This is the age of the internet.
Everyone (and their mom) knows that usually when people talk about using the computer, they don’t really mean that they are using the computer.
What they mean is that, they are using a computer that is connected to the internet.
And when a computer is connected to the internet, two things happen:
One is that your computer gets a unique IP address which is used for identification purposes.
Secondly, government organizations along with other marketing companies use this piece of information to identify you and your browsing habits.
All internet users who work online have their own IP addresses.
The IP address of any given machine can tell a person or an organization where the computer is located physically speaking.
As mentioned before, it can also tell people who you really are and which internet service provider you have subscribed to.
Moreover, with the help of an IP address, information such as the programs that are currently installed on your machine is exposed.
If someone wanted to, he/she could know what you have on your hard disk at this very moment.
To protect users against these types of threats, VPN services have come into the action.
Hide My IP is one of those VPN services.
This VPN service provider is essentially an online VPN service.
But it also has software applications that work with most operating systems in the market.
Needless to say, Hide My IP protects users by hiding their IP addresses.
It does that through techniques such as encryption and re-routing.
As a result, no prying eyes can know what you are doing online.
Why?
Because your IP address is not only hidden but also modified.
VPN Services like Hide My IP, assign your computer machine a pseudo IP address.
This disables people who want to view what’s in your internet traffic data.
Now, with that said, whenever you want to sign up for a VPN service, you must make sure it is a legitimate one.
One way of doing that is to read reviews just like this one.
By the end of this review, you’ll know everything there is to know about Hide My IP and will be able to make an informed decision.
In the following Hide My IP, we’ll talk in detail about the features that Hide My IP offers to its users and how does it match up in terms of price against some of the other top VPN service providers in the market.
Sounds great right?
Let’s get to it then.
Table of Contents
Price
Hide My IP thinks outside the box.
In other words, it doesn’t limit itself to the traditional two/three sets of subscription packages which are targeted towards specific users.
Instead, Hide My IP takes the plunge and offers users all sorts of purchasing options.
You don’t have to pay for Hide My IP VPN service on a monthly basis.
In fact, you don’t even have to pay for the service on a yearly basis if you don’t want to.
Hide My IP offers a one type subscription fee package as well.
That makes Hide My IP very affordable for people who want to sign up for a VPN service provider and protect themselves on a budget.
Trial Period
All Hide My IP packages come with a seven day free trial period.
During this trial period, users can use the Hide My IP VPN services to their heart’s content.
If after the trial period they feel that the service is not for them, they can simply opt out and pay nothing to Hide My IP.
This is what we call a no-risk VPN service.
The free trial is a great feature for another season.
A period of seven days basically ensures that users can fully understand and come to terms with the effectiveness of a given VPN service provider’s software applications.
After that, users should be free to either quit or sign up for the premium package.
The seven day trial period from Hide My IP is unique in another way.
It is unique because even during the seven day trial period users can choose any of the offered VPN server locations around the world.
And users don’t even have to download any software application for it either.
The One Time Payment Offer
As indicated before, Hide My IP offers a one-time subscription plan where users only have to pay once and then use the VPN service forever.
At least theoretically speaking.
Moreover, the one-time Hide My IP payment plan gets users a tremendous discount on the premium plan.
You can get yourself the premium plan for about $7 per month.
If you want to buy the one-time offer then you’ll only have to pay $34.95.
That’s it.
The one-time plan also allows users to enjoy high download speeds while they are connected to the internet through the Hide My IP VPN servers.
Moreover, the one-time plan has the most number of locations when it comes to VPN servers.
So if you want the best option that is also economical, then the one-time offer should be it for you.
Of course, you have to decide for yourself if you want to sign up with Hide My IP for this long period of time.
The internet is inherently an unstable place.
You don’t know if the company is going to survive “forever” so always do proper research and study before signing up with any online service, let alone a VPN service, on a long term basis.
Perhaps, for the skeptical user, the trial period will be enough to judge if Hide My IP merits a one-time payment from the user.
Servers
After price and security, number and variety of servers is probably one of the most important aspects of any VPN service provider.
Ideally, a VPN service provider should have a large number of servers which should be spread evenly across the globe.
Moreover, a good VPN service always has multiple servers in important locations such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
In other words, the greater the number of servers the better.
As far as Hide My IP is concerned, the company has an expansive VPN network that, as we pointed out earlier, is spread evenly across several continents.
There is reasonable variety in the location of the VPN servers.
Hide My IP even offers servers in less known locations such as,
- Africa
- South-Asia
- The Middle East
Already you can imagine that it is a pretty impressive server location list.
Not many VPN service providers offer VPN servers in locations as remote as the ones mentioned above.
But that’s not it.
Hide My IP goes the extra mile when it comes to offering locations for their VPN servers.
All in all, Hide My IP has over 110 servers that are located in over 90 cities around the world.
What about the countries?
The list of countries is also rather exhaustive.
And it goes something like this,
- The United States of America
- The United Kingdom
- Switzerland
- China
- South Africa
- Egypt
- France
- Italy
- Czech Republic
- Australia
- Germany
That is a pretty comprehensive list of VPN countries no matter how you look at it.
But offering VPN servers in a lot of locations is one thing and offering speed through these VPN servers is another.
We’ll come to that part in a bit.
Features
Hide My IP isn’t just a plain old VPN service.
It has lots of other products.
Of course, we won’t be discussing them here.
But the most pertinent one of all the products, aside from the VPN service, is the Smart DNS feature.
Hide My IP has a fully fleshed out Smart DNS proxy service.
This service further solidifies user security and online anonymity.
And besides, when it comes to your virtual life, it is always better to have more security than no security.
That extra security should not, in an ideal scenario, come at the cost of speed though.
Hide My IP may not be able to go toe to toe with some of the bigwig VPN service providers in the industry, but that does not mean it can hold its own against them.
Granted, it doesn’t have the greatest marketing machinery in the world.
But Hide My IP does have enough features that should allow it to survive in the tough industry that is the VPN industry.
VPN powerhouses such as IPVanish, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and PureVPN do offer far more complete and expansive VPN services and at a lower cost as well, but of course, not all users are the same.
Google is perhaps the greatest search engine very produced my man.
But there are a ton of people who don’t use Google.
Then there’re a ton of people who don’t WANT to use Google because they want a bit of variety.
Similarly, even though Hide My IP gets outranked by nearly every top five VPN service provider, it doesn’t mean it isn’t any good.
Hide My IP, in its latest current version, has more than enough to warrant user attention.
Let’s take a look at some of the features that come with Hide My IP subscription plans.
Main Features
We’ve already talked about the seven-day free trial.
What we haven’t talked about is another feature, that is the money-back guarantee feature.
Unlike many of the other VPN service providers in the market, Hide My IP does a pretty good job of keeping the money-back guarantee period as long as possible.
At the time of writing this Hide My IP review, the money-back guarantee was a mammoth 30 days.
You do know what that means right?
You probably do but he we go again.
A 30 day money-back guarantee means that if you sign up for a premium package with Hide My IP, then you can use the service, with all its features and applications, for a period of 30 days.
And if after one full month you don’t feel like sticking with Hide My IP anymore, then you can simply cancel your subscription and ask for your money back.
A lot of VPN service providers offer money-back guarantees but very few offer money-back guarantees that last as long as 30-days.
Full marks to Hide My IP for believing in its product and giving users the opportunity to test out its product for the longest period of time before committing to the VPN company as a paying customer.
What About Mobile Apps?
Yes, it does.
Currently, Hide My IP fully supports platforms such as Windows, Mac, and iOS along with Android.
How Many Simultaneous Devices Can I Connect with One Account?
Right now, you can connect up to five simultaneous devices.
No more having to subscribe to multiple VPN services for multiple devices.
Just sign up for a single account with Hide My IP and protect all of your devices.
Hopefully, you won’t have more than five.
But if you do, you can always disconnect the one that is not in use and then connect the one that you want to use at the given moment.
Is There A Kill Switch Feature?
No.
There is no kill switch feature.
Kill Switch feature is a relatively advanced feature and is only offered by the best VPN service providers.
So it stands to reason why every other VPN service providers not offering one.
Hide My IP is one of those VPN services that don’t not offer a Kill Switch feature.
Some alternative options for you...
What About Logs?
The company is pretty clear that it does keep partial logs.
Most VPN services try to sugar coat things.
But generally speaking, when a VPN service provider says that it keeps partial logs it means that they don’t keep usage logs but do keep connection logs.
Some VPN service providers, keep connection logs for a certain period of time before purging it.
What’s the difference between connection logs and usage logs?
Well, usage logs are a big no no.
Let’s start with that.
Usage logs give your VPN service provider all the information about which websites you visit and what you do there.
If a VPN service provider keeps usage logs, then it is as good as your internet service provider.
In other words, if your VPN service provider keeps logs then you should cancel your subscription the moment you find out about it.
Connection logs, on the other hand, are different.
Why?
Because connection logs only keep metadata that is available with each user profile.
It contains information such as when the user connected to the VPN service, how long did the session last and how much bandwidth did the user consume.
In an ideal world, it is best if a VPN service provider stays away from logs as much as possible.
But sometimes, due to some legal reasons, VPN service providers have to keep connection logs.
Some use connection logs to charge customers who are on a limited bandwidth package.
Again, the top VPN services such as IPVanish, keep no logs whatsoever.
So, this is another indication that Hide My IP isn’t really a premium VPN service provider.
Can You Unlock Netflix?
Yes, you can.
Hide My IP also works with BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and Pandora.
Compatibility
The VPN industry is tough for a number of reasons.
Firstly, because of the fierce competition, a VPN service has to provide cheapest possible subscription packages.
Secondly, all VPN service providers have to be all-rounders.
They must be fast, secure, feature-laden, light, sleek, and creative to survive in the VPN industry.
And hence, all VPN service providers must provide support for all major operating systems and platforms.
Preferably, a VPN service should have dedicated applications for each of the major operating systems along with hardware.
At the time of writing this Hide My IP review, the company supported the following platforms and operating systems,
- Windows
- Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6
- Android
- iOS
- Linux
Isn’t it just great that you can protect all of your devices, no matter the type or operating system, with one VPN subscription plan?
If you think that is great that Hide My IP might be for you.
User Interface And Installation
As mentioned before, Hide My IP is an online VPN service but also has its own software.
At the time of writing this review, the latest version of Hide My IP app was 6.0.
And according to official sources, it is the best one yet.
What does this mean for the end user?
Well, first, a bit of background.
All previous releases from Hide My IP did one thing exceptionally well.
What was that thing?
The application enabled internet browsers to show other websites fake IP addresses.
Hide My IP used the company’s database to come up with these fake IP addresses.
Users don’t’ need to worry about the inner working of such an arrangement since everything is done by the software without any user input.
As a result of this “fake IP address feature”, users can surf the internet anonymously and securely.
The latest Hide My IP software comes with a lot of other features as well.
Some of the features include the ability to trick forums to un-ban you after you have been banned.
This neat trick also works for other internet message boards.
The process is simple enough as we have already explained to you.
Basically, Hide My IP uses its software application to change your IP address.
And then it gets to work and then deletes your internet browser’s cookies.
This technique is very useful in a number of scenarios.
Access Censored Websites
Not all websites are available to everyone on the internet.
For the websites that are blocked or banned for certain regions, there is Hide My IP application.
The Hide My IP application itself is very easy to use.
Although we will add that the interface is not state of the art.
And probably can do with a lot of work in bringing it up to par with some of the best VPN service provider in the industry.
But a sleeker design and a modern layout won’t have much impact on how the software handles.
In other words, the Hide My IP application is simple and neat.
The only thing that is required from the user is the installation of the official executable VPN app file from the official website.
After that, it is just a matter of the user launching the official application and then clicking Hide IP button on the screen.
That’s it.
After that, all of your online data including any type of traffic becomes secure and anonymous.
In some sense, the Hide My IP software application is a smart software.
What do we mean by that?
We mean that it can modify your internet browser’s online settings in order to provide you with the greatest amount of security and anonymity with you having to change anything.
The software application can help users send emails through any known email services anonymously.
Moreover, the email service providers can’t know your real location because of the Hide My IP application.
In other words, your identity is safe from start to finish when sending an email message.
Premium Add-on
Add-ons.
Who doesn’t love them?
Especially when they come as part of a premium plan.
Hide My IP offers one of those premium service add-ons in the form of multiple options for hiding user IP address.
Yes. With Hide My IP application you can hide your real IP address in some of the most common applications in use today.
As indicated earlier, to protect user data and identity, the application connects to a secure server as soon as you start the service.
The Hide My IP first establishes a connection with your ISP and then with your computer and then gets to the “hiding” part.
This is especially useful when you connect to the internet at places such as coffee shops and airports.
Public Wifi networks are, for the most part, insecure.
A VPN application must be able to protect users at these locations at all costs.
Installation
We already mentioned the fact that using Hide My IP software application is simple and setting it up is even simpler.
But what does “simpler” mean?
Simpler, here, means that the process of installation is painless and smooth.
More like a breeze.
In Hide My IP’s case, the user doesn’t have to move a muscle in order to get set up and use the VPN software application.
Moreover, the user doesn’t have to waste too much time in configuring all the settings that are available.
All of this makes the installation process quick, short and sweet.
Do take note that you will have to complete the configuration step in order to use the service and become anonymous.
Without properly setting up the VPN service, before using it that is, you run the risk of not having full anonymity and online security.
From our research for this Hide My IP review, we wager that it should not take you more than fifteen minutes to setup the VPN service on any device of your choice.
And while that is not the quickest installation time you’ll see from a VPN service provider, it is still pretty quick.
Security
Hide My IP, as mentioned before, as two types of services.
Let’s discuss the second of those services with regards to security and performance.
The premium plan offers users IP address connections that are fast.
These work under the PPTP protocol and are available in locations such as,
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Germany
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
Just like all other VPN service providers, Hide My IP does not shy away from stating that it takes pride in protecting user online identity and puts its homepage to good use.
Of course, the rest of the VPN service providers do the same.
All of them provide security and online anonymity at the click of a button.
Most VPN service providers to unblock censored sites.
Hide My IP is no different from any other VPN service provider in this regard.
The company itself is located in the United States of America.
As any experienced VPN user would tell you, being a US-based VPN company may have its upsides but it definitely has its downsides.
The upside is that, generally speaking, VPN service providers based in the US are usually pretty fast.
That is, their servers are pretty fast.
Moreover, they have access to some of the highest paying customers in the world.
But the downsides are more significant.
A US-based VPN company comes under US law and that means strict data retention requirements.
Moreover, the US is home to two of the biggest mass surveillance organizations in the world.
Namely, the CIA and NSA.
If the government comes knocking on the door of Hide My IP, then the VPN company will have no other choice but to give up information on ti’s customers.
Customer Support
You know a VPN service provider is trying to take you for a ride if it is not transparent enough.
But what is transparency when it comes to VPN service providers?
Our metrics are really simple.
We don’t want the CEO of the VPN company to come out every week and give us a report on how many workers work at the company or the minute details of how they ensure user privacy.
What we do want is enough information about the company and some ways of contacting them.
Hide My IP, is pretty comprehensive when it comes to customer support.
First of all, the official website of Hide My IP may not be the sleekest website you have ever seen, but it does an acceptable job of providing information to potential users.
Note that we didn’t say that Hide My IP official website is great.
But it is something you can work with.
The site has a separate FAQ section where users can see answers to the most frequently asked questions.
When we visited the FAQ page, we saw a large number of common questions answered in short sentences.
If you have a question about Hide My IP service or terms and conditions, then we strongly suggest that you visit the FAQ section of the official website before moving someplace else.
To further strengthen its customer service, Hide My IP has a standard ticketing system.
Basically, you submit your query through the ticketing system and when the time is right for the staff behind the VPN company, they contact you back with the solution to your problem or an answer to your question.
Pretty standard stuff if you ask us honestly.
What Else Is There?
There is also a dedicated Knowledge Base page where you can use the search bar to search for your questions and VPN problem.
Just below the search bar, there is also a contact form element.
It does require the user to input his/her last name and first name along with the email address.
Which isn’t cool.
Why?
Because it can potentially compromise a user’s privacy.
Users who truly want full privacy, don’t want to give up information about themselves even to their VPN service providers.
So to ask users for such pieces of information before they have even signed up with your service is not only rude but also dangerous.
The Knowledge Base page also has answers to more common questions.
DO take note that these answers are separate and distinct from the questions that are answered in the FAQ section.
Hide My IP has really put in the work to make sure that all possible user queries are answered beforehand.
Even before users have to get in touch with the company via email or the ticketing system.
Talking about email, you can email Hide My IP staff at staff@hide-my-ip.com with your question.
Or if you want to simply call them, then they have also provided their telephone number.
It goes like this, 866-343-6722
Still not satisfied?
Well, then Hide My IP has the forums feature for you.
Here other members of the Hide My IP community help each other out by asking and answering questions related to VPN services and how to set one up.
Hide My IP Conclusion
Overall, there isn’t much wrong with Hide My IP.
But it can’t compete with the likes of NordVPN, IPVanish, and ExpressVPN.
These premium VPN service providers are just too complete.
And Hide My IP probably doesn’t have enough resources to make a dent in their market share.
For what it’s worth, Hide My IP doesn’t do anything particularly wrong apart from keeping connection logs.
But it would have been better if Hide My IP provided more information about its encryption technologies on its official website.
Moreover, some reviewers have complained about Hide My IP’s slow VPN servers.
Hide My IP has the standard set of features but does not have enough extra features such as a Kill Switch of double encryption or VPN over Tor.
And hence, as with many other VPN service providers, Hide My IP doesn’t do anything especially.
As far as the VPN industry goes, if you don’t do something special, you’re basically toast.
If you are serious about getting the best value for money VPN then you should check out IPVanish. They are our top ranked VPN provider. Read the IPVanish Review here.
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