Unblocking in the UAE – Which VPNs are up to the task?

In the United Arab Emirates, many websites are blocked. Websites containing adult content, anti-religious, agnostic, or atheist websites and articles and blocked. Any news articles critical of the government or the Royal family are completely off limits. Pro-Israeli content is also banned, meaning that certain news outlets and articles are censored.

The UAE also controls the local telecoms industry, and to stop people making free VoIP calls it blocks services like Skype, Discord, FaceTime, Whatsapp, and Viber. Even gambling websites and online poker services are unavailable.

Thankfully, anybody in Dubai or the UAE can use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to bypass these restrictions. A VPN lets you pretend to be in a different country by geo-spoofing your IP address. As soon as you connect to a VPN server outside of the UAE, your internet behaves as if you were actually abroad; and you can access the internet without the local restrictions.

We have listed our top 3 favourites below. For more information on any of these services and more you should check out ProPrivacy’s Best UAE VPN recommendations for a detailed look.

NordVPN
NordVPN is ideal for unblocking websites in the UAE. This popular VPN provider has servers in over 60 countries. Thus, you can not only spoof your IP address to outside the UAE; but you can easily pretend to be anywhere in the world to bypass geo-restrictions. NordVPN’s servers are fast, which means that this VPN is perfect for watching HD video or making video calls over VoIP.

NordVPN is secure thanks to a zero-logs privacy policy, DNS leak protection, military-grade encryption, and obfuscated servers (for concealing VPN use from UAE ISPs). Considering what it provides, NordVPN is extremely good value for money and is worth every dime.

IPVanish
This US-based VPN primarily runs on its own network of servers. Control over its infrastructure allows the service to be both stable and reliable. Fast speeds mean that this VPN is suitable for making video conferencing calls and doing data-intensive tasks such as gaming, or streaming.

In terms of privacy, IPVanish is sound because it provides a solid zero-logs policy. In addition, the VPN has strong OpenVPN encryption and excellent obfuscation tech. Overall, IPVanish is a great all-rounder that is worth testing with its 7-day money back guarantee.

ExpressVPN
This VPN is a popular service that is heavily subscribed all over the globe. The VPN is quite pricey, but it justifies this by maintaining an extremely high level of service. This VPN has 24/7 live chat to help you unblock content at any time.

Encryption is military grade, and the VPN has obfuscation that allows users to evade firewalls and conceal VPN use. DNS leak protection is available, and (as is the case with both the VPNs above also) it has a killswitch. ExpressVPN has fast servers in 94 countries which means it is definitely worth a test run using its 30-day money back guarantee.