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It's a very useful feature, but not all kill switches deliver on their promises, so we were keen to run some tests. Hotspot Shield's apps include a kill switch to block your internet connection if the VPN drops, preventing IP leaks. You can also enable Hotspot Shield's kill switch from the Settings menu (Image credit: Hotspot Shield) Kill switch We're left to take Hotspot Shield's words on trust. But, unlike some competitors, the company hasn't put itself through any form of public security or privacy audit, so there's no confirmation of these privacy promises. Hotspot Shield clearly says none of this information can be used to link your account to any VPN browsing activity, which is good to hear. For example, the company could keep a record of the time and date of every session, the device used, your approximate location and how much data you transferred. This gives some scope for building a profile on how you use the service.

'we do collect and use IP addresses protecting against fraud in connection with financial transactions with us, deriving non-identifiable items of information, such as your approximate geographic location and information about your internet service provider or carrier'.

Device hashes are not linked to VPN browsing activity'

'device hashes, which are used to identify devices and associate them with other data we collect.

'the domains that have been accessed by our users, but on an anonymized basis such that we do not know which user accessed which domain (we also aggregate this information on an approximately monthly basis)'.

'the duration of VPN sessions and the bandwidth consumed'.

There is still some logging, the policy explains, including: Simply put, this means that our VPN products do not store any information about what any specific user browsed or accessed through a VPN connection.' Hotspot Shield's Privacy Policy (opens in new tab) includes some reassuring details on the company's logging practices, as follows: 'Our VPN products do not log or otherwise record IP addresses, device identifiers, or any other form of identifier in combination with your VPN browsing activity.

Save a chunk of cash with our exclusive Hotspot Shield offerĪccording to its privacy policy, Hotspot Shield does not keep any logs on its users (Image credit: Hotspot Shield) Logging.

That's not entirely leading-edge, but it's more than enough to keep you safe. Apparently it's based on TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.2, with AES-256 and AES-128 encryption, 2048-bit RSA certificates for server authentication and keys exchanged via Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDHE) for perfect forward secrecy (keys last for only one session, with new ones generated next time). Hotspot Shield does explain a little of how Hydra works (opens in new tab), though.

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Unlike the open source OpenVPN, WireGuard or ExpressVPN's Lightway, the code isn't available to the public, so experts can't check for privacy issues. Hotspot Shield's Hydra protocol is more difficult to figure out, because it's the company's own proprietary technology. This can be hugely complicated, but just seeing that a service supports a secure protocol like OpenVPN gives some reassuring feedback about its safety.

Understanding a VPN's security usually starts with looking at its protocol support, encryption and authentication details. Hotspot Shield allows you to choose your preferred VPN protocol from its Settings menu (Image credit: Hotspot Shield) Privacy There's no Bitcoin payment option, unfortunately, but you can use a card or PayPal, and if anything goes wrong later you're protected by an unusually generous 45-day money-back guarantee.

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If you'll use all those licenses, that translates to $2.40 per user per month, for the VPN, plus the antivirus, spam call blocker and password manager.

Hotspot Shield does have one handy option in the Family plan (opens in new tab), which gets you coverage for five people, with five devices each, for only $19.99 billed monthly, or $11.99 on the annual plan. But if you only need the VPN, most vendors charge around $3 to $5 for annual products, and even less for long-term contracts ( Private Internet Access offers a three-year plan covering up to 10 devices for $2.19 a month). If you'll use the antivirus, call blocker or password manager, it still looks like a reasonable deal. That's at the high-end of the normal VPN price range. The paid VPN (opens in new tab) starts at $12.99 billed monthly, dropping to $7.99 on the annual plan (opens in new tab) to protect up to five devices. It's useful as a way to check out the apps, but that's about it.

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Hotspot Shield's range starts with a very restrictive free VPN plan: it has a 2Mbps speed limit, one location only (US) and a 500MB daily data allowance. You can either pay by card or PayPal (Image credit: Hotspot Shield) Hotspot Shield pricing