Hide My IP is a proxy service having servers in over 70 different countries, with secured encryption available for some of their premium accounts. With their premium service, you can have unlimited bandwidth and additional IP addresses. The service is software driven, with their client being in at version 6.0. It works on most operating systems and browsers. They have high-speed service available, and additional communications programs can be covered by their service through their premium services.
Pricing & Plans
Hide My IP has 3 main plans (Premium Monthly, Premium Quarterly and Premium Yearly) which covers all the same features. You can pay for the premium plan using credit cards, PayPal or Bitcoin.
Free Trial/ Money-back Guarantee
You can download Hide My IP for free from their website. However, please note that there are certain limitations to this free software like access to less IPs as compared to their premium plan.
Their premium plan, on the other hand, comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Privacy & Anonymity
With Hide My IP you can surf anonymously, keep hackers from acquiring your IP address, encrypt your internet connection and send anonymous email. It sets your web browser proxy settings to show a fake IP from their IP database.
Hide My IP works with HTTPs and SSL connections, however there are not as many fake IPs that support SSL connections as there are non-SSL IP addresses. To find a fake IP that works with SSL, just keep pressing “Change IP” until you are able to browse a website in SSL mode.
Provider Logging Policy
Hide My IP does not monitor or keep logs of your Internet traffic or activity while using the service. The information they collect about you depends on the products and services you use or purchase from My Privacy Tools, Inc. Such information may include, but not limited to:
- Your name, address, E-mail address, IP address, and other information required to validate your identity when you make contact with Hide My IP regarding your account or payment.
- Credit or debit card information or other payment information.
- Use or access any of their products, services, websites, or network.
- Any communication with them, such as a ticket request to our support team, an Email, or live chat session.
- Your account information, such as billing dates, subscription type, and account details.
- Information relating to your use of their websites.
- Browsers visit time and access duration to their website.
Torrent Policy
Torrenting is allowed. But the unreliable apps make this impossible. The vague privacy policy also raises doubts over anonymous use, and downloading copyrighted material is against the terms of use.
Customer Support
Hide My IP has a comprehensive knowledge base and can be accessed through their support page or via the same window as the online support. However, their online chat service and online support ticket email system could be improved. While those two systems respond in a timely manner, they sometimes respond incompletely or are not detailed enough.
Here is a list of their support services:
- Toll-free phone support, Mon-Fri, 09:00-16:00 PST
- Online chat support, Mon-Fri, 09:00-16:00 PST
- Email support, Mon-Fri, 09:00-16:00 PST
- Online Knowledge Base
Product Testing
Once downloaded the setup is fairly easy, you will get icons to start the program on your desktop and in the programs folder. Manually enter the unlock code into the verification window and you should be good to go.
The software is nice looking, and easy to use. Once we had it started it informed us of our new IP address and server location. From this main window you can change server locations, Ip addresses, turn the service on or off, or set up encryption. To gain access to all their servers you would have had to pay for a premium plan. Other options in the settings include frequency of IP change, launch on start, clear cookies with IP change, always use the same address, and not reusing IP’s.
Hide My IP uses standard VPN protocols, but with your IP changing every time that you connect to the internet, you could have a few issues with your financial or other secured transactions. A constantly changing IP could cause a company like PayPal to suspend your account. For these transactions it is best if you always use a fixed IP for convenience.
VPN Server Locations
With Hide My IP, you can choose from 137 virtual IP locations
Countries Supported:
Speed Test
Speeds with Hide My IP are inconsistent. While we enjoyed fast connection on the browser extension and Android app, other apps weren’t working well and had slow speeds.
IPCheck and DNSLeak Test
Hide My IP has strong encryption, and the browser extension worked well. It protects against IP leaks such as the WebRTC IP leak in Chrome and Firefox. Simply turn on the DNS Protection setting or use the DNS Proxy to prevent the IP leaks. To check if your IP is leaking, please use the Hide My IP Leak Check page.
Feature Summary
- Hide your IP on Windows, Mac, Android, Linux, iOS, and more.
- Full access to all IPs in over 120 cities worldwide.
- Includes Smart DNS Proxy service.
- Use on 5 devices simultaneously.
- Cancel any time
- 30-day money-back guarantee
We Liked
The browser extension successfully unblocks major streaming platforms including Netflix, Disney+, Hulu and more.
Areas for Improvement
As a proxy service there are better available for less money, but very few that will also provide encryption. But even with this in mind, a VPN service would be as reliable and probably a little less costly. With a limited number of proxies, but all of them residing in a cooperative country, your security is excellent, but not guaranteed against legally ordered invasion.
While we experienced no errors during our installation, there was the issue of the unlock key. This situation demands that instead of doing a copy/paste of the key into the form, the key be entered manually. A fact that we discovered after 2 hours and before support contacted us about it.
Conclusion
While the application is very easy to use, and the servers are generally fast, the service is slightly expensive when compared to other more popular services like HideMyAss.
If you are about to spend for a Hide My IP plan, be sure you have taken a look at our best VPN service provider list to make sure that Hide My IP is really what you need. One good thing we have noted about Hide My IP is that they appear to have quite an active community and forum.
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