PROS

  • Excellent speed test scores
  • Friendly, simple interface.
  • Handy IP shuffler
  • Split Tunneling

CONS

  1. Expensive, monthly subscription not available in certain regions
  2. Needs to continue to improve its privacy practices
  3. Unclear where servers are located
  4. No recent transparency reports


To improve your privacy, you wish a virtual non-public network, or VPN, like HMA (formerly Hide My Ass). This VPN has wonderful user expertise and has taken strides to enhance its practices to higher defend its customers. Still, it's a high up-front value and comes while not several of the tools more cost-effective competitors embody.


What Is a VPN?

When you activate a VPN, it creates an associate degree encrypted tunnel to shield your information because it passes from your pc to a server controlled by the VPN. From there, your information exits onto the open net. This prevents anyone lurking on your native network from observing or intercepting your activity. A VPN additionally makes it tougher for your activities to be half-track online by activity your true IP address, and it prevents your net Service supplier (ISP) from gathering data concerning your online activities thus it will sell anonymized user information to the best bidder.

While a VPN may be a powerful tool to enhance your privacy, it does not defend against all ills. I extremely suggest that folks activate two-factor authentication where it's obtainable, use a word manager, and install antivirus software system on their computers. 



Pricing and options

If you are looking to undertake HMA VPN before you get it, you'll be able to with its seven-day trial. That free trial will need you to form an associate degree account and turn over your MasterCard data. At the conclusion of your trial, expect to be beaked. If you are in would like an excellent VPN, however, don't have anything in your notecase, you'll be able to perpetually attempt a free VPN. Most of those services place limitations on your service unless you pay, however. TunnelBear, as an example, limits its free users to an explicit allotment of knowledge. ProtonVPN's free arranges place no information limits on users, creating it simply the most effective I've tested.

HMA will provide a monthly subscription possibility, however not in Australia, the UK, or the US. In those regions, valuation starts at $59.88 annually. that is considered but the $72.72 average annual value I've half-track across the business. however it's considerably quite the $10.18 price for a monthly subscription, that is what I take advantage of to match VPNs. HMA additionally offers a three-year arrangement for $143.64.


Why do I place such a lot of stress on monthly subscription plans? It's partially owing to their ubiquitousness. regarding each VPN offers one, and that I like apples-to-apples comparisons. it is also as a result of I like to recommend against beginning out with a long subscription, however. there aren't any thanks to savvy a VPN can work for you till you are attempting it. associate degree annual arranges would possibly find yourself saving cash, however not if it is a dud and you wish to search out a replacement product.

Many VPNs are available well below the business averages for monthly and annual value. Editors' alternative winners Mullvad VPN and TunnelBear value a mere €5 ($5.65 USD, at the time of this writing) and $9.99 per month. each Mullvad and TunnelBear run concerning $60 a year, and the Kaspersky Secure association is had for $29.99 annually. 

To buy an associate degree HMA subscription, you'll be able to use credit cards or PayPal. These square measure convenient choices. What you cannot use square measure cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, that square measure accepted by several VPN services (Private net Access, NordVPN, and others). Mullvad accepts money sent to their HQ, and TorGuard enables you to use paid gift cards from different corporations to get subscriptions.

Most VPN services provide a minimum of 5 licenses while not restricted, and HMA follows suit. that is smart, however, several corporations have begun to do higher. A solid chunk of services enables quite 5 devices victimization the service at a time, whereas a couple of having done away with the limitation entirely. Avira Phantom VPN, Encrypt.me VPN, Ghostery hour, IPVanish VPN, Surfshark VPN, and Windscribe VPN place no limit on the number of devices. (Note that IPVanish and code.me square measure owned  by j2 international, the parent company of PCMag's publisher, Ziff Davis.)

Charging quite the typical for a VPN isn't any nice sin, provided the corporate will justify the expense. HMA, however, doesn't embody several extra privacy tools. It will embody a split tunneling feature, that enables you to designate that apps or sites send their information through the VPN. that is glorious. the corporate doesn't offer access to the Tor Anonymization network, however, nor will it provide multihop connections that route your traffic through 2 VPN servers for added privacy. ProtonVPN is that the sole service I actually have reviewed that gives all 3.



VPN Protocols


There square measure some ways to form a VPN association. My most popular technique uses the OpenVPN protocol, which is thought for its speed and reliableness. it is also an ASCII text file, {and therefore|and thus|and thus} has been picked over for potential vulnerabilities by anyone with the interest to try to do so.
HMA supports totally different|completely different} protocols on different platforms. The Windows and humanoid apps use OpenVPN, which is nice. The iOS and macOS apps use IKEv2, which is another trendy and secure protocol. 


The heir to OpenVPN is WireGuard, another ASCII text file VPN protocol. What makes it enticing is that the newer security technology it's engineered on, and therefore the apparently glorious speeds it affords users. I have never totally tested WireGuard, however, the initial results are promising. 

HMA presently doesn't support WireGuard, however, that is not an associate degree issue—yet. Other VPNs, like Mullvad and NordVPN, have gone beat on this new technology.


Servers and Server Locations

Ideally, a VPN company can supply a server that is close to where you're. the speculation has invariably been that the nearer the server, the higher the performance. Having several server locations additionally offers you plenty of choices for spoofing your locations.

On its face, HMA is that the winner for geographic diversity. the corporate boasts that it offers servers in 290 locations, across a hundred ninety countries. This so much exceeds the next-highest challenger, categorical VPN, which has servers in ninety-four countries, followed by CyberGhost with servers in ninety countries.
The list of obtainable server locations offered by HMA is especially noteworthy as result it covers regions usually unheeded by alternative VPN firms. It has, as an example, various server locations across the continent of Africa. Some VPNs may supply one or 2 server locations in Africa, whereas most ignore the continent utterly. HMA additionally totally covers South America, another often-ignored region, and is one among the only a few firms to possess the Islamic Republic of Iran as a server location. It even offers server locations in places with restrictive web policies, like Vietnam and Russia.


There's a massive caveat to the current coverage: Most of it's not what it seems to be. HMA makes serious use of virtual servers. These square measure software-defined servers, which means that one hardware server will play host to many virtual ones. Moreover, virtual servers are often designed to seem somewhere aside from the various locations of their hardware costs.
There's nothing wrong with virtual servers as such. several VPN firms use them to address sudden demand on their networks. some have smartly used virtual servers to supply access to dangerous regions by inserting the host machine in an exceedingly safer location. As long as it's clear to users wherever their knowledge is truly headed, I even have very little drawback with virtual servers.

HMA tests my tolerance. it's servers in sixty-six real locations across thirty-six countries, all of that serves the 130-odd alternative countries. No alternative VPN service I even have reviewed has such a lot of virtual server locations. HMA additionally does not do a good job act that servers square measure virtual, or wherever they're set. the corporate has to clarify these practices to users, each within the app and on the company's website.


An HMA representative explained to ME that the corporate doesn't own all of its server infrastructures, however, has taken steps to secure all of its servers. These embody full-disk coding to stop datacenter staff from accessing info, keeping its certificate authority non-public keys on isolated infrastructure, and then forth. These square measure cheap precautions. alternative firms choose to own all their machines, and a few like ExpressVPN have affected RAM-only servers that square measure wiped as shortly as they're disconnected to stop the change of state. 


Your Privacy With HMA

When I review VPNs, I browse the company's privacy policy and speak with representatives so as to higher perceive however your knowledge is employed and keep. within the case of HMA, the corporate ought to be recommended on its clear privacy policy. the corporate has additionally created huge changes to its practices because it gathers so much less knowledge than the last time I reviewed it.
The policy states, and company representatives ensure, that HMA doesn't gather or log user informatics addresses, DNS requests, or browsing knowledge. that is wonderful, and a lot of firms ought to attempt to gather as very little info as doable. the corporate will still log the day of affiliation (but not the time), and a "rounded" quantity of transferred knowledge for thirty-five days. whereas the corporate says that none of this info may be connected to a user, it ought to attempt to gather less info or retain it for much less time.

These enhancements associate with a caveat. the corporate says that its free proxy browser plugin still logs informatics addresses, domain names of websites visited, and a timestamp. The company's privacy policy says that this info is deleted every thirty days, and is required to stop the abuse of a free service. that is AN uncomfortable quantity of in-person recognizable info. HMA ought to either rethink its proxy plugin or discontinue its use if such a lot of client knowledge is needed.

The company confirmed to ME that it solely makes cash through the sale of VPN subscriptions. which is nice since an organization you trust along with your privacy should not be profiting by mercantilism your knowledge.

HMA is in hand by Privax, which successively is in hand by the Avast cluster, of Avast antivirus fame. Note that Avast SecureLine VPN, AVG Secure VPN, and HMA! VPN square measure all in hand by a similar company. whereas HMA VPN operates on its own infrastructure, Avast and AVG-branded VPNs share a similar backside. Earlier this year, a PCMag investigation disclosed that Avast has already monetized its users' knowledge gathered through a browser plugin related to the Avast antivirus product. It doesn't seem that any VPN knowledge was concerned.

The actual location of a VPN company additionally matters because it will inform what protections square measure afforded to customers. HMA has its company headquarters in London and operates below the legal jurisdiction of the Uk. Notably, the united kingdom will have obligatory knowledge retention laws. that is not ideal. several alternative VPN services operate in countries while not obligatory knowledge retention laws, or in ones that have favorable privacy protections for shoppers. the corporate tells ME that the majority of its infrastructure is found within the European country, the house of Avast's company headquarters.

HMA's owner Avast will publish a transparency report that has data on HMA. This document outlines what number of requests the corporate has received for data from enforcement and the way the corporate responded. sadly, it isn't straightforward to search out (I had to raise my PR contact) and has not been updated since 2018. The report doesn't paint an ingratiatory image of HMA during this period of time, showing that it was capable of forty-three p.c of requests in 2017, and includes a note that claims the corporate additionally disclosed "root scientific discipline addresses" as a part of the requests. Given the changes that HMA has recently created to its service, it's unlikely that this type of knowledge would be discharged once more, however it's not possible to mention it while not AN up-to-date report.

Many VPN firms have started a business with the results of third-party audits, so as to determine their privacy bona fides. These audits are not invariably helpful, however, an honest audit is a wonderful method for a corporation to form itself responsible to customers. TunnelBear has committed to doing annual public audits and has stuck thereto promise. In August, HMA declared that VerSprite had completed AN audit of its no-logs policy. the whole report has not been publically discharged, however, a representative explained to Pine Tree State that VerSprite examined each HMA's apps and its backend, giving HMA a "low-risk user privacy impact rating." The audit looks comprehensive, and I would prefer to see HMA unleash additional data within the future and expand the scope of its audits on the far side of the company's no-logs policy.

Avast, HMA's parent company, additionally publishes a warrant canary. This subtly permits the corporate to speak if it's been subject to legal necessities that forestall the corporate from even acknowledging those necessities. The canary document mentions that the corporate has not been ordered to form any backdoors for accessing user content, which is nice. additional firms ought to embody this language and update their warrant canaries in an exceedingly similar manner.

Security is all regarding trust. If you do not want you'll trust a corporation for no matter reason, you must hunt down one you are feeling comfy with. luckily, there square measure an excellent several to decide on from, particularly once it involves VPNs.

Hands-On With HMA

I had no bother putting in the Windows version on AN Intel NUC Kit NUC8i7BEH (Bean Canyon) desktop running the newest version of Windows ten. curiously, you've got the choice to login with a username ANd countersign or with an activation code. Mullvad and ExpressVPN have each done away with logins entirely, and instead, use codes to activate the consumer code.

The latest version of the HMA consumer well balances easy use while not skimping on some astonishingly helpful tools. The app is constructed around one, monochromatic blue window with Jack, the one-time name donkey of HMA, within the center. Between the colorful interface and cartoon organism, it shares plenty in common with TunnelBear, though I feel TunnelBear has the sting within the friendliness and easy use department.


Still, HMA is not an effort. A tutorial can walk you thru your 1st session. although you ignore this, the massive electric switch that activates the VPN is tough to miss. By default, the app can connect you to what it thinks is that the quickest VPN server. You can, however, run a speed take a look at to verify the selection. this is often an astonishingly powerful very little tool that pulls up close servers, runs tests on all of them, then picks a winner. 

If you recognize the region you are looking for, you'll merely click the button at very cheap of the most screen and you may be given an inventory of servers. you'll search the list, or have it lessened by region. I like map interfaces, as a result of if the app does not have the placement I'm searching for, maps build it easier to choose the successive best choices. NordVPN, TunnelBear, and ProtonVPN square measure simply some of the merchandise that lean heavily on a map interface.

Unfortunately, the app will not allow you to choose specific servers. the best level of graininess accessible maybe a town. I additionally detected that P2P and streaming servers were clearly marked, however, it's still not clear that servers square measure virtual and that aren't. 

In the app you will find a kill switch, that shuts down net access ought your VPN to become disconnected. you'll additionally choose to have HMA limit net access from solely specific apps. 


While HMA does not have the speed privacy tools the VPN trade offers (or even all of the everyday ones), it will have some distinctive options that square measure quite handy. On most pages, you'll click a button next to your scientific discipline address to cycle to a replacement scientific discipline address. The app says that this would possibly unblock sites that refuse access to VPN users, though I similar to the privacy implications of having the ability to vary my scientific discipline address therefore simply. you'll additionally set up the app to mechanically cycle your scientific discipline address at set intervals, which is extremely corking.
Having a VPN that does not modification your visible scientific discipline address or leaks your DNS data is not abundant use. In my testing, I confirmed that HMA did modification my public scientific discipline address and obfuscated my ISP. victimization the DNS Leak take a look at Tool I confirmed that the service wasn't leaky my data. Note that I solely tested one server. alternative servers could also be improperly organized.


HMA and Netflix

If you are alive this so much into the twenty-first century, you are most likely streaming video and music on a usual. sadly, several streaming corporations, and particularly Netflix, block VPN users.

I had no hassle streaming Netflix whereas I used to be connected to AN HMA server within the U.S.A.. that is nice. Note, however, that VPN interference could be a little bit of a cat-and-mouse game. The service that works for look Netflix with a VPN nowadays can be blocked tomorrow.

Beyond VPN

Other services, like personal net Access and CyberGhost, embrace ad and hunter interference, however, HMA doesn't provide this type of ability. TunnelBear offers a free standalone hunter blocker for browsers, further because of the subscription-powered RememBear parole manager. 

TunnelBear is not the sole company diversifying its portfolio of merchandise. NordVPN additionally offers a parole manager product, further because of the NordLocker encrypted classification system. ProtonVPN and TorGuard each provide secure email services. HMA has no comparable sweeteners or spinoffs. 

Although it's closely held by a similar company that owns Avast and AVG antivirus, HMA is not bundled with any of this merchandise. Hotspot protects notably comes with a Pango account, which entitles you to many different privacy services. 

Speed and Performance

Using a VPN makes your net traffic jump through a lot of hoops than traditional, or optimal. As a result, you are likely to examine a decrease in speed and a rise in latency. to urge a way of this impact, I compare the common results from Ookla's speed check tool to search out the % modification with the VPN on and off. (Note that Ookla is closely held by Ziff Davis, that additionally owns PCMag.) to find out a lot regarding our testing, and its limitations, see the quite virtually named however we have a tendency to check VPNs.


HMA performed remarkably well in speed tests. It reduced transfer speed check results by solely forty-two. 2 percent, and transfer speed test results by fifty-eight. 9 percent. It redoubled latency by a mere thirty-five.4 percent. Those scores were enough to place it in third place among all the VPNs I tested.

You can see however HMA compares against the most effective contenders out of the nearly forty VPN merchandise I've tested.

Overall, Hotspot protects VPN holds the title of quickest VPN, however, it is a shut competition. Surfshark is true behind and incorporates a shockingly sensible transfer score. Despite that, I powerfully suggest against choosing a VPN-supported speed. there isn't any guarantee that you will have similar results. In fact, I am sure you will not. Consider, instead, the privacy protections and overall worth of the merchandise.

HMA on different Platforms

HMA has apps for mechanical man, iOS, macOS, and Windows. the corporate additionally provides directions for configuring UNIX computers to use the service. whereas any device is manually designed in this manner, it's higher to use a first-party app. These square measure easier to use, and grant access to different options that you are already paying for.

HMA additionally has proxy extensions for the Chrome and Firefox browsers. this may allow you to spoof the placement of your browser traffic, however, a unique mechanism is employed to cipher your traffic than what is utilized in the VPN app.

You can additionally manually piece a router to use HMA, which extends VPN protection to each device on your network. as an alternative, you'll purchase a pre-configured router that works with HMA. I have never tested this arrangement, however, it sounds a small amount tedious.

New Name, New Direction

While we have a tendency to mourn the retiring of the nervy "Hide My Ass" stigmatization, HMA carries on the most effective of that storied whole. The colorful style is straightforward to use and approachable for novices. the corporate uses solid VPN technology, has a powerful array of servers and server locations, and a few of the most effective speed check scores we've nevertheless seen. a lot significantly, the corporate has additionally created strides to higher shield the privacy of its customers. this can be particularly gratifying, given that, over the years, we have a tendency to felt HMA had lost its luster because the VPN market became a lot of competition. once we started work on this review, we have a tendency to absolutely expected that we would lower HMA’s score once more, however, the efforts created to enhance protective client privacy modified our minds.

That said, there is still an area for improvement. HMA ought to update its transparency report and still improve its privacy practices, particularly relating to its proxy browser plugin. HMA ought to attempt to exceed the standards for privacy and transparency set by competitors. the corporate additionally must rethink its use of virtual servers, or a minimum of higher communication however those servers square measure used and wherever they're placed. Virtual servers do not ought to be a liability, however, their use will be clear to users.