This is the iOS app and it's a commendable effort, if not quite up there with the Android software (Image credit: Windscribe) Android and iOS apps Sure, you might not understand every option and setting, but Windscribe's apps are easy enough to use at a basic level, and it's good to have these extra tweaks available if you need them. You might be better off with a more basic service, such as TunnelBear.īut for everyone else, there's plenty to like here. If you're looking for VPN simplicity above all else, and aren't even faintly interested in extra options or control, then Windscribe's configurability won't matter very much. And there are unexpectedly powerful extras, including the ability (if your network card supports it) to set up your device as a Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing other devices to share the Windscribe connection. You're able to change protocols in a click or two (IKEv2, OpenVPN, WireGuard and others are on offer). There are settings to change how the app looks, including providing a custom background. You can opt to launch the app when your device starts, and maybe connect, too. Windscribe is impressively configurable and in-depth when it comes to VPN settings (Image credit: Windscribe) Ignore anything you don't understand, though (or just look it up on the support site), and there are plenty of more straightforward options here. Life can get more complicated if you decide you need to change something and head off to the Settings box, but that's mostly because they're so hugely configurable (we counted more than 40 important settings). Every server connected first time, and connection times were rapid at around 2-4 seconds, plus we didn't see any unexpected connection drops. We didn't run into any connection issues during the review, either. The apps don't display the free locations at the top of the list, so you must scroll down (or manually search) to find them, but otherwise it's simple enough. Getting started can be as easy as clicking the Connect button to reach the nearest Windscribe server, or you can hit Locations and choose your preferred city from the drop-down list. But look past these, and the apps aren't difficult to use. There are some technical references, too – UDP, 443, Firewall, a network icon – which might intimidate VPN newbies. Windscribe's open source desktop apps offer up a stylish and compact window, which somehow still manages to cram in all kinds of options and status details. The desktop clients strike a neat balance between being stylish and compact (Image credit: Windscribe) Windows and Mac apps We hear that might be changing soon, though, and if so, we'll pay very close attention to any reports. Windscribe hasn't put itself through a security or no-logging audit yet, and so potential customers don't have any independent confirmation that it's living up to its promises. While this sounds great, there's nothing to back it up, right now. That's no surprise – the data limit can't be enforced unless Windscribe records what you've used – and there's no sign of anything underhand going on. Windscribe's clear and well-written privacy policy explains that there's no long-term logging beyond recording the last time you connected, and the amount of data you've used this month. And no matter how we forcibly dropped the VPN connection, whatever extreme techniques we tried, the firewall instantly blocked our internet access and protected our data from exposure. We used multiple test sites to check for DNS leaks, but Windscribe protected us in every case. Windscribe's apps are engineered for maximum privacy, with strong AES-256 encryption, support for the highly secure WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols, multiple layers of leak protection and a firewall to block internet access if the VPN drops (like a kill switch, only better). Windscribe explains that there's no long-term logging, save for what's necessary to work out data usage (Image credit: Windscribe) Privacy and logging
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