- NordVPN moved obfuscation from OpenVPN to the NordWhisper protocol
- The move promises faster connections and a wider choice of locations
- The change is already live on iOS, with the rest of the apps set to follow soon
Staying ahead of network filters is now a permanent job for any provider hoping to be among the best VPN services, and NordVPN just made a change that shows how quickly the world is changing.
Tucked away in the release notes of a new iOS app update, the provider has revealed that its obfuscated servers no longer run on OpenVPN. Instead, they are now powered by NordWhisper, the censorship-resistant protocol NordVPN has built in-house and launched in early 2025.
According to NordVPN, the reason for the change is simple: better speed and more places to connect from.
Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN, also told TechRadar that NordWhisper is designed to work as well, if not better, than OpenVPN in overcoming restrictive networks. “In many cases, users should see improvements thanks to better speeds and a wider range of available server locations,” he added.
The update is rolling out gradually, so not all users will see it right away. Vriedis confirms that while the change is already live on the iOS VPN app, the team plans to roll it out to Android, Windows, and macOS in the following weeks.
What has really changed and why it matters
Obfuscated servers are a special category designed to hide the fact that you’re using a VPN at all, allowing your traffic to slip past firewalls and deep packet inspection on networks that would otherwise block it. For years, connecting to them meant switching your protocol to OpenVPN, as obfuscation was tied to OpenVPN’s TCP and UDP variants.
That’s the part that NordVPN has reworked. The obfuscated server category now runs on NordWhisper under the hood, and this is just the latest step in a busy stretch for the provider.
The biggest benefit for users is speed. Obscure OpenVPN connections incur additional overhead because the VPN traffic is wrapped in an additional layer of obfuscation, which tends to drag down performance. NordWhisper was designed from the ground up to blend in with normal web traffic, so if you move blur onto it, it should ease the penalty and provide a smoother connection.
The other advantage is range. NordVPN’s obscure server pool has historically been limited to a modest list of countries, far smaller than its full fleet. Moving obfuscation to NordWhisper opens the door to a wider set of locations, which is exactly what censored and heavily filtered users need most.
It is crucial that none of this happens at the expense of safety. NordWhisper follows the same encryption and privacy standards as NordVPN’s other protocols, so users get stealth without sacrificing anything in terms of protection.
How does NordWhisper work?
NordWhisper is NordVPN’s proprietary, censorship-resistant protocol, which was first launched in January 2025 as a response to the growing sophistication of network filtering around the world.
NordWhisper uses web tunneling technology to disguise VPN traffic as regular internet activity, making it far more difficult for filters and deep packet inspection to pick out and block.
The protocol is best suited for networks that actively block VPNs, such as some workplaces, schools, public Wi-Fi, and heavily censored regions. On open, unrestricted networks, faster options like NordLynx remain the better everyday choice.
NordVPN has also signaled where it will take the technology next, moving NordWhisper towards a fully TLS-based design and exploring the QUIC protocol to stay ahead of increasingly capable censorship tools. It’s a direction the company is projecting as the “future” of VPN protocols.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
