- Mullvad will eliminate OpenVPN support from January 15, 2026
- The movement occurs when the VPN supplier seeks to prioritize Wireguard
- Mullvad has also announced the arrival of updates in the application for Windows and Mac
Mullvad, the Sweden VPN provider known for its strong privacy approach and flat rate prices, will soon eliminate OpenVPN support in favor of Wireguard.
The change will enter into force on January 15, 2026, providing existing mullvad subscribers to do the switch before the servers and OpenVPN support are eliminated.
The predetermined protocol for all Mullvad applications, Wireguard is used by many of the The best VPN services in the market.
Reminder about the elimination of OpenVPN: we are eliminating the support for OpenVPN completely on January 15, 2026, in six months.August 18, 2025
“We are eliminating the support for OpenVPN completely on January 15, 2026, within six months.
With the applications of Android and IOS of Mullvad already admitting Wireguard exclusively, the transition only affects desktop users who will receive reminders within the applications of Mullvad Windows, Mac and Linux.
Mullvad has reminded subscribers to adjust existing OpenVPN configurations to avoid possible service interruptions.
Although the news can be a surprise, the co -founder of Mullvad, Fredrik Strömberg, wrote that “Wireguard is the future” already in 2017.
Why Wireguard?
Wireguard, a new VPN protocol launched for the first time in 2016, has been adopted by the main VPN suppliers, including Surfshark, Ipvanish and Proton VPN. Nordlynx, Nordvpn’s patented protocol, uses a personalized Wireguard implementation.
Mullvad’s decision to eliminate OpenVPN marks a significant change, since most VPN suppliers still offer multiple protocols for flexibility in networks and devices. Like Jan Jonsson, CEO of Mullvad, he told Chiara Castro de Techradar in November 2024, less than 7% of Mullvad users are using OpenVPN.
“When we go to a single protocol, we can focus our resources where they can make a difference,” Mullvad said on a blog post in November 2024.
Wireguard has only 4,000 lines of code, compared to more than 70,000 lines for OpenVPN. Mullvad has praised Wireguard’s simple design, which, in addition to making the integration of new features easier, allows faster speeds. This does not have security cost, with Mullvad citing the “latest generation cryptography” of Wireguard.
Such is his belief in Wireguard, Mullvad made “a considerable donation” in 2017 to support the development of the open source protocol. To facilitate things for subscribers seeking to make the change, the Mullvad website provides guides on how to use Wireguard.
Stay up to the Mullvad updates is now easier than ever
Mullvad’s decision to withdraw OpenVPN and focus completely on Wireguard is not his only recent change. The VPN supplier also has updates announced in the application For desktop.
Instead of having to visit the Mullvad website to download and install the latest updates, Windows and MacOS users can now see them and download them directly inside the application, which makes it faster and faster that never be updated.
Mullvad states that Linux users can also benefit from automatic updates through their Linux application repositories and provides instructions to make the process easier.
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