Hidester VPN Review

We live in a world where online privacy is of utmost importance, and it our responsibility to keep ourselves safe when we browse the internet. One of the easiest ways to protect yourself online is by using a VPN, and today we are going to look at one such service - Hidester.

What is VPN?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) as its name suggests is a virtual bridge that you can use to connect to the internet securely. When you use a service like Hidester, you gain access to one of their many VPN servers around the world, allowing you to securely connect to the Internet outside of the prying eyes of online threats.

VPN's use encryption and tunneling to keep you safe, but a negative of these measures is a slower internet connection. Fortunately, with premium VPN services like Hidester, you won't be dealing with crowded VPN servers and will have a decent experience browsing the web safely.


Why use a VPN service?

There are many uses for a VPN service beyond browsing the internet safely. Since you can pick servers from around the world, your VPN service will make it seem like you are browsing from that particular location. This is a great option for travelers, who may sometimes find themselves unable to access their favorite streaming channels when they are aboard.

Using a service like Hidester VPN is also great if you travel to a country with heavy censorship on websites, allowing you to connect to your favorite social network or streaming website as if you were back home.

A VPN service is also a great way to escape internet throttling from your service provider, as it makes you untraceable.

Hidester

Hidester is a VPN service provider designed for first time VPN users, with comprehensive features that will even appeal to the power users. You get well designed professional apps on all platforms whether you are on desktop or mobile. Hidester offers three distinct packages to chose from:

Once you pick the plan that best suits your need and create your account you can download and install Hidester on your device to get started. Apps are available for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux.

The Hidester app is simple and easy to use. Once you install the app, you will even be presented with a tutorial walking you through the various features of the app. You get a big button right in the center and a large list of servers you can pick from. You get four window sizes you can toggle between - Full, Small, Dock or Tray. You also have a pin function you can use to keep the app above other windows for quick access.

By default, Hidester will select the optimal server for you but you can pick from a list of servers while marking your favorites for later use. Hidester offers up to five concurrent connections per account, allowing you to use the VPN service across all of your devices.

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Hidester uses two VPN protocols and one web proxy service for its connections:

• CamoVPN - Hidester's own protocol, which it has designed specifically to let its users get around web censorship and access blocked content in a country. This is the default protocol set on Hidester.
• OpenVPN - The industry standard these days and widely accepted as the VPN protocol which offers the best balance between security and performance
• CamoWeb - A web proxy service which is useful if you want to stream content from geo-restricted sites. Since this is not a VPN service, it doesn’t encrypt your connection and isn’t protecting your data or online privacy as much.

You can access the protocol options under 'Advanced' settings on your main Hidester app. Once you have selected the protocol that suits you best, you are ready to get connected. Once you close the interface it will be minimized into your Windows or Mac taskbar until you need it again.

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Hidester VPN offers the industry standard 256-bit AES encryption which more than sufficient for most users. While there a few more powerful options out there, Hidester is in line with what most of its competitors offer.

Hidester also offers a VPN kill switch function,  which blocks your internet connection immediately if your internet connection drops, ensuring that none of your personal data will be leaked. You can also quickly switch your IP addresses in one click to keep yourself from being exposed to your ISP or others.

One of the nifty features offered by Hidester is its 'Dark Mode' pictured above, which you can switch to by picking your theme color under Settings. Other features Hidester offers include a built-in ‘What is My IP’ test as well as a DNS leak test and WebRTC leak test.

We put Hidester through a couple of tests, switching between the various servers and comparing the speed fluctuation between each server. We found that while it wasn't the fastest VPN service we tested, it offered very decent speeds with very little reduction.

We also tested the Hidester VPN service with Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and BBC iPlayer.  While the service allows you to watch Netflix in your own region, you will be dealing with the proxy/unblocker error if you attempt to watch Netflix outside of your region. We faced the same issue with Hulu which complained about the proxy tool even on the recommended server.

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Conclusion

As a newer member to the VPN service market, Hidester has a lot to offer. You get beautifully designed apps, a great selection of servers, strong encryption and a good selection of protocols and web proxy service.

The pricing is reasonable for the services offered and highly competitive against some of the other services we've tested.

It is important for us to point out that while Hidester does not collect log traffic data or browsing activity from Users of the Service, their privacy policy states that they collect your connection country, as well as dates (not times) when connected to the Service, choice of server location, and the total amount of data transferred per day.