![]() ![]() Settings and Features: Once connected, most of the apps display several sections with various information that I found useful. I consider this a must-have feature because it saves time and hassle. As with many VPNs, Hotspot Shield lets you mark servers you use often as favorites for faster access. I was disappointed in the relatively limited number of servers dedicated to these common activities, as many other VPNs offer more.įor consistency, I used a server in New York to test all the VPNs in our rating. has one quick-access server optimized for streaming, but none for gaming. There are two "quick access" servers in the U.S., one optimized for streaming and the other for gaming. Daily data usage while connected is also displayed at the bottom. Clicking on the server brings up a list of servers by country and city for easy selection. Primary Controls: In addition to the connect button, the server you will connect to appears at the bottom of the dashboard. I thought it was attractive and uncluttered. ![]() Look and Feel: Hotspot Shield's dashboard is clean and easy to read, with a large blue connect button over a black background. All of the apps installed correctly within minutes and were ready to use after I entered my previously selected username and password. I downloaded and installed Hotspot Shield's apps for Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS quickly and without incident. That said, I understand many people want software, including VPN software, that “just works” without a lot of settings to adjust. I tested each VPN’s apps for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.īecause I’m an experienced VPN user and tech-savvy in general, I often prefer software that has multiple settings to tinker with. My evaluations considered ease of use, features, and other criteria important to the overall experience. I evaluated our top 10 VPNs, as well as an additional five VPNs that previously made our ratings. Hotspot Shield does release transparency reports ( the most recent in 2018 ), however, we'd prefer third-party assessments.Īs a silver lining of sorts, the provider did pass our VPN leak tests for IPv6, DNS, and WebRTC without issue.VPN Expert: Jeff Kinney, Senior Editor, 360 Reviews The provider could quiet most of our concerns fairly easily by submitting to an independent security audit, as some of its competitors ( NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and TunnelBear) have done. Further dampening the mood is that the service uses some trackers for analytical purposes. All the same, they're more invasive than necessary. Hotspot Shield notes that none of these logs contain information about you, your account, or your surfing activity. More red flags: According to Aura's privacy policy, all of its affiliates (including Pango, and by extension, Hotspot Shield) collect information, despite the latter's "No-Logs" promise. However, since this protocol isn't open-source, more questions are raised about its exact functionality and mode of encryption, than is the case with OpenVPN or WireGuard. On paper, encryption seems to be airtight, with Catapult Hydra also used by other VPNs, such as Bitdefender (which claimed the title of best antivirus software in our ranking). ![]() " Our steadfast security, inspired by the software defined perimeter (SDP) model pioneered by the US Department of Defense, supports both 128-bit AES and 256-bit AES encryption, and we use 128-bit AES encryption as a standard." In its support area, Hotspot Shield discussed its approach to encryption: Still, so far as data privacy is concerned, you'd have to be born yesterday to blindly trust a Silicon Valley-based tech company. Since our last assessment, support for IKEv2 has been integrated, somewhat rectifying this. Because Hotspot Shield primarily relies upon a proprietary protocol (Catapult Hydra), users are even more dependent upon its security and privacy guarantees than usual. ![]()
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