Hide My IP VPN Review

Hide My IP is a service that will conceal your IP address and encrypt your internet traffic. The service is fast, inexpensive, and relatively secure. Hide My IP is a VPN and proxy service with apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, as well as extensions for most popular browsers. It’s easy to set up and use as well. Because of its high speeds, it performs well when it comes to unblocking and torrenting, but there are also some drawbacks here. It’s not a reliable tool for use in China, for example. This Hide My IP VPN review will look at all these different features in more detail, starting with security.

Is Hide My IP safe to use?

Hide My IP uses either 128-bit or 256-bit encryption keys, so you can choose between faster speeds or higher security. The 256-bit encryption is more secure but the 128-bit is faster. If you are using the apps, you get the protection of the OpenVPN protocol, which is considered the most secure protocol. Overall this means you’ll have a good degree of security.

Hide My IP offers some security features that many other VPN services don’t, such as a kill switch. When we tested the service, we also detected zero DNS leaks or IPv6 leaks. The downside is that the service is based in the United States. The US has an unfavorable climate for data privacy and is a 5-Eyes country. This is less than ideal.

Hide My IP collects various information from users, including your name, address, email address, credit card info, preferences for products and services, account info, and browser visit time and duration. Most of this is standard but the fact that they collect product preference information is a little disappointing. If you really care about your privacy, try VPN which has a strict no-logs policy, like NordVPN.

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Price

The Standard price is a one-time payment of $29.95. There is also a premium service available.

The premium service costs $4.95 a month but you can save money by purchasing a yearly subscription, which costs $34.95 ($2.91 a month). Generally, this is cheaper than most VPNs, but you don’t get quite as many features. The main advantage of the premium package is that you can connect to more devices (up to five at once).

You can pay with popular credit cards like VISA, DISCOVER, and MasterCard. You can also use PayPal and Bitcoin. It is nice that you have the option to use cryptocurrency to pay for the service.

How to install it

Hide My IP is pretty easy to set up. You will be able to find tutorials on their website corresponding with the different platforms the service is compatible with. For this section of the Hide My IP VPN review, we’ll focus on Windows 10.

The first step is to navigate to the Control Panel.

Select Network Connections->Network and Internet

Select Change Adapter Settings

Now navigate to Properties by right-clicking on the interface

Select Internet Protocol Version 4->Properties.

Select Use the Following DNS Server Address and input the DNS Proxy IP address associated with your account. Press OK.

Hide My IP should now be set up.

Apps and Extensions

Hide My IP has apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. It is also compatible with Chromebook, Linux, and Ubuntu. It works with several routers, including TP Link, Linksys, D-Link, Asus, Belkin, Apple Time, and NetGear. There are also extensions for Chrome and Firefox. The different apps are pretty similar. The biggest difference is that the iOS version requires you to download the OpenVPN Connect App. This makes the setup for iOS a little harder.

The Windows GUI is visually appealing, but the interface is not the best organized. The website is fine once you get used to the odd layout. There are a lot of useful guides and tutorials, they just aren’t the easiest to find.

Does Hide My IP Work with Netflix

At the moment Hide My IP is not the most reliable way of unblocking Netflix, although we’ve been able to bypass US Netflix restrictions in the past. It unblocks BBC iPlayer and Hulu, but not always consistently. While many similar services struggle to bypass geo-blocking (most streaming services are cracking down on VPNs), Hide My IP might not be the best choice if your main goal is to use streaming platforms.

Hide My IP torrenting

Some VPNs have started to restrict or ban torrenting, but Hide My IP is not one of them. You will be able to torrent using this service. Since it has good encryption and a kill switch, torrenting is safer than with some other VPNs. Just keep in mind that torrenting pirated material is always a risky endeavor.

Is it good for users in China

China is one of a few countries working toward a closed Internet. Countries like Turkey, Iran, and Russia also have a lot of censorship. In general, VPNs are having a lot of difficulties bypassing the Great Firewall. Hide My IP is no exception and it doesn’t have good ways around it either.

Support

There are several customer support options, including a ticket system, a knowledge-base, an online troubleshooter, and a selection of guides and tutorials. There is also live chat, but it isn’t 24/7 live chat. They also provide a phone number and email to contact Hide My IP. While most VPNs give an email, not all of them provide a phone number. This is a nice touch. While we found the knowledge-base underwhelming, they were responsive when we emailed them, and the response was helpful.

Conclusions of our Hide My IP VPN Review

Overall, Hide My IP is a very light and cheap solution for hiding your IP address. It has more security features than many other VPN services and works on lots of platforms. Some of the negatives include a disorganized website and the unreliability when it comes to unblocking Netflix or working in China. However, if you want to increase security at a bargain price, this could be a decent option for you.