If you’re looking for a VPN that you can use on your mobile device, one of the options you’ll come across is Star VPN. Is this option worth downloading? We’ve compiled an extensive Star VPN review, to help you to determine whether you should use this VPN.
What is Star VPN?
Star VPN is a service that’s available on iOS, Android, and Mac OS. The company says that it encrypts your internet connection whenever you are connected to public WiFi. Unfortunately, the company does not provide any information about what encryption protocols it uses, so we have no way of really knowing whether Star VPN’s security is worthwhile or not.
The only thing that we were able to find was the fact that Star VPN uses a TLS certificate.
Simply put, Star VPN is a straight-forward, bare-bones VPN provider. Star VPN does not offer things such as a kill-switch, which would help protect users on the internet were they to lose their VPN connection. We were also not able to find information about which tunneling protocol Star VPN uses.
However, we were able to discover that Star VPN was not using OpenVPN. OpenVPN is the most trustworthy tunneling protocol available. More than 90 percent of VPN service providers opt to use this tunneling protocol. It appears as though Star VPN falls in the category of the ten percent of providers who don’t use the protocol.
Pros
When conducting our VPN review, we didn’t find many things that stood out. Below are a couple of unique features that we discovered about the product.
P2P Connection
Star VPN allows peer-to-peer (P2P) connections on three servers. However, three servers are only available for paying customers, those who use the free version will have access to just one server.
Ease of Installation and Use
The other thing that stood out to us when reviewing this product was how easy it was to install. You can download the product instantly. Additionally, the company makes it easy for you to restore your purchases if you’re looking to transfer your subscription from one device to another.
Within the VPN app, you’ll find a dashboard that is easy to use. Connecting to a server is as easy as clicking a single button. The company also provides an easily-accessible dropdown menu that you can use to change the server to which you’re connected.
Cons
Reviewing this product was challenging because there were so many things that raised red flags. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the “Cons” that we discovered about Star VPN.
Lack of Customer Service
One of the most significant things that stood out to us about Star VPN was the lack of customer support. While some VPN providers allow you to communicate instantly via live chat, Star VPN merely provides you with an email address on the website that you can use to contact the company. You must send an email externally through your private email account. There is no customer service intake form listed on the company’s website.
Logging of Data
Star VPN claims not to log or store your data. However, upon digging deeper into the company’s privacy policy, we found mention of the fact that third-party services monitor data for research and advertisement purposes. This means that marketing firms can look at your browsing history. Unfortunately, this is something that is all too common when dealing with free VPN service providers. It appears that Star VPN is no different.
In general, this makes your private browsing experience not very private.
Poor Performance
Another thing that stood out to us was how poor this VPN provider performed. During testing on the U.S server, we found that download speeds were around 1 Mbps, which is awful, even when compared to other free VPN service providers.
Lack of Servers
If you use the free version of Star VPN, you’ll only have access to one server, which is based in the United States. Having a server based in the United States makes it difficult to achieve things such as geo-spoofing. If you purchase the Premium version, you’ll gain access to a couple more servers. However, the number of servers pale in comparison to those that you’d find when using other providers.
Pricing Info
Star VPN is a free VPN service that is available for immediate download. However, the company hides many of its features behind a “Premium” content wall. To gain access to Star VPN Premium, you must pay $10 per month. If you choose to buy an annual subscription, your cost plummets to around $3 per month.
During our Star VPN review, we were unable to find information about a refund policy or money-back guarantee. The only thing we were able to find was the fact that Star VPN offers a seven-day free trial for its Premium service.
Final Verdict
After conducting an extensive Star VPN review, we can firmly say that you should not consider this option. First and foremost, the fact that we don’t know anything about the company’s security policies is quite concerning. When you are using a VPN provider, you should have some idea of what type of program you’re installing. By hiding its security features, Star VPN leaves too much “up in the air.”
Combining this with the noticeable lack of download and upload speed makes this a VPN option that you’ll want to skip. There are numerous other mobile-based VPN providers that you could consider instead.
When it comes to buying a VPN service there is just so much great choices these days. Also a great VPN can also be a really affordable, between $2 to $6 dollars a month for a really top tier one. So if you are serious about your privacy consider a service like NordVPN ExpressVPN or another VPN on our best VPN guide.
Disclosure: Blokt strives to provide transparent, honest reviews, and opinions. The writer of this article is a user of the product(s) or service(s) mentioned in this article and was not influenced by the respective owners.
We rarely run ads, but sometimes earn a small commission when you purchase a product or service via a link on our site. Thank you kindly for your support.
Read more or donate here.
