Galaxy Note 8 gets a ‘Secure Wi-Fi’ VPN feature with the latest update

Probably in response to the KRACK exploit that has affected almost all modern Wi-Fi-enabled devices, Samsung has introduced a new feature on the Galaxy Note 8 called Secure Wi-Fi with the latest update. Secure Wi-Fi is a VPN service directly from Samsung, and it’s been seen on budget Galaxy J series phones before, so it’s not entirely new. With Secure Wi-Fi enabled, the phone will encrypt all outgoing internet traffic and disable apps and websites from tracking you to let you safely browse the internet on unsecured public Wi-Fi networks.

Samsung is offering 250 MB of free secure internet access using Secure Wi-Fi, though the feature isn’t oddly available in every country. For unlimited protection, the company is offering paid plans. You can pay €0.99 for 24 hours of unlimited secure browsing and €1.99 for a month. We’ve tried out the feature, and it seems Samsung has paired up with McAfee to bring it to its devices. Once enabled, you can manually select which apps use Secure Wi-Fi and set it to automatically start protecting data once Secure Wi-Fi is enabled. Otherwise, the Protect button needs to be pressed before data gets encrypted.

How do I enable Secure Wi-Fi?

To access Secure Wi-Fi, go to the phone’s settings, tap Connections, tap Wi-Fi, then tap the Advanced button at the top right. Here, find and tap the Secure Wi-Fi option, then follow instructions to set it up. If it’s not available on your Note 8, you can hope Samsung will bring the feature to your device with the next software update. Or, well, you can grab one of the many VPN apps available for Android from Google Play.