Privacy guides is actively discussing the removal of ProtonVPN from its official recommendations. The reason: independent testing and ProtonVPN’s own admissions show that its kill switch does not reliably protect against IP leaks on macOS — even when the feature is explicitly enabled.
Key issues Identified:
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. Server switching & boot-up leaks on macOS: When you manually switch servers or restart your Mac, the regular kill switch fails to block traffic. Your real IP address is briefly exposed to any websites or services that were already open before the VPN reconnects.
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ProtonVPN’s own conflicting statements:
Their support page still claims: “[regular kill switch] does protect you while switching servers with Proton VPN.”
Yet when users reported the problem, ProtonVPN replied: “Kill Switch on Mac will not prevent your device from connecting to the internet during manual disconnection events.” -
Advanced Kill Switch limitation: The stronger “Advanced” version (which actually prevents these leaks) is only available on Windows and Linux — not on macOS.
This isn’t an isolated ProtonVPN problem. It connects to a long-standing Apple ecosystem flaw. In 2023, IVPN was forced to completely remove the kill switch from its iOS app (for iOS 16 and newer) for the exact same reason: even with the VPN running and kill switch active, traffic to Apple’s own servers (Apple Maps, Push Notifications, etc.) leaks your real local IP address. Apple’s includeAllNetworks API simply doesn’t force all traffic through the tunnel on newer iOS/macOS versions. Non-Apple traffic stays protected, but the leak to Apple still happens.
Full sources
PrivacyGuides removal discussion (ongoing since December 2025):
Remove ProtonVPN - #313 by jonah - Tool Suggestions - Privacy Guides Community
IVPN official explanation (August 2023, still relevant):
As of right now, ProtonVPN is still listed on PrivacyGuides.org, but the community thread is gaining traction and a separate proposal has been opened to restructure how VPN clients vs. providers are recommended because of exactly these kill-switch reliability issues.
Bottom line
A kill switch is only useful if it actually works in real-world conditions — including server switches, reboots, and Apple’s opaque network stack. If you use ProtonVPN on macOS or iOS, test it yourself (switch servers with a site like ipleak.net open and watch what happens). Don’t assume the marketing claims are bulletproof.Privacy isn’t about trusting a single provider — it’s about verifying. Share your own test results if you have them.