Best proxies for Android in 2026, by network and app

The short answer: which proxy for which Android job

An Android phone needs two things from a proxy: an address of the right kind, and a login it can send. The address decides what apps and sites see. The login has to be a username and password, because the phone's own public IP changes every time it moves between Wi-Fi and mobile data, so an IP whitelist stops matching. Both go into an app that runs as a local VPN service, which is how every app on the phone, not only the browser, leaves through the proxy.

The rule that saves money: if the app only checks the country, Residential Premium is enough. Pay for mobile when the app or the account expects a phone on a carrier network, and for ISP when the address itself must never change. Android's own Wi-Fi proxy field is not the place for any of them: it applies to one network, has no username and password fields, and its own screen says that apps other than the browser may not use it.

What we measured

Two kinds of check, both with the method published. On 13 September 2026 we sent 98 requests through the mobile network in 8 countries: 40 of 40 rotating exits matched the requested country, on 23 distinct carrier ASNs (mobile proxies, tested, raw rows included). The same day, 170 requests through the residential network put 50 of 50 exits in the requested country on 41 distinct ASNs, with a median time to first byte of 1.26 s (best rotating residential proxies).

Then the phone itself. On 23 October 2026 a Residential Premium sticky line for Italy, started in Super Proxy, answered ipinfo.io/json from Barrafranca, Sicily, time zone Europe/Rome; a SOCKS5 session for Türkiye, started in SocksDroid, answered from Istanbul. Both checks are on the guides linked below, with the app's own log next to the IP page.

Proxy apps for Android that take a username and password

On Android the proxy goes into an app. Super Proxy, NekoBox and SocksDroid all run a local VPN service that Android asks you to allow once, so every app on the phone goes through the proxy, on Wi-Fi and on mobile data, with no root, and one switch turns it off. None of them comes with servers of its own: you add the QuanticData server with four values from the dashboard.

Field and mode names are the ones each app shows: Super Proxy, by SCHELER Software, is free on Google Play with a Pro upgrade for extras; NekoBox is the Android build of the open-source client; SocksDroid is a small open-source app (GPL-3.0) for Android 5.0 or later. Every field, the real check and a fix per error are in the three guides: Super Proxy on Android, NekoBox on Android and SocksDroid on Android.

Mobile, ISP or Residential Premium on an Android phone

Mobile 4G/5G proxies

A mobile exit is a carrier address shared with real phones behind CGNAT, which is what an app that expects a phone assumes. In the Mobile Endpoint generator choose the gateway (Global, USA, EU or Asia), a sticky session and the protocol; the username then carries -type-mobile and the session, and a new session ID means a new carrier IP. Mobile plans also offer IP whitelist authentication: on a phone keep the username and password, because the phone's own address changes between Wi-Fi and mobile data and a whitelist only recognises the addresses you added. $5 for 1 GB, $2.30/GB at 500 GB, no port fee: mobile proxies.

Static ISP proxies

An ISP plan gives fixed IPs registered to internet providers, listed on the plan's page under Assigned IPs as IP:Port:Username:Password lines, one per IP. The address does not change for as long as the plan runs, so one IP per phone is the setup for an account that must always come from the same place: one profile per IP in the app, with the IP in the server field. The HTTP port and the SOCKS5 port of an ISP plan are different numbers for the same IPs and login, so take the one that matches the protocol you pick. Unlimited bandwidth per IP, from $2.50/IP: ISP proxies.

Residential Premium

Residential Premium gives a household address from its own city and ISP catalog, sticky for up to 24 hours, with the country, region, city or ISP chosen in the generator: the username grows with -region- or -city- and nothing else changes. Its generator authenticates by username and password only, which is what a phone needs anyway. From $2.20/GB: residential proxies.

Set up a proxy on Android in five steps

1. Get the four values. In the QuanticData dashboard open My proxies, then the plan, then the Endpoint generator: choose the country, set Session to Sticky with a lifetime that covers your day (up to 1,440 minutes), choose HTTP or SOCKS5 and copy host, port, username and password from Connection details. The apps ask for the four values one by one, not for the whole line.
2. Add the server. Super Proxy: Add proxy on the Proxies tab, Protocol HTTP or SOCKS5. NekoBox: the add button in the top-right corner, node type HTTP or SOCKS. SocksDroid: a new profile, SOCKS5 only.
3. Fill the fields. Server: the host. Port: the one of the protocol you chose, 8080 for HTTP or 1080 for SOCKS5, since the protocol has to match the port. Username: the whole username, everything after the first dash included. Password: the password, with no space before or after. In Super Proxy set Authentication method to Username/Password and leave DNS resolution on Proxy; in NekoBox fill username and password even though they are marked optional; in SocksDroid tick Username & Password Authentication.
4. Start it and allow the VPN once. Tap Start, the node's start button or the switch. The first time, Android shows a connection request from the app: tap OK. A key icon at the top of the screen shows the tunnel is on; in Super Proxy, Start becomes Stop and a timer runs.
5. Check the exit. Open ipinfo.io/json in the phone's browser: the country has to be the one in the username, and the organization a carrier on mobile or a home ISP on Residential Premium. Super Proxy's Logging tab shows the same from the app's side: SERVICE_STARTED, PROXY_READY, then one CONNECT line per connection with the code the proxy answered, 200 when it accepted.

What goes in the Username field, and the same line in the reference format Super Proxy uses:

• Residential Premium, Italy, sticky for the day: USER-country-it-sid-p01-ttl-1440m
• Mobile, United States, one carrier IP for the day: USER-country-us-type-mobile-sid-m01-ttl-1440m
• The Premium line as server:port:username:password: PROXY_HOST:8080:USER-country-it-sid-p01-ttl-1440m:PASS

USER and PASS stand for your credentials, PROXY_HOST for the host shown in the dashboard. A username cut at the first dash still logs in, but the phone then leaves from a random country on a new IP at every connection.

One sticky session per Android phone

A phone that stays logged in to apps should look like one person on one connection. A sticky session keeps one IP for as long as it lives, and it lives in the username, so the profile in the app never changes while you work.

• A lifetime longer than the day. Up to 1,440 minutes on mobile and Residential Premium. When the session ends, the next connection gets a new IP, which an app can read as a new login location.
• One session ID per device. A second phone on the same plan gets -sid-p02, never the first phone's; two devices on one session share one IP.
• A new IP only when you want one. Edit the profile, change the value after -sid-, then stop and start the app. Super Proxy keeps as many profiles as you add, so one profile per country or per session is a tap away.
• The country of the account. The exit country in the username should match the country of the accounts used on that phone, and stay the same from one day to the next.

Proxy on Android not working: what to check

The cases behind most Android proxy questions, in the order to check them. In Super Proxy keep Connectivity check on: the app tests the login before it starts, so a wrong username or password shows up at Start instead of as pages that never load.

One test from a computer settles most cases in a minute: curl -x http://PROXY_HOST:8080 -U "USER-country-it-sid-test-ttl-10m:PASS" https://ipinfo.io/json. If it returns an address in Italy, the proxy and the login work and the problem is in the fields on the phone. Do not judge the exit by a flag an app shows next to the server: the IP page is the check that counts.

What to buy for an Android phone, and the username to use

Pick the row, buy the plan, put the four values into Super Proxy, NekoBox or SocksDroid.

Host, port and password are in the dashboard as soon as the plan is active. Every QuanticData account also gets $2 of free API usage per month for the data APIs.