Is Google preparing to launch its own VPN service?

A new app called Google Connectivity Services has been discovered in the recent Android 5.1 update. A bit of digging through this non-functional app finds some references to a “Google VPN” which seems to suggest that Google may be launching its own virtual private network in the near future as an added security measure when connecting to public Wi-Fi networks through your Android device. 

Android 5.1 features a number of tweaks and changes to Lollipop, but a whole new Google service has also been spotted lurking within the operating system running on a Nexus 6. Although not functional right now, Google appears to be working on a VPN (virtual private network) service. If you have Android 5.1 installed on your own Nexus 6, you should be able to spot a new system application called “Google Connectivity Services”, located in the list of apps installed on your handset. I won’t go through all the steps of discovery, you can check out the source link for that, but eventually getting it to run reveals that this is a Google VPN application, designed to protect users connected up to an open Wi-Fi network. You can go all the way through to a setup screen, however connections don’t seem to be working at this time.