HMA, formerly called HideMyAss is one of the VPN providers which offers nifty features for the people seeking online privacy. Started in 2005, HMA VPN is one of the oldest and popular providers out there.
- Is HMA safe to use?
- Does it provide complete privacy?
- Does HMA work with Netflix?
- How much HideMyAss! costs?
In this review, we will breakdown all the details of the HMA VPN to answer these questions.
Contents
Overview
| Jurisdiction | UK |
| Servers | 930+ Servers |
| Countries | 190+ Countries |
| Website | hidemyass.com |
| Simultaneous Connections | 5 |
| Netflix | Yes |
| Torrenting | Yes |
| Supported Protocols | 256-bit AES; OpenVPN |
| Supported Platforms | Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux and Routers |
| Support | 24/7 Live chat |
Pros
- 7-day free trial
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Unblocks the US Netflix
- Allows P2P on all servers
Cons
- Based in the UK
- The desktop app is limited with OpenVPN protocol
- Collects some log files
Jurisdiction
Founded by Jack Cator, HMA has its headquarters in the UK, one of the members of 5 eyes surveillance alliance. As a member of 5-eyes, the government of the UK will track and share the user’s data with other countries (when needed).
At the same time, it is also noteworthy that the UK is one of the members of the EU (European Union). Hence, the EU’s GDPR laws are applicable to limit the data collection. That’s why HideMyAss! is collecting some of the basic details like timestamps, username, real IP and virtual IP.
HMA VPN Supported Devices
| Mobile Platforms | Android, iOS (iPhone/ iPad) |
| Desktop Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Other | Routers |
HideMyAss or HMA VPN supports all the major smartphone and desktop platforms. However, you can’t find support for streaming devices, Android TVs and gaming consoles. Another downfall is that you don’t have extensions for any web browsers.
On the other hand, you can configure HMA on your router to control the streaming devices and other devices which are connected to the router.
Where to find the HMA VPN app?
Just like other VPNs, the Android and iOS clients of HMA app are available in the respective app store. For macOS and Windows, you can find the download link directly from the official website of HideMyAss. Download the app from the respective store and configure your login details to use the password. Before downloading, you must purchase any one of the subscription plans available on the website.
Click here to sign up for HideMyAss!
For Linux and Routers, you need to configure manually with the help of the installation guide provided in the website.
HMA VPN Price and Payment Options
| Duration | Price |
| 1 month | $11.99 |
| 12 months | $71.88 (billed $5.99 per month) |
| 24 months | $119.76 (billed $4.99 per month) |
| 36 months | $143.64 (billed $3.99 per month) |
HMA offers different four different plans. As usual, you will have options to save your money while purchasing the plans. The main advantage in HMA is that you can use the 30-day money-back guarantee to get your money back if you’re satisfied with the features. Added to that, you can also access the 7-day free trial to check what available in the HideMyAss! VPN.
When it comes to payment, you have only two options: credit cards and Paypal. The lack of anonymous method means you can’t buy HMA without providing your basic details.
Server Locations and Censorship
One of the major disadvantages of HideMyAss VPN is that it has only a few numbers of server locations (930+). Despite that, those servers are evenly distributed across 190+ countries. Hence, you can connect to all parts of the world.
The lack of a high number of servers means you will have high congestion in servers during peak times. The city-level choices are available in countries like USA, Canada, France, Germany, Portugal, Russia, Spain, the UK, Ukraine and Australia.
In past, HMA has worked in some parts of China. However, most of the users in China have found that HideMyAss! is blocked. While contacting customer support, they stated: “We are working 24/7 to provide better performance for the users in China.” Hence, HMA is not the right choice if you want to bypass the great firewall of China. It also applies to other high-censorship countries like Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
HideMyAss! VPN Full Server List
HMA VPN Logging Policy
As we said earlier, HMA will collect and store the details like
- Username
- amount of data transmitted
- original and virtual IP
- connection times
These details are good enough to reveal your original identity. The official website of HMA claims that these details are collected to eliminate the possible frauds. They also stated that these details will be deleted after 30-days (except your username).
HideMyAss! is also known for handing a user detail to American FBI, way back in 2011. Even though they altered their privacy policy, you should be aware of the fact HMA is not 100% anonymous. In simple word, HideMyAss! is not an ideal VPN for privacy-minded people.
Streaming and Torrenting
First of all, we want to say that HMA is a great VPN to unblock geo-restricted streaming services. We managed to unblock Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. They offer dedicated servers for US Netflix and Prime Video.
For torrenting also, you will have optimized servers. Moreover, the P2P is allowed on all servers. But, you may experience slow downloading speed when you’re far away from the connected server. Because of past data leaks, it is advisable to use HMA only for downloading legal torrent files.
Ease of use
HideMyAss! presents a simple UI to make it suitable for all users. On the home screen, you will have usual on/off button along with the option to select the servers. The optimized servers for streaming and torrenting are listed out separately.
Above the servers list, you will have an option called “Lightning Connect“. It lets you connect to the fastest server automatically.
While tapping the settings icon on the top right corner, a separate window opened with different options like General, Privacy, Connection, Advanced, Help & Support, Account and About HMA.
The options to activate kill switch, IP Shuffle and App kill switch are located under the Privacy menu. Since the desktop clients are limited with OpenVPN protocol, you can’t change protocols in the HMA.
The Help & support menu takes you to the customer support and About section display the account information like your email, activation code, next billing date and more.
By tapping About HMA, the current version of your app will display along with privacy policy, terms of service and refund policy of HideMyAss!
HMA VPN Speed and Performance
Just like VyprVPN, we tested the speed and performance of HMA with the mobile internet connection. To measure the speed, we have used the Speedtest test owned by Ookla.
Initially, we tested the actual speed of our connection by without connecting to the VPN. While testing, we got 31.7 Mbps for download and 10.4 Mbps for upload.
While connecting to the automatic Lightning Connect server, our speed was reduced to 23.6 Mbps for download and 7.09 Mbps for upload.
Then, we have connected a server in the UK and we got 24.1 Mbps for download and 10.3 Mbps for upload.
We repeated our test connecting to different servers and the results are listed in this table:
| Server | Download Speed (Mbps) | Upload Speed (Mbps) |
| Canada | 22.5 | 8.4 |
| Brazil | 27.1 | 5.09 |
| France | 18.8 | 3.7 |
| Germany | 23.4 | 9.8 |
With the above table, it is clear that HideMyAss is one of the fastest VPNs in the market and it doesn’t reduce our speed too much. The above results are calculated for our current location and it may vary depending on your internet connection speed and location.
Encryption Protocols
HideMyAss or HMA VPN uses the standard 256-bit AES encryption to protect the user data. With HMA supporting only OpenVPN protocol, they have to raise their bar to compete with others. Even though OpenVPN is the preferred option for most of the users, HMA has to add a few additional protocols. For example, protocols like Chameleon are very useful in highly censorship countries.
If you want a VPN with numerous protocol support, we recommend you to go for NordVPN or ExpressVPN.
Customer Support
The customer support of HMA is not the best in the market. The live chat support is available only at a specific period of time. When available, the responses are very quick and effective.
On the website, you will have usual knowledge-based guides, FAQs and manual guides to clear the instant query of the user. You can use the search bar to find an answer for your query with ease. The manual guide for
HideMyAss! also has support tickets section to post your query. You will get the response through the mail within 24-48 hours. You can also use social media profiles to contact the customer support of HMA.
Our Opinion
Yes. HideMyAss! or HMA VPN is ideal for the users who want to unblock their favourite streaming sites without worrying about privacy. If you’re a privacy-minded person, you have to look for other providers.
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