iTop launches tools and software for desktop and mobile devices, and iTop VPN is one of their products. The iTop VPN ensures that users can surf the web anonymously and benefit from the basic VPN functionalities. The VPN offers various premium plans, but is this new VPN worth using?
Despite low popularity, the VPN provider has a decent user interface, top-notch online protection, and basic security-enhancing features. The following table gives a quick overview of iTop VPN, so have a look:
Security and Privacy
Encryption
- Salsa20 (Chacha20) and AES-256- bit encryption
Jurisdiction
- Hong Kong
Log Policy
- Follows a strict no-log policy but keeps logs
Security Features
- Kill switch
- Split tunneling
- Private browser
Streaming and Torrenting
List of Compatible Streaming Platforms
- Amazon Prime Video
- Disney Plus
- HBO Max
- Hulu
- Netflix
List of Torrenting Features
- Split tunneling
- Torrent IP leak protection
User-friendliness
No. of Servers
- 1800+ servers in over 100 locations
Pricing
- $11.99/month on a 1-month plan.
- $6.99/month on a 6-month plan.
- $3.99/month on a 12-months plan.
Customer Support
- Contact form
- Facebook Messenger
- Website resources
Compatible Devices
- Android
- iOS
- macOS
- Windows
Since iTop VPN has free and paid plans, it’s interesting to see how both versions differ and which is better. The best way to find out the truth about iTop VPN is to review the VPN in detail.
Security and Privacy
Don’t neglect security and privacy when choosing a VPN, as they are the most crucial elements. Always use a VPN that provides maximum online protection through strong encryption and tunneling protocols. In addition, the VPN keeps online activities private by not keeping any activity or data logs and operating from a safe jurisdiction.
What Encryption Does iTop VPN Use
iTop VPN is a safe and secure VPN provider that doesn’t compromise your online security. Like other VPN providers, iTop VPN also uses the industry’s highest Salsa20 and AES-256-bit encryption to protect the data from all snooping eyes.
Government surveillance agencies and military officials use such uncrackable encryption, so the ISPs or the hackers won’t be able to intercept your online communication and learn about your online behavior. Hence with iTop VPN, all your data and activities remain secured.
Jurisdiction of iTop VPN
iTop VPN belongs to the Hong Kong jurisdiction. The country is a privacy-friendly and safe place to operate a VPN provider. It also isn’t a member of the global surveillance alliance, meaning users can be assured that their data won’t be logged or shared with intelligence agencies.
Besides this, Hong Kong is an independent jurisdiction that doesn’t follow mandatory data retention laws. However, the country is closely associated with China, the worst privacy advocate. This makes Hong Kong a tricky place to operate a VPN.
Many people don’t feel comfortable using iTop VPN after knowing this. But since iTop VPN has never responded to data requests, there’s nothing to worry about.
Does the iTop VPN Keep Logs?
iTop VPN is a private VPN provider that promises not to record user information that reveals their identity. The VPN follows a strict no-log policy that doesn’t log IP addresses, browsing data, connection timestamps, and other sensitive data.
The VPN is pretty transparent about its logging policy and mentions the data it collects while you use its service. The collected data includes:
- Personal information (email address and password)
- Device ID
- Browser type and language
- Operating system
The shady aspect of iTop VPN’s privacy policy is that the free version of the VPN offers 700 MB of data per day. The VPN logs bandwidth and links it with your device ID.
Another problem with iTop VPN’s privacy policy is that it isn’t proven with any security or log audit report. The company needs to be more transparent and, to prove its stance, should undergo a log audit process.
Which protocols does iTop VPN use
Most VPN providers use OpenVPN, the advanced WireGuard protocol, or other traditional protocols like IKEv2/IPSec, SSTP, and L2TP to maintain data security. But iTop VPN, instead of using any such similar protocols, uses limited and less popular tunneling protocols that include:
- Auto
- UDP
- TCP
- HTTPS
The VPN uses the Auto protocol as the default option for beginners and guarantees both security and privacy. The UDP and TCP protocols are the subtypes of OpenVPN. Both are reliable and secure and use military-grade AES-256-bit encryption. If, while using the VPN, your top priority is speed, connect to the UDP protocol, and if you prefer security, use the TCP protocol.
HTTPS is another security protocol widely implemented in web browsers and pages that iTop VPN uses. It works great while bypassing regional restrictions and accessing blocked websites.
The performance of these protocols is not as good as the ones used by other VPN providers. For improved performance, iTop VPN needs to introduce more advanced protocols.
How good is iTop VPN at bypassing censorship?
In many countries, the state controls the internet, while in other countries, there are restrictions on accessing the free internet world. As a result, the people there cannot access specific websites, applications, content, and services. A crucial function of using a VPN is to get around internet blocks.
The iTop VPN has dedicated social servers and uses HTTPS encryption, which can offer little help in accessing blocked websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. But without advanced features, users can’t use free internet in China or other authoritarian countries nor enjoy a hassle-free experience.
The VPN lacks advanced features and technology that circumvents internet censorship and allows users to browse the web freely. If you’re looking for an iTop VPN to help bypass internet censorship, it is better to consider another option because it is not the best.
Past track history of iTop VPN
iTop VPN started its services in 2016 in Hong Kong, but there is minimal information about the company and its owners on its official website except for the services they offer. Moreover, the company doesn’t have a profile on LinkedIn, which is quite strange.
Nonetheless, after digging out news, Twitter, and Reddit, there isn’t any incident where iTop VPN has been involved in data leaks or compromising user privacy.
As a whole, the VPN seems to respect users’ privacy, so you can trust it.
Extra privacy and security-Boosting features
Another vital trait of a reliable VPN is its impressive security and privacy-focused features that help in various activities such as streaming and torrenting and boost online security. iTop VPN also offers essential features along with some bonus features. Listed below are the features that iTop VPN offers:
Kill switch
The iTop VPN offers an automatic kill switch feature that disconnects you from the internet when you recognize an interruption in the VPN connection. During disconnection, no internet traffic will enter or leave your device. It is a helpful feature that prevents IP leaks and protects your digital privacy against hackers and cyber snoopers. Also, it ensures that all your data traffic is encrypted without impacting your VPN speed.
Since the iTop VPN kill switch feature is automatic, turning it on or off is unnecessary. The kill switch feature also becomes activated whenever you connect with the VPN to keep your connection secure. You can use this feature on your mobile and desktop devices.
Split tunneling
Another impressive feature that iTop VPN comes with is the split tunneling feature. This feature is helpful when you want to stream, download, or share heavy files without compromising on speed. It is another advanced feature that splits the internet traffic so that some of the apps’ data routes through the encrypted VPN connection. In contrast, other data go through the regular internet connection.
The iTop VPN’s split tunneling feature is available for all premium subscription plans.
Privacy Browser
iTop also enables users to surf the web securely. It offers a private browser for the Windows platform that allows users to browse the web with maximum privacy and protection. The private browser has impressive features, including; anti-tracking, anti-phishing, ad blocker, and auto trace shredder.
The browser masks your online identity to prevent websites from tracking your activities and online behavior. The ad-blocker wipes out intrusive and annoying ads and ensures you access the content without interruption.
Moreover, the browser also blocks cookies that secretly gather your browsing data and monitor and block malicious websites and URLs to protect you from phishing attacks.
Streaming and Torrenting
Because of the issues associated with torrenting and streaming, it’s always best to use a VPN. A VPN hides the IP address and also helps a smooth user experience. It uses advanced features like a kill switch and split tunneling to maintain online security without impacting your experience.
Compatible streaming platforms
iTop VPN claims to allow users to access blocked streaming content from various streaming platforms. The VPN offers specialized servers for each streaming platform, meaning the VPN is honest with its claims. You can use iTop VPN to watch the geo-blocked content from:
- Amazon Prime
- BBC iPlayer
- Hulu
- HBO Max
- Disney Plus
- Netflix
Moreover, with these streaming servers, you can even access YouTube. However, the VPN’s performance on all streaming channels is not very impressive. But, on Netflix, the VPN can’t unblock all regional content libraries.
Is iTop VPN a good option for downloading Torrents?
iTop VPN doesn’t offer dedicated servers for torrenting, but you can still use it to download and share P2P files. You can connect to any random server and download torrents. However, be ready to face inconsistent speed and high ping time because of the absence of dedicated servers.
The VPN provider offers the split tunneling feature to help improve the downloading speed. Furthermore, the VPN also secures your torrent downloading experience because it uses the kill switch feature that prevents IP leaks. So, overall, iTop VPN is not the best VPN for torrenting, still you can consider it using if you’re a beginner.
How fast is iTop VPN
iTop VPN is not as fast as the fastest VPN providers, impacting the browsing, streaming, and downloading experience. The VPN doesn’t support the WireGuard or the IKEv2, so you can’t enjoy the fastest connection speed, but still, by switching to the UDP protocol, you can get maximum speeds.
Moreover, the VPN offers more than 1800 servers, so you can have a decent connection speed by connecting to the nearby servers. When connected to far-away servers, you can experience high ping time and connection drops.
The browsing speeds depend on the choice of servers you choose. The VPN offers streaming, gaming, and social media servers, so the speeds are decent and reliable while performing these activities.
User-Friendliness
When choosing a VPN, it is also essential for a VPN to provide a smooth and hassle-free user experience. iTop VPN provides well-designed and intuitive Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows apps. All these apps are available on the respective app stores, and you can easily download them without any trouble.
How many servers iTop VPN offer
iTop VPN has a decent server network that’s spread all across the world. The VPN offers more than 1800 servers in 100+ virtual locations across all popular countries like:
- America
- Australia
- Canada
- France
- India
- Germany
- Japan
- Singapore
- South Korea
- UK
The VPN also offers dedicated streaming, gaming, and social media servers. You can perform your desired activity by connecting to any of these servers. For instance, if you want to play online games like Warzone or PUBG, you directly connect to the gaming servers and enjoy your experience. But there are no specific servers for torrenting and dedicated IP addresses.
However, you can expect greater ping time because the server network is not extensive. Also, some servers are overloaded and thus can result in slow connection speed.
How good is iTop VPN customer support
If, while using the VPN, you face any issues, then you can contact the customer support team. You can reach the iTop VPN customer team through the contact support form or Facebook Messenger. The website claims they provide customer support services 24/7, but it isn’t true because there isn’t any live chat option available, and the queries sent through the support form are not answered instantly.
After 19 hours of waiting, the support team member responded when a query was sent about the VPN’s protocols.
Besides this, you can also look at their website. A FAQS and blogs section offers help, but a comprehensive knowledge base is still lacking.
Which devices are compatible with iTop VPN
iTop VPN is compatible with major devices and operating systems, including:
- Android
- iOS
- macOS
- Windows
These apps offer an excellent interface and ease of use. You can find your VPN connection status on the home screen, and the server tab classifies streaming, social, gaming, and all servers. Under the Privacy Tab, you can find kill switch, split tunneling, and ad blocker options.
Overall, the VPN doesn’t cause any user trouble and ensures a smooth user experience.
Conclusion
iTop VPN is a reliable and secure VPN provider that offers decent security features like the kill switch, split tunneling, and the built-in private browser. Furthermore, the VPN also uses advanced military-grade encryption to maintain online security.
Besides this, the VPN offers specialized gaming, streaming, and social media servers. With these servers, you can watch your favorite geo-blocked streaming content, play online games without restrictions, and access blocked websites within your region.
However, iTop VPN still needs a lot of improvement. It needs to bring more transparency to its log policy and prove it with a log audit report. There’s also an immense need to introduce advanced tunneling protocols, servers, and extra features to their features list. Also, expanding compatibility with other devices will further increase iTop VPNs’ worth in the market and attract more users.
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About the Author
Rebecca James is an IT consultant with forward thinking approach toward developing IT infrastructures of SMEs. She writes to engage with individuals and raise awareness of digital security, privacy, and better IT infrastructure.
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