs and ship features, so the wait between us developing updates and you receiving them is shrinking, too.

Servers in 11 new countries

Alongside the other server locations we offer, we’re now turning on servers in 11 new countries, bringing Norton VPN to 103 countries and more than 140 locations worldwide. Here are the countries we’ve added to our server list:

• Bangladesh
• Ethiopia
• Ghana
• Ivory Coast
• Jordan
• Kazakhstan
• Kuwait
• Malta
• Sri Lanka
• Tanzania
• Uzbekistan

These locations fill key gaps in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and South Asia — parts of the global map where customers have already been asking us for local coverage for some time. A server closer to where you actually are usually means you get a faster, steadier connection.

Get a more secure, reliable VPN connection

Norton VPN  now offers 11 new server locations and a more secure, reliable connection. Stream, browse, and shop with confidence knowing the data you send over our VPN will stay better protected, and enjoy stronger privacy and seamless access to your favorite content worldwide. Get Norton VPN today and take control of your online security.