Why VPN speed drops and how to test it

A VPN adds one hop to every connection, so some speed loss is normal. How much depends on where the server is, how loaded it is and what your own connection can do. sNova has a speed test built in, so you can see the numbers rather than guess.

What decides the speed

Three things. Your own connection: a VPN cannot be faster than the Wi‑Fi or mobile data under it. The distance to the server: every extra thousand kilometres adds latency, which matters for calls and games more than for video. The load on the server: a crowded server shares its bandwidth among more people.

Encryption itself costs very little on a modern iPhone. If the VPN feels slow, it is almost always distance or load, not the cipher.

Optimal, or a country of your choice

Leave the country field on Optimal and sNova picks the server with the best route from where you are. That is usually the fastest option. Choose a country yourself when you need your traffic to come from that country; expect a bit more latency the farther it is.

You can switch countries while connected. sNova reconnects to the new server in a few seconds.

Testing speed inside the app

Tap the speedometer in the top left corner and press Start. sNova measures latency, download and upload through the tunnel and shows all three. A test uses a small amount of your allowance, so it is cheap to repeat after switching servers.

Compare with the VPN off if you like: on most home connections the difference is a few percent; on a congested public network it can even be faster with the VPN on, because the route changes.

When the numbers are bad

First check the connection under the VPN: run the test with sNova off. If that is slow, the VPN is not the problem. If the VPN is much slower than the raw connection, switch to Optimal or to a nearer country and test again. If a specific server is consistently slow, tell us at support@snovavpnapp.com; server load is something we can fix.

Updated: 2026-09-08