This contest is now over. We have selected the winners - see if you are one of them towards the bottom of the page.

One of my greatest annoyances with Android, as a developer and an employee having to connect to my company's VPN, is the complete lack of attention to usability of VPN-related activities. Not only is it impossible to pull out a widget to connect to a VPN server, but Google apparently thought it wasn't useful (and so insecure that it shouldn't even be an option) to add the ability to save the VPN password. Sure, it's more secure to type it up every time, but I give you 3 tries before you want to pull out your hair, especially on a shaky connection.

Given this annoyance, I set out to find a more acceptable solution a few months ago and found nothing acceptable, except for 1 VPN and 5 VPN apps, both made by doAndroids. These programs are able to maintain multiple VPN profiles with some very useful settings (like auto-reconnect and keep-alive ping), and, drumroll - they give you an option to save your password.

Moreover, there is a very handy widget you can pull out to your homescreen for a quick way to connect to the server you need. And did I mention the Tasker/Locale plugins that can automate connecting to the right VPN based on certain conditions, such as your location?

The 5VPN app is free, but needs 5 clicks to establish connection, while the 1 VPN app only requires 1 (it costs $2.95). In retrospect, this was money very well spent, and I love this app to death.

Check out the screenshots below and then jump straight to the giveaway - we've got 20 free 1 VPN licenses waiting anxiously for their new owners!

Screenshots

Giveaway

And the winners are:

  1. Tommaso Bartoli
  2. Amir Khan
  3. Jeppe Rishede Thomsen
  4. Martin Tampír
  5. hesham othman
  6. Phil Fernandez
  7. Cesar Cardoso
  8. Jason Ripmaster
  9. José Alejandro Carrillo Neira
  10. Nathan Siy
  11. Brian Kho
  12. Ladislav Balik
  13. chetan yalamanchili
  14. Christian Mo Zelin
  15. Anjie Cai
  16. Jason Learst
  17. Chris Lorincz
  18. JM Ayala
  19. Piotr Czajkowski
  20. nima pirmoradian

Emails have been dispatched notifying them of how to collect their winnings.

Thanks for playing!

1 VPN costs $2.95 in the Market, but today, we have 20 license keys to give out, courtesy of doAndroids.

How To Win

Entering the giveaway is really simple - just make sure you complete the steps below.

Step 1.

There are 2 parts in this step: complete either one of them to be eligible or both to double your chances of winning.

  • Follow @AndroidPolice on Twitter, then tweet the following message exactly as below:

Entered to win 1 of 20 #Android 1VPN keys from @AndroidPolice. Finally, a 1-click VPN widget that saves your password. http://bit.ly/ap-1vpn

OR

Step 2.

Fill out this form, so that we know how to contact the winners.

Step 3 (optional).

In the comments below, feel free to ask the developer any questions you might have, discuss 1 VPN, and vent about VPN on Android in general.

Again, steps 1 and 2 are required to enter.

Terms

The giveaway starts immediately and runs until March 17th, 11:59PM PST.

Winners will be announced here and notified via twitter, Facebook, or email.

Good luck, everyone!