VPN by Private Internet Access for Android
Editors' Review
The VPN by Private Internet Access is an easy way to secure and keep your Internet traffic private. And Private Internet Access, or PIA, offers a useful collection of security settings to tune your speed.
Pros
One-month to two-year subscriptions: Sign up for a 30-day subscription for $6.95, a year for $39.95, and two years for $69.95. You can run the service on five devices simultaneously, and while the company does not have a free trial period to check out its VPN, the company does offer a seven-day refund policy. You can pay with credit cards, PayPal, Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash, or with a third-party gift card such as Starbucks.
Does not log or monitor user activity: "PIA absolutely does not keep any logs, of any kind, period," the company says, emphatically, and offers support for the claim with examples where governments and courts have requested information and PIA had nothing identifiable to turn over. The independent VPN testing site That One Privacy Site gives PIA solid scores for its logging policies and server security. (In general, note that using a VPN doesn't necessarily guarantee your Internet activities will be hidden. Shady VPN providers overpromise and underprotect. Pick a trustworthy VPN to secure your networking communications, bypass geoblocking, and dodge government filtering and censorship.)
Servers around the globe: Private Internet Access operates servers in 28 countries from the Americas and Europe to Asia, with several regions hosting servers in different geographic locations.
Tune your connection to suit your security and privacy needs: PIA lets you adjust your encryption settings to strike a balance between speed and security. By default, PIA uses the open-source OpenVPN and AES-128 for encryption. If you want to crank up the encryption, you can pick the 256-bit version of AES.
A cost of the stronger encryption, however, is networking speed. The company has a helpful page looking at the pros and cons of adjusting your encryption settings. For most, the default AES-128 should be fine, as many in the security field believe it will remain unbreakable in the foreseeable future. Note that PIA used to offer Blowfish for encryption but dropped supported in 2016.
Cons
No trial period: Private Internet Access doesn't offer a free trial version of its VPN. And while the shortest period you can sign up for a subscription is 30 days, you can request a refund within the first seven days of signing up.
Bottom Line
Private Internet Access VPN has something for everyone: It's simple to set up and use and offers plenty of tweakable encryption settings to find a balance between speed and privacy. We'd like to see a free trial period, but a seven-day refund policy helps offset the lack thereof.
Full Specifications
What's new in version 1.6.5.1
The Google Play Store version of our app no longer include MACE due to Google Play Store policies. Downloads via our website and other stores will still have that feature.
General
Operating Systems
Popularity
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Google Translate
Developer's Description
Browse privately on the internet. Stay anonymous and secure on public WiFi. Hide your IP address and encrypt your traffic to connect to blocked apps and websites with our unlimited bandwidth VPN. Private Internet Access unblocks content for our users and allows them to encrypt their network traffic, change their IP address, and connect anonymously to blocked websites and apps.
Protect your privacy with Private Internet Access, the world's leading VPN proxy service for Android mobile and tablet users.
DOWNLOAD the Private Internet Access VPN app and enjoy:
High speeds, unlimited bandwidth, connect with 5 devices simultaneously (smartphones, tablets, computers), no traffic logs, and 24/7 professional, native English speaking customer support.
PRIVATE INTERNET ACCESS FEATURES
IP Cloaking. Your IP address will be changed to a Private Internet Access IP address to hide your identity and location. Hide your IP address to stop data trackers, snoopers, and hackers from tracking your browsing and search activity. When you change your IP address, you can be more anonymous and blend in with the crowd.
WiFi Security. With WPA and WPA2 now kracked, you need a VPN to protect your WiFi everywhere - not just in hotspots, coffee shops, cafes, hotels, and airports. If you use WiFi hotspots without encryption, your data can be seen, blocked, throttled, censored, or otherwise changed.
Data Encryption. Encrypt your internet traffic with our VPN proxy. Our trusted online privacy service creates several security layers which keep you anonymous and prevent access to your data. It's time to change your WiFi habits.
Defeat Censorship. Access blocked apps or connect to censored websites. Unlock and unblock your favorite websites from anywhere.
Per App Settings. Have an app that you want to let bypass the private VPN tunnel? Choose which apps to exclude from the VPN.
Internet Killswitch. Ensure your internet always uses our VPN connection with our internet killswitch.
WHY USE PRIVATE INTERNET ACCESS?
Low price. $3.33 per month if you purchase a yearly account ($39.95/year) or $6.95 on a monthly basis.
Reliable and trusted VPN provider since 2010. Proven no log policy. Unlimited bandwidth. Use our VPN as your proxy.
Privacy is our Policy. Here at PIA, we not only provide a great VPN service at a low price, but we also support organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, FightForTheFuture, Creative Commons, Open Rights Group, Index on Censorship, freenode, Wireguard, Arch Linux, and many others.
We respect your privacy and anonymity.
WHAT DOES THE TECH COMMUNITY THINK?
"Private Internet Access, one of Lifehacker readers' favorite VPN service providers, makes it easy to surf privately and securely from anywhere." - Lifehacker.com
"There have been several Editors' Choice VPN services recently, as one product tops the next, but Private Internet Access out-performs and out-features the competition. With 4.5 stars, Private Internet Access sets the bar high and is truly the Editors' Choice, trumping all our previous favorites." -- PC Mag
"When shopping for a VPN service, it is recommended to find a service that does not log its customers' traffic and prevents an anonymity-unmasking issue known as IPv6 leakage. Private Internet Access carries that level of security." - Wired.com
Why does the app need camera permissions?
The camera is used only when you scan a QR code, nowhere else. Earlier versions of Android (before 6.0) will incorrectly report that we need this at all times.
GDPR compatibility
This application only send username and encrypted passwords to our servers as part of using this app. During signups, we also collect user-email. We not collect and/or store any other user information.
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