VPN Hotspot Shield: Secure VPN

There are times when my lifetime “streaming” subscription ($$$) fails to work correctly after the connection has been logged by the app as active for many hours (>9). It has not actually been active as the device is in auto screen off mode with no known background processes occurring. This problem can be resolved by either reinitializing the connection, selecting a new server location. As my host WiFi connection is also sometimes at fault, troubleshot by reinitializing the connection), it becomes a guessing game as to how to manually resolve the issue. I think this app has improved significantly from its earlier days, and that I would be hard pressed to find a better one considering the intrinsic challenges. Depending on your perspective it could deserve 5 stars (relative performance) or 4 stars (absolute).

I’m more than happy that I have downloaded this app, and for the free features it has a lot to offer! It’s accurate and doesn’t have any major flaws, practically FLAWLESS. It stays connected and I haven’t had any issues with it. I’m in highschool and as many know it my school blocks data use which forces us to use the school WiFi for even the most basic actions we make on our phones, and of course the WiFi blocks social media or (mostly) anything else that may be a possible distraction in class. I needed social media to keep in contact day to day for more serious situations other than just texting people to text. I needed school information or other important things outside of school and I was desperate for a decent vpn which I went through so many before I found this one and I am nothing other than pleased. If I had the money on pocket all the time I would for sure get premium. One big thumbs up on this one. It’s a keeper👍

The VPN worked fine at home in the US, but not while I actually needed it. In Shanghai and Qingdao I needed to use the VPN for accessing any websites, translator apps, etc. that I could normally from home. It took me at least 10 minutes to get it to work every time, closing and restarting the app, trying from different servers *if* it connected, and often being told I had no internet (with three full WiFi bars) or that they were diagnosing problems & to try again later... which still didn’t work after 24 hours. Overall I was lucky if it even worked at all, let alone for longer than 5 minutes. It would often drop me from my WiFi as it “connected”, repeatedly, and caused me to go back through the whole process mentioned above every five minutes (or less!) I had success with this VPN only twice for 30 minutes; but it was hell to get it there. To think I payed $13 for this kind of hassle. What a waste.

So I’m not the type of person to review much unless I’m buying it but I def have to for this app. I love it. I downloaded 7 or 8 hotspot apps that were rated good but also had good ratings. However every single app (except for this one) required a membership which I did NOT want to pay for. Although this app has a premium offer as well, it is not required like many of the other apps which was a huge necessity for me. I was a little skeptical at first when I used it but it actually works seamlessly, even without the membership! There is all sorts of country’s to chose from and it doesn’t slow you down at all. I’m happy to recommend this to anyone. And if you do subscribe to the premium you will get even faster speeds and all sorts of other features. Definitely the best hotspot app. Highly recommended!

When it works this VPN barely hits my performance and I trust their payment model enough to believe they aren’t selling my data. That being said, the VPN itself is so unstable I wonder how much security I’m actually gaining. Two issues here: 1) The VPN randomly drops connection when online, and though it resets, I am obviously losing VPN status which I assume allows the sites I’m visiting to log my IP and activity while it’s down. 2) It’s hard to turn off. There are obviously circumstances where a VPN isn’t needed or desired, especially a free one. However, when I try to turn it off, this VPN often switches back on by itself and I cannot get it to remain off. In fact this is my second download. I deleted it the first time to see if that would fix the issue. However I see that I’m not the only one having that issue. Pro tip: don’t rely on this if you have something truly sensitive flowing over your traffic.