Name: HotspotShield VPN & Wifi Proxy
Rating: 4.54697 (270397 reviews)

User Reviews for HotspotShield VPN & Wifi Proxy

4.55 out of 5

270.4K Ratings

8 months ago, Slug stocks are expected

honest review ive been a member for about 7 months

If u scroll down you can see my new review 2024/ to be honest i don’t got a lot to say i think this app it’s probably one of the best ones i’ve had to watch an ad it used to be an hour per ad but as it got bigged they shortened it to 30 then to 15 then back to 30 what i liked but then back to 15 minutes i just wished that y’all would move it back up to 30 minutes like i understand theirs a crap ton of people using this app but at the time y’all can go back to 30 min per ad not just that i’d like to say with the new ads y’all made what advertises ur stuff it barley ever counts for me to have watch it pls fix that n good job to whoever have a made a good app/ hello 2024 it is currently january 9th i only got one problem anytime i try to get 30 minutes or 15 whatever it is it goes to a black screen everytime i once thought to myself “i’ll wait the 30 seconds” still didn’t pop up a X sometimes that used to happen to me when your own ad you guys made would come up but idk if it’s a bug or if my app is just messed up pls fix it thanks for everything y’all have done keep up the good work

3 years ago, ANTDAN19

Works phenomenally, Literally the BEST VPN!!

I’ve been using this VPN since 2017 & I am very satisfied with this products featured services. After a handful of occasions of forgetting to pay my subscription or simply not working it into my budget for the month & suffering the paranoia of unshielded online activity, I decided to pony up the annual fee. There was a bit of a learning curve as I presume is common with all VPN’s but once I figured out how, when & where to use it… let’s just say that I’ve provided some very luxurious services for myself & the group that I was traveling with making undesirable circumstances better than than they were. All in all the app works about 95% of the time for me unless I’m having cellular connection issues. I like the fact that I can have up to five devices covered on my premium acct. switching seamlessly from my cell, PC, tablet or laptop is never an issue. If you’re looking for a fully customizable, versatile VPN that’s reliable & secure… HotspotShield is the way to go in my personal opinion.

5 years ago, hotbisquiete

The BEST hotspot

I’m more than happy that I have downloaded this app, and for the free features it has a lot to offer! It’s accurate and doesn’t have any major flaws, practically FLAWLESS. It stays connected and I haven’t had any issues with it. I’m in highschool and as many know it my school blocks data use which forces us to use the school WiFi for even the most basic actions we make on our phones, and of course the WiFi blocks social media or (mostly) anything else that may be a possible distraction in class. I needed social media to keep in contact day to day for more serious situations other than just texting people to text. I needed school information or other important things outside of school and I was desperate for a decent vpn which I went through so many before I found this one and I am nothing other than pleased. If I had the money on pocket all the time I would for sure get premium. One big thumbs up on this one. It’s a keeper👍

3 years ago, disssapointment

Free VPN: what more could you want

This is assuming you are only going to use the free version. I’m sure the premium one is great too, but I only have the free one so that’s what I’m talking about. Okay so basically the free one will give you an ad you can close in five seconds every once in a while when you turn it on, and you can only connect to an American (or maybe just your nation?) server. Otherwise it works like a normal vpn. I use it to bypass my school’s WiFi restrictions, and it ha worked pretty well. In case you don’t have experience with vpn’s, this will never give you an ad while you are in another app or anything; that would make it malware, and it wouldn’t be on the App Store. But yeah, unless you just want to use a VPN to bypass region-locked content, this is a great vpn. Oh and premium let’s you connect to other regions’ servers.

1 year ago, kneepimper

Used it for a long time but it got bad 👹

I have used this vpn since 8th grade to be able to use my phone on the schools wifi. I’m a senior now and I have just deleted it and am looking for something different. It was so good when I would just push the on button for it and be good. But today I opened it to turn it on and it said I could only use it for 15 minutes. So I was like.. ok I guess I can deal with that. Then, I tried to push it and a page that told me to buy premium kept popping up about a million times no matter how many times it tried closing it. So I tried to go to my account to see if it was just a glitch. It kept happening and I got so annoyed I tried to close the app and re open. I still couldnt do anything in the app except watch the next premium page pop up and close it. So I deleted the app because it was just not working and I don’t want to deal with it. It was great before all that when you could just turn it on and go about your day.

3 years ago, Agant Perry

Linked to another Phone on the same data plan

A family member of mine I share a data plan with said that they’ve been experiencing problems on their phone since this month because I’ve been using this vpn a lot lately at school cause the Wi-Fi is terrible there. They had told me today that last their phone went completely white when I shut off my vpn and that they couldn’t get in to their phone even the camera didn’t work also whenever they called my phone it would go to voice mail and ask them to enter their password then the voice mail goes to this medical thing that makes strange noises. They had also claimed that whatever I do on my phone is like using their phone like a mask to do things on the internet but the thing is also when they call me I get the calls and end their texts as well soooo I don’t know if this vpn is completely safe I uninstalled it to see if it has improved their phone I don’t plan to reinstall this vpn and would advise anyone else experiencing this problem to do the same an maybe find a safer vpn that doesn’t do any of this.

8 months ago, Lunasmisery

What’s happening?!

I used to use this app all the time to connect to my school wife and do all my tasks, then it made me have to pay $9 a month to keep using it for free, I was uncomfortable with having to pay, but I thought it would be even better than it used to be, so I decided to start a subscription. Soon after I started paying a month, it stoped being able to connected. I tried everything, from restarting the app, to updating it, to checking to see if it was using my mobile internet to be able to connect, to deleting every vpn I had, but nothing works. I don’t understand. Isn’t it supposed to connect and be faster since it now has even more options with the option to find the best vpn to connect with my schools specific Wi-Fi? I guess not, and now I’m stuck paying for an app the doesn’t even wanna connect, please help. The Wi-Fi keeps going away every time I try to turn on the vpn and going to cellular data.

2 years ago, FrogMorgan

Problems resolved thanks

I had to get a new phone Apple 13. When they transferred my stuff from my other phone I just assumed everything was good. The payments for Hotspot have been taken out of my Apple account all along. Today I was going though my phone and my VPN information is missing not only that but a message to renew my subscription. I have the App and I deleted and reinstalled but in General, VPN nothing is filled out. Do I shave VPN or not ? Evidently this has been going on since February. I take my privacy very seriously with all that’s going on in the World today. Maybe it’s something I should have checked 1st thing and it’s partly my fault but now I’m bringing this too your attention and would appreciate this being resolved. The monthly payment is there services has not been up to par.

7 years ago, Jayni123

A constant battle while in China

The VPN worked fine at home in the US, but not while I actually needed it. In Shanghai and Qingdao I needed to use the VPN for accessing any websites, translator apps, etc. that I could normally from home. It took me at least 10 minutes to get it to work every time, closing and restarting the app, trying from different servers *if* it connected, and often being told I had no internet (with three full WiFi bars) or that they were diagnosing problems & to try again later... which still didn’t work after 24 hours. Overall I was lucky if it even worked at all, let alone for longer than 5 minutes. It would often drop me from my WiFi as it “connected”, repeatedly, and caused me to go back through the whole process mentioned above every five minutes (or less!) I had success with this VPN only twice for 30 minutes; but it was hell to get it there. To think I payed $13 for this kind of hassle. What a waste.

5 years ago, angelaljsutton

Happy I downloaded it.

So I’m not the type of person to review much unless I’m buying it but I def have to for this app. I love it. I downloaded 7 or 8 hotspot apps that were rated good but also had good ratings. However every single app (except for this one) required a membership which I did NOT want to pay for. Although this app has a premium offer as well, it is not required like many of the other apps which was a huge necessity for me. I was a little skeptical at first when I used it but it actually works seamlessly, even without the membership! There is all sorts of country’s to chose from and it doesn’t slow you down at all. I’m happy to recommend this to anyone. And if you do subscribe to the premium you will get even faster speeds and all sorts of other features. Definitely the best hotspot app. Highly recommended!

1 year ago, JuanCMessi

ruined

i have been using hotspot shield for the past 4-5 years and it was the best vpn out in the app store until recently they decided to give their non-premium members limited time to use it. you have to watch an add to have only 15 minutes of “free time” which it’s absurd. for the past years the free option never had a time limit of usage until now and its honestly disappointing because i travel a lot to foreign countries for work and i had always used this vpn to stay connected to the US servers. what way to ruin a great vpn app. i can already hear the “we put the adds so its free for our users.” for the past 5 years i never had an issue with this app until now. i recommend you to go find a better vpn app now cause thats what i’ll be doing.

2 years ago, kfkdknnendjdoforjhe

Amazing vpn for fighting off tyrannical school wifi

My school has this weird wifi barrier and you can’t use your cellular data because they’re weird and the other vpn that I used to use before (rest in piece) stopped working so now I use this one and it works just as good. I can’t really think of any complaints for this vpn. I don’t get ads, it works consistently although sometimes it will disconnect if I turn my phone off and I’m not sure if that’s the school wifi’s fault or the vpn’s fault. Pretty good for counteracting the school’s evil anti cellular data barrier except I have to use this vpn and another vpn to counteract the school wifi. This works for now although I might need another vpn soon. Very good vpn, I have and would recommend to others.

7 years ago, Itsyaboydjteach

Drops Connection

When it works this VPN barely hits my performance and I trust their payment model enough to believe they aren’t selling my data. That being said, the VPN itself is so unstable I wonder how much security I’m actually gaining. Two issues here: 1) The VPN randomly drops connection when online, and though it resets, I am obviously losing VPN status which I assume allows the sites I’m visiting to log my IP and activity while it’s down. 2) It’s hard to turn off. There are obviously circumstances where a VPN isn’t needed or desired, especially a free one. However, when I try to turn it off, this VPN often switches back on by itself and I cannot get it to remain off. In fact this is my second download. I deleted it the first time to see if that would fix the issue. However I see that I’m not the only one having that issue. Pro tip: don’t rely on this if you have something truly sensitive flowing over your traffic.

3 years ago, ✞Jasmine✞

very good app 😁

It is a really good app to get into things that have been blocked like my school WiFi blocks snap, tik tok and all of that stuff and for me before I got this I couldn’t do anything because I don’t have a SIM card well I wanted to try my luck and get this and to my surprise it actually worked! It doesn’t really help connect you to WiFi more but it unblocks stuff and does help with internet traffic the only reason I don’t give it 5 stars is because it’s pretty slow most of the time and it makes me watch a good bit of adds like 4 in a row every once in a while. But I recommend this if you need WiFi access to something and almost everything’s blocked like at school or if you want to at least take more caution in being safe while using others WiFi or hotspots!

1 year ago, orbify123489

Amazing

I am a senior and throughout my years of terrible service at my school one of my friends told me about this app. He said that i have to connect to the school wifi and use the vpn the app provides you. Once i tried out the vpn it worked, i had no problems whatsoever. the free time limit on the app is alright seeing how you get an extra 15 minutes for a 10 second add. It doesn’t only work on school wifi, it works anywhere. I definitely recommend downloading this app, it’s free. Now my girlfriend won’t get mad at me for not responding because my message wouldn’t load. The only reason she could text me so fast was because she had the app too 😂

6 years ago, Hurricaneal3x

Used to be Good

It’s trash now. It used to be simple, reliable, and more importantly versatile (able to be used everywhere) with stable connection. Now they added a fancy button that doesn’t turn off when you want it to. Now it’s connection randomly drops. Now I cant even use it at school anymore. It works for a little bit then it does this annoying thing where it says its connected, but when I go on any app it “freezes” Like there’s a little clock thing in the middle of the button and it works when on the app but it clearly stops when you go off of it. On top of that, it has these fits where it won’t connect at all. Customer Support is a no as well. I understand having special features for premium version but denying people customer service for the app as a whole and not just premium is a scummy thing to do. The app is trash now. The ONLY reason I keep this app is cause it’s pretty much the only one that semi-works. As soon as I find a better one you better believe this is getting deleted.

1 year ago, Rj-saki

Doesn’t work even when I bought It

Right so normally it’s good but like lately it hasn’t been working as well like there was this one time I didn’t buy the VPN subscription and like I was reading a comic and every time I have to read another page I had to go turn off and turn on the VPN every single time and it was very frustrating so I decided to buy the VPN subscription which made absolutely no difference because I tried different ones like United States streaming UK gaming and all of them said no connection and I waited and waited I thought if I had bought the subscription it would make a difference but it didn’t. Although it used to normally be good this happens sometimes not a lot but often enough to make me give it 3 stars other than this problem it’s pretty good I suppose since I’ve been using this since the 8th grade.

3 years ago, cupcks1973

old download still available

unfortunately I was able to register for a free seven day trial and download an older version of the hotspot VPN shield. This version did not have updated locations associated within the United States for their IP addresses. I selected Seattle and the IP address had located in New Jersey. Completely f'd up a project I was working on because of location setting. I contacted customer support and they immediately sent me the updated version of the app, however, why was I able to download an old version in the first place.?? Not only was I able to download it but I was able to subscribe to it. Sounds like there needs to be some maintenance and janitorial work done ASAP so this doesn’t happen to other people. Other than this it’s been a great VPN and it does work very fast and I’m pleased with it since downloading the updated version.

5 years ago, appsucks2020

Please please Hotspot shield VPN developers please fix this serious problems with this app soon

Please fix all this issues with this VPN APP please App Developers I am serious Please fix this vpn app I have been using it for a long time and now every time this vpn is turn on for 20 or 30 mins it disconnects and also when my phone is on lock mode it takes time to connect again to the vpn please make this vpn connection much stronger because it keeps on disconnecting and I have tried everything you guys have told me to do Ive tried everything I am serious I’ve tried everything and the problem still persist so please fix this vpn app and make the connection of this vpn app much much stronger and much faster please app developers fix this as soonest possible I would appreciate it so much if it is fix soon also please make this VPN fully encrypted and fully secure with 256 Bit Encryption please make this VPN app fully encrypted with 256 Bit Encryption if you developers fix all this it would be appreciated it a lot

5 years ago, 👍❤️😄

Poor Connection Constantly

This app is constantly disconnecting and slowing down my apps when I use it. My apps freeze all the time, even shutting down and I pretty much can’t use any app that requires internet connection when I try to have it on. I’ve been using it for quite awhile and it’s slowly been getting worse, to the point that my connection AT SCHOOL where I’ve always had trouble with connection and apps freezing is better than my connection with the VPN on. Honestly its more than of a bother that it is helpful. I saw good reviews when I downloaded it and for the most part it worked pretty well especially compared to other free VPN apps but once it added the premium feature the quality of regular VPN dropped so if you’re looking for a good free VPN this unfortunately isn’t it. It definitely was at one point but if you’re not paying for premium you might as well not even be using VPN because you’ll have a better chance at being able to use your apps.

1 year ago, ZeroTye

Deleted and Reinstalled

I’ve been using this app since 2022 and when I first downloaded it I loved it. Ads only when I opened up the app and the VPN would work amazing all day. It felt like using my phone at home. Though a few months ago an update to watch ads in exchange of VPN use lost my interest. It would make you watch an ad of 5-30sec for only 15 minutes of VPN. I was upset and to say the least, I went through maybe 10-15 VPN apps. Either they required a purchase or the connection was horrible. I chose to come back to this VPN as my last resort for a VPN. I loved it again. Even though I still have to watch ads, now it gives 1 hour of VPN use in exchange of one ad. I’m satisfied with its services and one ad for 1 hour seems fair enough for me.

1 year ago, Lucas Osorio

Really nice all around (with ads)

Although I didn’t pay for the premium vpn, I can say without a doubt this vpn is worth the ads. Currently, 1 ad is 60 minutes of vpn time and it feels very worth it, I can usually just watch 10 ads and get a few days worth of vpn time at my school. The connection is secure and very fast but I do have some complaints. The vpn auto disconnects after some time so I usually have to open the app again just to re-establish a connection. The app isn’t filled with ads which is a plus, but sometimes when I try to load a ad to get vpn time no ads will be available which I find a little strange. Other then that, the vpn works as intended and doesn’t require payment to still be fast and secure.

1 year ago, RealMThatcher

Great but not perfect

Premium and ad-driven modes both provide good, effective VPN for overcoming limited internet access and protecting privacy, with respect to the amount invested. Premium especially provides fast internet access and quick connection speed. Would give a higher score if a few problems were solved. The non premium mode often quietly disconnects for no reason, which may be annoying for users relying on a consistent secure connection. My trial period for premium was also turned off early; the app displayed the option to start a 7 day trial, but tapping the associated upgrade option failed to renew premium service for the trial period, regardless of whether I had cancelled or retained the app store subscription. Please solve!

3 years ago, Thomasgzt

Works on my PC, but not on my iPhone and iPad, generally works poor in China

As a student living in China usually, getting a vpn has always been crucial for me, since I need to access some particular websites. For me, I prefer VPNs that have a large number of servers globalwide. When I found out that Hotspot Shield VPN satisfies this, I chose this vpn. Nevertheless, as soon as I started to use it, I found out that there was a critical problem. The VPN works on my Windows PC, but only confined to a small range of servers such as New Zealand, Russia and Thailand. Other servers like Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Norway, and even the US server, were not working all the time. Even though I change the VPN protocol, some servers still work poorly. This issue was displayed on my iPhone and iPad either. On my iPhone and iPad, most servers can't be connected quickly. In the iOS app, I found out that I can't change the VPN protocol, which I could do it on my Windows PC. I didn't test how this vpn works when I am outside of China, but this VPN is definitely not friendly to users in China. I hope the developer team fix the stability of the VPN servers in China. Plus, dear developer team, please add the VPN protocol change on the iOS app.

4 years ago, rakhelle

I never write reviews but!!

So I never write reviews at all. This is definitely going to be my first and last🤣 but seriously!! I had to write one for this app. So I’ve moved to a place with extremely slow WiFi, and the WiFi is unstable always turned off and on. I was searching for a vpn and I’ve heard about this but never tried it out, and let me tell y’all!!! When I use it my iPhone works 10 times faster , and WiFi doesn’t lag, and it’s not slow AT ALL anymore. I did not know that VPN can do this bc all the other vpn apps I’ve tried in the past has not worked like this AT ALL, other vpn apps made my WiFi slow. HONESTLY thank you so much I’m so happpyyyyy !!!🥰✨ and I %100 Recommend this vpn app

1 year ago, RealZombieSlayer

Terrible

Before they updated it, it was a good vpn app. Decent connection and held connection for long times. Now that they updated it, you need to watch ads to add time so you can use your vpn for that much time (it adds 60 minutes per ad.) I wouldn’t care too much if I could actually watch the ad to add time. Every time it says “There are no ads to show, please try again later.” Every TIME. If I had my vpn I could watch an ad. So I have no connection and there’s no ads to watch. Why can’t you just add ads on the bottom of the app menu. Like a rectangle to show ads or include the ads I watch when I open the app to my time. It’s absolutely ridiculous. All my friends and I are uninstalling this vpn and finding a better one. Absolutely terrible. I absolutely don't recommend using this app ever. If they remove the add time feature maybe i’d reinstall. Highly doubt it though.

1 year ago, gegermo

Worse than it is

Not only is this new update the worst thing that's happened to this app, my phone's internet has been absolutely horrible ever since I started using this app, anytime I disconnected to the wifi at my house, I had to rely on this app to have a stable internet connection. I'm on a family plan and I have the IPhone 11, though my phones only about 2 years old now, it still runs fairly well all things considered. But my siblings asks me if my internet connection is okay, but I say no obviously because I can't even use the internet without a VPN being connected to my phone now. I only downloaded this app with the intention of getting past all the School wifi restrictions and how limiting schools are even though literally everyone uses a VPN regardless. I feel like I'm one of the only people who's even worse off without this VPN service than before I had it

2 years ago, SushiYEET

App won’t open + vpn won’t turn off

I’ve been using this app for 2 years now and it works well. But sometimes when I’m on a public wifi (or data) with the vpn on and tap to open the app, it stays stuck on the first blue page that just says “Hotspot Shield” on the middle. It doesn’t go past that no matter how long you let it load for. It’s not an issue with my iPhone XR; all my other apps work perfectly fine and open fast too. It only opens normally when I’m on my home wifi or data. Also, when this happens, I can’t turn the vpn off from my settings app either. If I disconnect it from there, it automatically connects again in a few seconds regardless of whether I turn the “connect on demand” option on or off. This is so annoying. What do I do?

2 years ago, GMK64

excellent app, annoying to install on new devices

i have been using this app for years. great app, but annoying when you try to install from app store. it wants you to purchase premium even if you are an existing customer. must go to subscription to cancel it. other quirks as well during said installation. but if you don’t have to reinstall this app on a different phone or tablet, you will have a better experience. I wish I could’ve installed it directly from their site. installing on a PC doesn’t have any issues. Otherwise, very nice application. Like I said I’ve been using for at least eight years.

3 years ago, thankskillingturkie

The free plan is super nice

Most freemium VPNs have a sub par free plan so that you are urged to go with a pricey plan but HotspotShield has a super nice free plan. They give you 500MB of data per day which is more than enough for anybody who is not streaming movies or shows on their phone. If you do plan on streaming movies or shows you could just turn off the VPN while you do that and then turn it back on after. If you are looking for privacy or just the basic VPN stuff then this one is for you. However if you plan on using a VPN to mask your location than this is not the one for you. It only gives you one server from America is you are doing the free plan, but despite the lack of free servers it is still quite amazing.

2 years ago, Alexey1563

Good 👍

You have to wait more than a minute for your vpn to connect. Also vpn sometimes works slowly. I am in Russia. This is one of the only major vpn that works in Russia and I would like you to improve the speed of connection and work. I've been using the premium version for over a year now. Upd I reinstalled the vpn profile and everything is much faster, the connection happens in a few seconds. I think you should suggest users from difficult regions to reinstall vpn profile from time to time. Since the last month I have been waiting for a minute for the vpn connection to be completed. I told my friends and at the bottom everything also accelerated a lot. Thank you!

5 months ago, Great fun game ruined

Good connection but embarrassing ads

Alright, first off, the app is great, connection is great, and it’s free. This is the best VPN you’ll probably ever have on your iPhone. But the ads in the free version are very suspicious and promiscuous in-nature. I’ll be in school trying to turn on the VPN or turn it off and all of the sudden, an ad with a woman in very revealing clothing or with clothes off even will pop up before I can react in time to close it, and even if I do react in time, there’s usually a 5 second timer before I can X-out the ad. This is very embarrassing and to my knowledge, isn’t a targeted ad because there’s no option or setting for advertisements to be targeting you as the audience. Please fix this and save me and possibly others from being horribly embarrassed in public for something we have no control over.

1 year ago, willie1567

Was really good…

Similar to a lot of people, I use to use this app at my high school to protect my device from all of the nosy teachers who like to monitor who is on their phones. It worked very well and I had all day protection and could turn it on and off as I pleased. My friends had got the recent update and realized they had taken away the free version and now you have to watch lengthy ads to get 15 whole minutes of VPN. Ah yes, I want to spend an hour of my day watching ads to protect my device at school. I tried not to update the app, but they made it impossible to use it without updating the app. It’s a shame what corporate greed does to people. They should of stayed free, I know many people who would be much more willing to use their VPN again if they switched back to their original service. Very dissatisfied regarding the changes and will be deleting this VPN.

5 years ago, Omaralicea

China 🇨🇳 and my concern for security.

On my trip to Beijing, China, I prepared a plan for the whole week and enjoy my holidays to the fullest, but I worry about safety in a different country with other customs, culture and laws totally different to what I may be used to, it was in that moment where insecurity took hold of me. In summary China 🇨🇳 is a country that controls the communication and information of its inhabitants and its visitors under strict laws. Here the questions begin; How do I protect my personal identity information? How do I protect the information I have stored on my phone? How do I protect the banking or government information that I may have stored on my phone or through an application installed on my cell phone? How do I prevent someone from accessing my diary, medical information or malicious intent to track down my location? Questions that we ask ourselves every day, but when you are in another country it is very dangerous. Use between 8 to 10 VPN applications to have the experience and without a doubt, HotspotShield was the only VPN that met my expectations 100%.

1 year ago, yessssssssssssssssssssssssir

DON’T UPDATE APP

Before the new update this app was all I would use for school, because there is a dead spot for my carrier here. But now that there is a new update, it requires you to watch a video to get time to connect to the app, the only problem is to watch the video you have to have some sort of connection. I would use this vpn to connect so I could do something like that, but since I need to watch a video before to connect I can’t watch the video. Which keeps me from connecting to the internet. Please fix this, all of the other vpn apps that I’ve tried are just like this new update.

1 year ago, mynamewastakensorry

New Update

Dude the update is so unnecessary. It really shocked everyone and was a random update none of us were able to see ahead of time or prepare for it. I have to watch ads to get 15 minutes but it won’t even give me ads. Saying “ no available ads “ or even when I do get an ad, it won’t let me watch it because my Wi-Fi is bad and to get good Wi-Fi I need the vpn. It really doesn’t make sense or maybe it’s just my experience but I think the update is just gonna make everyone switch to another app because of the update. A lot of people use this app and recommend the app but I honestly think just to leave it how it was before. Everyone enjoyed it and it was reliable and convenient. Now it’s just the opposite. I don’t usually write reviews so hopefully this gives people the idea on how the app is now. It used to be really amazing to use.

1 year ago, shhsnsbe

money hungry update

this app used to be the best vpn, it was the only vpn tht my school couldn’t bypass. but this new update makes it so that where you used to be able to use the vpn for an unlimited amount of time, now you can only use it for 15 minutes for free IF you watch an ad. even then, if you click to watch an ad, it’ll say “no ads available” in an attempt to get you to spend $12-$95 for their overpriced subscriptions. greed will be the downfall of this app and luckily i won’t be around to experience it. hotspot shield doesn’t know their audience, as majority of the ppl who use this app are middle and high schoolers who don’t have the money to pay $65 for an app subscription when there are a surplus of other FREE options out there. hotspot shield will just end up losing more money in the long run with this greedy business move.

5 years ago, 2020happyuser

I must thank all the diligent people from HotspotShield!

I am now in China, city of Beijing January 24, 2020 and am using HotspotShield app basic free plan to connect with success multiple times to google voice, google search engine, google account sign-in. If no VPN, all these connections failed in Beijing. I also tried some other free VPN apps most of which failed to establish connection to their servers, which probably are blocked by China’s great firewall. HotspotShield app connects with success and high degrees of consistency. Before coming to China, I did huge amount research for free VPN apps and their connectivities in China. The information places high regards to HotspotShield, which is proven by my experience now.

6 years ago, Justsayin1324

BAD Design!

What used to be a simple and fairly reliable app is now nothing but an annoying headache. THERE IS NO WAY TO TURN IT OFF, if for example the connection is slow and you’d rather just connect to the net without a VPN for speeds sake. Even if you turn the vpn button in the ipad setting to off, it will automatically TURN ITSELF BACK ON, without user permission. This has always been a problem but I use to consider it minor because one could delete the app and re-download it from the app store as needed. EXCEPT, now instead of giving the option of logging in after downloading it is ONLY set up to force you to subscribe—if you already have an account, resubscribe. Even if you ALREADY PAID for a multi-device plan through your computer. I got charged twice basically because the app designers are too stupid to give the user the option to turn the VPN ON and OFF at will!

1 year ago, vvmro

Not the same…

I have been an active user of this application for years now, it it’s worked wonders for me. Everything was good at first - if you’re not paying for the subscription, you just have to watch and ad or two to turn the VPN on, which is very fair. But as of recently, this has changed. You not have to watch a 30-40 second, un-skippable ad in return for ONLY 15 minutes of the VPN. I’ve tried to comply and try to use it like that but it’s just annoying having to go back and forth. Not only this, but the feature in itself it broken. Sometimes it’ll display a message such as “No ads available at this time.” Like really? This app has been good to me but after this update, I don’t know if I’ll continue using this app… sorry.

6 years ago, Emily Student

Only nice with premium.

I am in high school, and the phone I have I earned my own money to purchase. My family doesn’t have lots of money and we don’t have any payment accounts set up on a credit card. I use this VPN to access the internet at school to check grades and get assignments, but it stopped working for me. I don’t click 7 day trial, just kept clicking the X. Now it’s not working all for me which is horrible. I can’t find a single other VPN that works for me , believe me I’ve tried, and the fact that I have to spend money to get this to work is sad. I need this to help my education and paying it isn’t an option.

5 years ago, snafuzz

Happy

It’s a vpn. You have to pay for going to another sever like if you’re from the US, you wanna use Asain servers etc. But it comes with its quirkes. You DONT have to pay to use, you can just use it. There’s unlimited data, so don’t worry about that. And NO and I repeat NO ads. The only thing you have to worry about is Netflix. You can’t watch it. And the only thing you have to (if you want to) pay for is their server change. I think a great addition would be you trying to make Netflix compatible with your app. I love it but anytime I wanna watch Netflix I have turn the app off. Anyways I love the app! Nothing REALLY bad about it. Waiting for the updates!

5 months ago, Mark080200

Reliable and easy to use

I’ve been a premium subscriber for more than a year now and let me tell you, Hotspot shield has been a game changer. This app is really essential for me as it allows me to access online banking which isn't accessible on the countries that I usually travel to. Also, thanks to Hotspot shield I can now watch my favorite series that is block on the countries I travel. As someone who doesn't have much tech knowledge, I really found this app simple and easy to navigate. It gives me peace of mind every-time I'm watching or doing online banking. Great experience overall.

2 months ago, JPman_2022

Drops way too often

Love the app when it works, however it constantly drops connection. it’s just the app being very picky about when it wants to stay connected. What’s the point of total security if the app is gonna drop the connection when I turn off my phone? Or sometimes it’ll drop so often that the app can’t connect to the VPN, so I’ll have to uninstall and reinstall the app just to get it working again. There are times where I can’t connect to my internet without a VPN, so in these instances I’m screwed until I have a stable spot to reinstall. I have auto on enabled and everything but it still won’t hold. This is a major issue!!!! I’ve been a long time user of this app and would love if they fixed this issue. Until then, 2 stars.

2 days ago, HDR138

Honest Review ( 10 Stars )

I live in a country where everything is very heavily restricted and my actual ip address is useless. Our government has blocked several protocols and forced our ISPs to use Deep Packet Inspection to stop people from using free internet. But HotspotShield is the only VPN that is perfect even in such horrible internet conditions. It’s very fast, has several servers for free and the connection is quite stable. HotspotShield does all of this for free while other VPN services can’t even connect. HUGE thanks to HotspotShield developers, I would definitely purchase the premium plan, but unfortunately I can’t afford it.

11 months ago, Twix2247

No longer has stable connections (update)

UPDATE: 20OCT2023, so the issue with app was it trying to pick the best form of von standard unsuccessfully, between hydra, IPsec and Wireguard. Just manually select wireguard and the app was able to create a vpn connection. Used this app as a premium user for over a year. Worked great! But recently on iOS 16.7.1 the app will not generate a stable VPN connection. Just keeps connecting and then disconnecting. I tried all the trouble shooting tips, to no avail. HotSpot Shield still works on my windows laptop, just iOS is where the connection issues are. Until they get it figured out I would no longer recommend this VPN.

1 year ago, braullll

I paid for subscription and didn’t recieve it.

A few days ago I purchased the monthly subscription for hotspot shield. After buying it I noticed I still didn’t have the perks in the app. I thought it was a bug so I waited a few hours and still nothing. I’ve been waiting until today to see if it was a bug and I still haven’t gotten the perks even though I bought the subscription. Please if any of the developers are reading this please fix this so it doesn’t happen again, I love hotspot shield but this just made me a little disappointed since I wasted money and didn’t recieve what I was promised. Also if I can actually have the perks onto my account that would be great.

1 year ago, Shanker554

This VPN is a scam now

The app used to be very good for being a free vpn, but at one point it began adding ads to use any of the servers in order to support themselves. Though I understand this from a business perspective they also began doing shady things with them. The ads became only of the app itself, and the time you would get from apps decreased and began to randomly disappear when you are away. I believe this is purposely to incite you into buying the premium version of the app. They also have a 7 day free trial of it occasionally appear and it sometimes charges you in addition to starting the trial anyway. So you may get an additional 7 days but before the trials were free to start. So be careful starting the trial because if you have enough money in your account it will charge you for a year membership.

2 years ago, luc_topi

wont open

this vpn is one of the best I have used up until now. it has always worked without fail and gives me great connection in places that don't have good connection in the first place. Now however, when I go to open the app it is stuck on the loading screen with the title of the app on it and refuses to open. This wouldn't have bothered me normally because it automatically connects now, but when I am at a place like my home that has good internet it seems to interrupt the connection of my wifi. I am going to reinstall to see if it fixes the problem but right now it just will not work. I hope that this issue gets fixed so I can use it again.

1 year ago, AKnuppel

Best Terrible App

Great service until now but with this update you need to watch an ad every 15 minutes for free vpn. I used to use the app during school to get around their game blocking. I loved it and enjoyed it with the pervious ads which would run when you turned it on or off. Although it was annoying rant when I wanted to turn of the vpn I can’t just close the app I have to watch an ad it was fair enough. This update however means I will never be using it again and switches services. To the developers: You will lose an unbelievable amount of users from this it was a horrible decision. At least make the time gained form an ad measured in hours not minutes. By trying to force us to watch more ads we will never watch any for you again. 0 stars switching immediately.

Description

Hotspot Shield is the fastest* VPN with unlimited access to keep your internet activity secure, private, and protected. Whether browsing, gaming, or enjoying shows and movies—you need a VPN that offers industry-leading security at fast speeds! Whether at home or on the go, stay safe online with lightning-fast, secure & private internet security. With one tap, you can connect to the VPN, encrypt your internet traffic, and stay secure online. With a Hotspot Shield VPN proxy, you can browse, stream content, and game while staying private and secure online, even on public Wifi. Hotspot Shield Free VPN Features: • Free, unlimited VPN. No card required (ad-supported) • VPN speeds up to 2.2x faster than the competition • Simple, one-tap connect to the VPN • Complete privacy with no registration or email required • Secure proxy connection with no saved logs and military-grade encryption • Patented VPN technology that automatically connects you to the fastest VPN server • Hydra IPSec, split tunneling, Tor over VPN, DNS and IP leak protection, and more • 24/7 customer support Upgrade to Hotspot Shield Premium VPN: • 800+ fast VPN servers with speeds up to 1 Gbps • 125+ virtual VPN locations globally • Auto-connect to the VPN on device startup - IKEv2 (IPSec) • Multiple VPN modes for optimized gaming, browsing, and video • Connect to the VPN on up to 10 devices • Ad-free experience Hotspot Shield Premium VPN Subscriptions: – Annual plan: first 7 days free, then $79.99/yr. – 6-month plan: $53.99 – Monthly plan: $9.99/mo. • Payments are made through the App Store at the point of purchase. • Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the subscription period. • Any unused portion of a trial period will be forfeited upon purchasing a subscription. *Source: https://www.top10vpn.com/best-vpn/fastest-vpn/ Privacy policy: https://www.hotspotshield.com/privacy-policy/ Terms of service: https://www.hotspotshield.com/terms/