What is Hide.me?
Hide.me is a service that encrypts your internet traffic and gives you privacy protection. A virtual network simply abbreviated VPN. They ensure that your IP address is protected and hidden so that you can surf the web safely from home or abroad. With a VPN, you can also get past blocking of websites or content such as series on netflix that are not released in Portugal. You are connected to one of the servers located in various locations around the world where your IP address is converted. This in turn means that you can surf the internet completely anonymously.
Is Hide.me safe?
Hide.me says they don’t save any data about you and won’t save any activity logs on their servers. They believe that the way they have built their VPN service makes it impossible even for them to see information about you. Leon Juranic of DefenseCode Ltd has certified Hide.me that they do not store user logs. As they are based in Malaysia, they are also not required or obliged to store this.
It is difficult to trust this 100%. There are cases where VPN services have been sued to release information. There are also cases where information has been sold on to third parties. We have not managed to find any information where this supplier has disclosed information – which is a plus of course!
How much does hide.me cost and is there a monthly trial?
There is a free version that is very simple. There is not much included here, but for those who are curious how a VPN works, it is definitely an option. The free version includes 10 GB per month and you can choose between 5 out of 72 locations to place your connection against. You can also only have 1 device connected. If you choose their premium version, you can choose from these services:
1 month – USD 130 per month
1 year – USD 80 per month
2 years – USD 50 per month
You can also choose to pay once a year instead of every month.
You also have 30 days to cancel the purchase if you are not satisfied – which we chose to do because of the speed we got on the internet.
How many servers does hide.me have?
Here you will find 72 different locations in the world with 1800 servers. They are located in Europe, Asia and America. Some examples of locations are Dubai, Sidney, Tokyo, Miami, Milan and Amsterdam. Hide.me has the same number of locations and servers to place you in as other VPN services. However, we experienced that some servers sometimes had a hard time connecting you. We tried a few different things and first had to place ourselves in Amsterdam which didn’t work (or it took a very long time) then we chose Brussels which worked. After that we tried to connect to Amsterdam again and then it actually connected us. However, you want it to work right from the start so you don’t have to sit and switch back and forth.
Does Hide.me work for IPTV?
When we tested running the service against an Iptv service, we experienced a lot of stuttering. We weren’t super impressed but still important to mention we weren’t blocked either. Perhaps the service would have worked better if there had been a few more servers in Portugal. Here we had to manually set Portugal as Hide.me automatically placed us in Amsterdam.
Does it work on netflix or svtplay?
Accessing series that have not yet been released in Portugal is something that has become popular. We logged in and placed ourselves in Miami. During the period we tested, the series the 100 had not been released in Portugal yet, but by placing ourselves there we actually got access to this on Netflix.
We were still in Miami trying to access svtplay. The same problem arose as we mentioned above. The speed dragged the rating down as it took us a very long time to get inside. We managed to access svtplay through the vpn service, but it lagged a lot when we put on a documentary. Of course we tried changing servers and the same problem occurred. Not all VPN services actually access SVT play, so it could be a contributing factor that the server really struggled to get us in, but you want it to work faster and not lag.
Does hide.me have good speed?
Here comes, worse, something that lowers the rating a little when it comes to Hide.me.
When we connect to the “best mode” according to the app, we end up in a server almost on the other side of the globe. Our internet speed actually dropped. Not very much, but still noticeably noticeable. We then tested choosing a server closer to our actual location to see if it was faster. Unfortunately, the result didn’t get better, but it didn’t get worse either. This leads us to two conclusions. Their choice of “best mode” made no difference speed-wise and we are not satisfied with the speed results at all. As they also claim to be the world’s fastest VPN, one is reasonably suspicious of their marketing.
How many devices can I connect?
You can connect 10 devices on Hide.me servers. If you use the free version, however, you can only connect to 1. We have of course tested connecting with 10 devices at the same time and get the same result as before: Slow speed. There is no worse speed on the devices when surfing, however, it will be tough if you have to change servers on one of the devices. We didn’t have a situation where we were kicked out and had to connect again, which is still a plus as it has happened to us on other VPN services.
Does hide.me have support if problems arise?
Yes – if you have paid. The disadvantage of not getting any support if you test the free version is that if questions arise, you won’t get any help. This is a minus on but we still experienced the support perfectly fine on the service we paid for (We chose 1 month, which we regretted buying at the end)
On their website there is a chat function. If you write to them, you will find out that you are placed in a queue and which seat you have. BUT be careful not to click around the page while waiting, the chat will disappear and you will have to type again. The bad thing about this is that you don’t fill in any email so you also don’t get an answer there when your question disappears. There is also a function on their website where you can get support from adra who have just Hide.me.
How do I get started?
You pay for the length you want and then you download Hide.me’s client. This sits as an app on your phone or computer. As soon as you start up then it will connect automatically (good in our opinion)
You get a map and on it you can choose which location you want to be at and which server you want. Now it will automatically choose the best mode for you, but you can change this manually. It’s actually very easy to connect if you use the app. If you try to install it manually on the computer, it may be good to use the cheats on their website.
What payment options are available?
You can choose to pay with a credit card/paypal as well as regular bank transfer. We do not encourage you to do this as it would be easy to track you down if information about you were somehow leaked. Hide.me also allows you to pay with Bitcoin.
Can I use it to download?
Yes. Because your data is encrypted and your IP address is hidden, you can do this. Important to know about this is that it is not illegal to have a VPN. What you choose to do next is of course your own decision and the existing laws do not stop applying because you have a VPN. It may also be that you need to change servers as you do not get access to all content in all countries. So if it looks like you don’t have access, try changing the server. That’s one of the big reasons why you have a VPN – to get around blocks.
Does Hide.me have a kill switch?
Yes, hide.me has a kill switch. A kill switch means that if for some reason you lose the connection, it will not release any IP address leaks. The app has a firewall that restricts the internet connection exclusively to the VPN service. This means that if you lose connection, you can quickly reconnect without having to worry that your IP address was leaked while you were inactive.
What does hide.me get in the final grade?
We consider Hide.me to work averagely. The app is easy to install and there are different payment options. There is nothing that is surprisingly good, but you get what you expect in terms of layout and how user-friendly they are. There are enough countries and servers to choose from. However, we are disappointed with their marketing regarding the speed. There are several places where we notice that this is lacking. When you have to connect to a server, it can get stuck sometimes. What we are most disappointed about is that the speed turned out to be worse overall and we did not expect that. Maybe they should have increased the number of servers to improve the speed.
For those who want a VPN for simpler purposes, Hide.me absolutely works, but for those who require a little more and don’t want to switch servers back and forth, we don’t recommend them.
