Ivacy VPN has been offering its services for over a decade. Because of its opaque ownership and suspicious parent company’s business practices, users find the VPN shady and refrain from using it. However, in recent times, Ivacy VPN has reinvented itself by introducing new features and improving its service, hence managing to grab the attention of several users.
The Ivacy VPN offers various impressive features that boost the overall user experience. It is the first-ever VPN provider that introduced a split tunneling feature. The following table gives a quick overview of Ivacy VPN’s features.
Security and Privacy:
Encryption
- AES-256 bit encryption
Jurisdiction
- Singapore but has its association with Gaditek, Pakistan.
Log Policy
- Follows a no-log policy but does keep a minimum amount of information
Security Features
- Kill switch
- Split tunneling
- Multi-port
- Port forwarding
- Secure Downloading
- Dedicated IP address
Streaming and Torrenting
List of Compatible Streaming Platforms
- Amazon Prime Video
- Disney Plus
- Netflix
- BBC iPlayer
List of Torrenting Features
- Split tunneling
- Torrent IP leak protection
User-friendliness
No. of Servers
- 5700+ servers in 100+ locations
Pricing
- $1.00/month on a five years plan (encrypted 2TB cloud storage + get a free password manager for free)
- $9.95/month on a monthly plan.
- $3.99/month on a yearly plan
Customer Support
- Live Chat
- Email Support
- Contact form
- Website resources
Compatible Devices
- Android
- iOS
- macOS
- Windows
- AndroidTV
- Kodi
- Firestick TV
- Xbox
- PlayStation
- Linux
- Routers
- Playstation
F Ivacy VPN looks like a reliable and secure VPN provider to consider using. But to know the truth about the ownership of Ivacy VPN and how well the VPN provider performs now, the best way is to review Ivacy VPN in detail.
Security and Privacy
Security and privacy are the two essential components determining the VPN’s reliability. The best trustworthy VPN is the one that never compromises the users’ online security. Thus, it utilizes strong encryption for data protection, prevents IP and DNS leaks, and offers a range of security-enhancing features. In addition, the VPN doesn’t expose the users’ online activities with third parties or government agencies. It follows a strict no-log policy to maintain maximum online privacy and operates from an evasive jurisdiction.
What encryption does Ivacy VPN Use
Ivacy VPN uses solid and uncrackable AES-256-bit encryption for safeguarding internet traffic from prying eyes. Since the AES-256 bit is the highest encryption level used by government and military officials, it’s next to impossible for hackers or ISPs to intercept your online communications and learn about your activities.
The VPN provider encrypts the data traffic using robust encryption ciphers and ensures that no one can invade your online security.
Jurisdiction of Ivacy VPN
Users are not convinced about using a VPN provider that operates from a country falling in the five eyes, nine eyes, and fourteen alliance countries.
Ivacy VPN is registered in Singapore, associated with the fourteen eyes countries. The country has a record of working with the international surveillance network and handling users’ sensitive information to higher authorities when requested. The VPN might record and share users’ data with other countries and risk users’ privacy. But to know if the VPN shares users’ data, it’s better to analyze the VPN’s logging policy.
Does Ivacy VPN keep Logs?
Ivacy VPN works with the mission to provide complete internet freedom to users. The VPN provider follows a strict no-log policy and prevents monitoring, storing, and sharing of users’ data. Also, the VPN doesn’t record sensitive data like the IP address, DNS request, browsing history, and connection times that can expose the users’ real identity. Here’s what’s more the privacy policy states:
It is clear from the above screenshot that Ivacy VPN will neither record nor share any of the users’ information. The VPN logging policy is pretty transparent, revealing that they collect minimal user information to improve their service. The collected information includes:
- User name
- Email address
- Payment details
Ivacy VPN also explains the purpose where the collected information is used.
Since the collected information doesn’t reveal anything about the users’ activities and identities, Ivacy VPN is safe to use despite belonging to a jurisdiction that’s not friendly for operating a VPN. Still, the VPN provider must audit its log policy to prove that the users are honest with their claims of following a no-log policy.
Which protocols does Ivacy VPN Use
Ivacy VPN uses strong and secure encryption protocols that ensure safe communication between the VPN client and the server. The VPN supports the following protocols:
- OpenVPN (TCP and UDP)
- IKEv2
- IPSec
OpenVPN is an open-source and the most popular encryption protocol that also serves as the default protocol for many VPN providers. It uses robust encryption and hence offers maximum online security. Also, the VPN supports TCP and UDP ports and perfectly balances speed and safety. Ivacy VPN users can deploy the OpenVPN protocol on Android and Windows devices.
The VPN provider also supports the IKEv2 protocol available on Windows, iOS, and MacOS platforms. The protocol offers a faster connection speed and impressive mobile device performance. Also, IPSec is another protocol that Ivacy VPN uses. However, it is an outdated L2TP protocol on Windows and iOS devices.
Previously, Ivacy VPN also supported PPTP, L2TP, and SSTP protocols, but since June 2021, the VPN has discontinued these protocols. The VPN has stopped using these protocols because they were obsolete, and security teams can’t even audit them.
Though the VPN announced discontinuation with PPTP, L2TP, and SSTP protocols, upon users’ immense request, the company decided to support them in a few countries:
- Australia
- Germany
- The Netherlands
- The UK
- USA
All the new Ivacy VPN users can connect to secure protocols via automatic protocol selection and enjoy superior speeds and reliability. Besides this, the users can also reconfigure the VPN to use OpenVPN, IPSec, or IKEv2 protocols and enjoy a secure browsing experience.
How good is Ivacy VPN at bypassing censorship?
Ivacy VPN aims to empower internet users across the globe; hence they are among the best VPN providers that help bypass censorship and access the free internet world. With Ivacy VPN, users can unblock content, websites, and services and circumvent censorship and surveillance.
Though the VPN provider provides no obfuscation technology to bypass censorship, the comprehensive server network works perfectly. It offers unblocking servers; hence, users can find servers in the most restrictive regimes like China, Russia, Turkey, and UAE, allowing them to bypass censorship and enjoy high-end server speed.
Ivacy VPN offers a special version app, “Ivacy Prime,” mainly designed for use in China. The app lets users watch blocked streaming channels such as; Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, Sling TV, and Twitch. Besides this, users also have access to blocked social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Google, and Reddit. This app comes with all Android, Mac, and Windows subscription plans.
Users enjoy surfing the free internet in China by downloading the latest version of Ivacy Prime and changing the multiport feature to automatic.
Past history of Ivacy VPN
PMG Private Limited, a company in Singapore, owns Ivacy VPN. The country has a bad reputation for being associated with the global surveillance alliance. But the VPN provider isn’t owned by the Singaporean company.
Gaditek, a Pakistani company, owns Ivacy VPN, the parent company of PureVPN. At first, Ivacy VPN didn’t accept the truth, but after years of rumors, they finally admitted to having an association with PureVPN.
There is nothing wrong and suspicious with one parent company owning two or more VPN providers, but Gaditek’s business practices are doubtful. The company didn’t disclose the ownership structure and ran VPN review sites to rank VPN products.
Moreover, Ivacy VPN was caught offering a lifetime subscription in exchange for more favorable reviews. This was extremely unacceptable, so people avoided using the Ivacy VPN for all these reasons.
Extra privacy and security features
Ivacy VPN provides advanced features that improve online anonymity and boost digital security. Ivacy VPN doesn’t support a range of extra protection and privacy-enhancing features like other top VPN providers, but its features are enough to improve digital privacy.
Here’s a brief description of the extra features offered by Ivacy VPN:
Kill switch
An internet kill switch is a great feature that automatically disconnects the device from the internet when the VPN connection drops. By disconnecting from the web, the VPN ensures that the IP address and other sensitive information cannot be leaked. The VPN users get the kill switch feature as a free add-on on all subscription plans. It provides leak-proof protection against IP leaks. Also, it provides protection against IP leaks and keeps sensitive information secure.
To enable this feature on Windows devices, go to Settings > click on Connections > under the internet kill switch option to allow IKS. Similarly, on Android devices, tap on the three horizontal lines > swipe right on the internet kill switch option to turn it on.
The Ivacy internet kill switch feature is available for Android and Windows platforms. Hence, if you’re a Mac or iOS, you can’t protect your connection from accidental drops.
Split tunneling
A VPN’s split tunneling feature allows users to route some of their app traffic via the VPN-encrypted tunnel. In contrast, other apps’ data goes unencrypted and has direct access to the internet. Ivacy VPN is the pioneer of the split tunneling feature and was introduced it in 2010, which allows users to connect to the apps through the VPN and the local internet. It is a helpful feature during torrenting as it reduces the bandwidth and improves the downloading speed. Besides, it keeps your online activities anonymous and lets you watch local and foreign blocked content simultaneously.
Ivacy VPN split tunneling is available only for Android and Windows platforms like the kill switch feature. But you can also use this feature by using a compatible router and creating channels that typically allow specific apps to be accessed safely via the VPN and other functions.
To enable the split tunneling feature on Android, Go to options > Turn on the split tunneling feature > Select the apps you want to encrypt via the VPN.
Go to settings > connections > tap on the Split tunneling feature on the Windows device.
Multi-Port
Different VPNs uses different ports to establish a secure connection over the internet. But sometimes, these ports are blocked and disrupt the browsing experience. Another impressive feature that Ivacy VPN rolls out is the multiport feature that resolves this issue. This feature automatically scans the open port to bypass port blocking and choose the port that gives the best result in terms of speed and security. It helps circumvent censorship when a firewall blocks the normal ports.
The Ivacy VPN supports ports ranging from 5500 to 30,000 with OpenVPN (TCP and UDP) protocols. The VPN’s multiport feature is only available for Android devices, and you can manually choose the ports on other devices. To enable this feature, head to the options tab > select connections > tap on multi-port > tap on automatic port selection.
Dedicated IP address
Ivacy VPN is among the few providers offering the dedicated IP address feature. A dedicated IP address is difficult to trace, unlike a dynamic IP address. It allows users to anonymously access any website or server without sharing it with any other user. This feature gives users total control over their activities, and they can enjoy unlimited streaming and downloading. Also, the dedicated IP address feature helps eliminate annoying Google ReCAPTCHA triggered by many users using the same IP address.
The dedicated IP address servers are available in six locations: America, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore, and the UK. This feature costs an extra $1.99/m, and you can also use the port forwarding feature for free.
Port forwarding
To prevent bad actors from exploiting open ports, VPN, by default, uses a NAT firewall to block incoming connections. But this creates problems for users when they accept any new incoming connection. Some VPNs, like Ivacy VPN, offer a port forwarding feature to prevent such issues. The users can add incoming connections by opening selected ports on the NAT firewalls.
However, Ivacy VPN doesn’t offer the port forwarding feature as a default feature. It is a handy feature that improves P2P download speeds, connects various devices to the internet, and creates home and gaming servers. Users can get this paid add-on feature at a low price of $1/month.
Secure Downloading
Ivacy VPN ensures that when you download a file or a link from the web, it is free from malware and other threats that can harm your data and device. The VPN uses an advanced and real-time threat detection technology that efficiently scans and removes potential malware or viruses from the files that you download. Whenever you download a file, this feature scans and analyzes it and, if found malicious, removes it at the server level. This way, the VPN provider ensures a safe and secure downloading experience and makes the users invulnerable.
To use this feature on mobile apps, click the Purposes tab > select the Secure downloading option > Toggle on it to enable it. The PC users must first locate the secure downloading feature, toggle on it, and enable it.
Besides all the features mentioned above, Ivacy VPN also protects from IPv6 and DDoS attacks.
Streaming and Torrenting
Streaming and torrenting without a VPN can force the ISP to throttle your internet connection and penalize you for copyrighted violations. Thus, it’s essential to use a reliable VPN for streaming and torrenting. A VPN like Ivacy offers advanced torrent and streaming-specific features that ensure a safe and hassle-free experience.
Compatible streaming platforms
Ivacy VPN offers dedicated streaming servers that allow users to access their favorite streaming service. Users can directly connect to any dedicated servers and watch various movies and TV shows on Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, Disney Plus, Pluto TV, Sony TV, and Netflix. The UK servers work well with BBC iPlayer, while the US servers successfully unblocked Disney Plus.
The VPN allows access to the US Netflix library and other popular regions’ Netflix libraries, including
- Australia
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- Japan
- United Kingdom
The VPN’s streaming speed can be an issue for the users. The speeds are disappointing due to increased server load and long-distance server connection. Overall, Ivacy VPN allows users to access geo-blocked content, but inconsistent speeds will be an issue.
Is Ivacy VPN a good option for downloading Torrents?
Ivacy VPN is another good option for downloading torrents. The VPN works with all major torrenting platforms like Delugu, BitTorrent, and uTorrent without requiring additional settings.
The VPN provider allows unlimited torrenting on specific servers, including:
- Belgium
- Chile
- Denmark
- Germany
- Luxembourg
- The Netherlands
- Russia
- Sweden
- Turkey
Connecting to these servers allows you to download and share torrent files without restrictions. But, no torrent servers in the US and UK are a big question mark and can impact the downloading experience. The VPN follows a no-log policy that prevents recording IP addresses and browsing activities; none of the torrent-related activities are recorded or shared. In other words, the VPN’s zero-logging policy ensures that neither the torrent IPs nor the activities are exposed. In addition, the VPN offers advanced torrent-specific features like split tunneling, improving the downloading speed on Android and Windows devices.
Besides this, the VPN uses a secure downloading option that scans and removes any bogus or malware-embedded torrent files. This way, Ivacy VPN further enhances the torrent downloading experience.
But upon investigating Reddit, it is disappointing that some users don’t have a good downloading experience as they can only connect to peers. This can be because the VPN allows torrenting on specific servers. Hence when you download torrents, be careful about the choice of servers.
How fast is Ivacy VPN
Ivacy VPN offers decent connection speed, but the speeds depend on the choice of server and protocols. The VPN has an extensive server network spread in 100+ locations, but not all servers offer fast speed due to increased server load. There is a significant drop when connecting to a server on another continent, but the VPN’s overall speed is above average.
In other words, Ivacy VPN speed on short distances is pretty good, but users encounter connection lags when connecting to prominent locations because of server overload. For instance, when connected to Australian, Canadian, UK, and US servers, users experience connection drops.
Switching protocols allow you to enjoy the maximum speed with Ivacy VPN. The VPN doesn’t support the WireGuard protocol, which is a drawback as this protocol provides blazing-fast speed. But with the OpenVPN protocol, users can also surf the web at stable speeds.
User-Friendliness
Apart from security, privacy, streaming, and torrenting, a VPN must offer a user-friendly experience. For this purpose, a VPN like Ivacy VPN must offer native apps for all major devices and operating systems. These apps are easy to use and download, ensuring a smooth downloading experience.
The number of servers Ivacy VPN comes with
Ivacy VPN offers an extensive server network all across the globe. The VPN has 5700+ servers in more than 100 locations, and the best part is that it is expanding its server network. The VPN providers cover different countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe, including:
- America (13 cities)
- Australia (4 cities)
- Canada (3 cities)
- Germany (Only Frankfurt)
- UK ( 2 cities)
You can use the smart connect feature to immediately connect to the fastest available servers. The VPN also allows the users to request any servers if they cannot find servers in the desired location. If you are connecting to a server on the same continent, then the server offers fast speed, but if you connect to a long-distance server, then connection drops are expected.
Besides this, Ivacy VPN has dedicated servers for streaming and torrenting. Users can have a good overall experience by directly connecting to these servers. However, the servers sometimes fail to offer stable connections because of overcrowdedness.
How good is Ivacy VPN customer support
Ivacy VPN offers good customer support to its users. Users can contact the customer support team to address the query if they encounter any issues while setting up the VPN or using it. The users can connect with Ivacy VPN representatives through the following ways:
- Live chat
- Email support
- Contact form.
Among the quickest ways is to initiate the live chat. You can talk with the chat agents 24/7, and they will guide you correctly.
The above screenshot reveals that real human representatives assist you. The response time is instant. Thus, you don’t have to wait for long.
Moreover, the chat agents are knowledgeable and capable of giving technical answers. Have a look.
Besides this, the VPN provider allows users to connect with their representatives by filling out a contact form or emailing them. The company’s address and location are also provided on the website, so if someone wishes, they can go to their office. But this might take some time to receive the answer.
Ivacy VPN’s website is also full of resources that never fail to educate or help a user. On its website, you can find news, blogs, video tutorials, FAQs, and setup guides. All this material plays a crucial role in providing a helping hand to the users.
Which devices Is Ivacy VPN compatible with
Ivacy VPN is compatible with a range of devices and operating systems, including
- Android
- iOS
- macOS
- Windows
- Android TV
- Kodi
- Firestick TV
- Xbox
- PlayStation
- Linux
- Routers
All these apps are well-designed and offer a good user interface. The users don’t get into any trouble while using the apps.
The Android app is the best in terms of features and usability. The Android app has features like a kill switch, split tunneling, and the most impressive secure downloading. Besides this, the Windows app is impressive as it has most of the advanced features. However, the iOS and MacOS apps need improvement.
Conclusion
Ivacy VPN is a good choice to use for beginners. The VPN utilizes strong encryption and protocols to safeguard the data traffic. Also, the VPN prevents keeping any activity or data logs and guarantees a secure browsing experience. Multi-login compatibility, streaming, an extensive server network, and good customer support are other perks of using Ivacy VPN.
However, the VPN needs to improve its apps, introduce more features, and be more transparent about its ownership to compete with the top-rated VPN providers.
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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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