Avira Phantom VPN Review
Avira Phantom VPN’s app is easy to use as connecting to a server is a breeze. The interface is so simple that there’s not a lot to tinker with in the app’s settings.
Avira Phantom VPN Review Summary
Avira Phantom VPN is made by Avira GmbH, a German company that is known for its antivirus software. This VPN offers basic features—in fact, too basic that you can also find these same features on other VPNs.
Avira VPN has a network of 38 server locations, AES-256 encryption, and multi-device support. We believe that they are worth using, but that there are better options in our Top 10 VPN providers list.
Avira Phantom VPN Features
Avira may be a smaller VPN provider in terms of network size, but they have packed their VPN client full of useful features. Let’s take a look at Avira VPN’s features:
- AES-256 encryption: This is a highly-secure encryption standard that’s widely used by banks, governments, and many other sectors. With this encryption, Avira VPN can block hackers and secure your sensitive data like passwords, financial details, and private files.
- Multi-device support: You can simultaneously connect as many devices as you like. Avira VPN works with Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. It also has a browser plug-in for Google Chrome.
- VPN protocols: Although not listed on the website, Avira VPN uses various VPN protocols. For Windows and Android devices, the VPN will use OpenVPN; however, you can’t tweak the settings to either OpenVPN/UDP or OpenVPN/TCP. For Mac and iOS, this VPN will use IPSec.
- Privacy policy: Avira VPN has explicitly stated which of your data is being logged and which ones are not.
- Leak protection: Avira VPN has IP and DNS leak protection. It also supports both IPv4 and IPv6.
- Kill switch: In case your VPN connection suddenly drops, Avira VPN will cut your Internet connection. This feature is only available on paid plans.
Avira VPN offers all of the basic functionalities that you want to see in a VPN service, while still making their client easy to understand and use.
Avira Phantom VPN SERVERS & COUNTRIES
Avira VPN has 38 server locations across 27 countries. The list covers major locations in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. While Avira doesn’t indicate the exact numbers of its VPN servers, the company says it owns and maintains them all.
Reliability & Speed Tests
We downloaded the Windows app from Avira Phantom VPN’s website to perform our tests. The process of downloading and installation was quick. It’s also easy to use as the app will set itself to connect to the nearest server by default.
The app shows all of the server locations and their latency. If you pick a location with good latency (those in yellow), switching or connecting to the fastest VPN server will be a breeze.
VPNs tend to reduce connection speed because of the encryption they use. Avira Phantom VPN is no exception here. Here’s the speed before we turned on the VPN.
Below is the speed when we connected to a US server in Chicago:
The download speed had a 20% drop, the latency shot up, and the upload speed was reduced to merely a small fraction of the original value. While this isn’t unusual with a VPN, it was slightly higher than other providers we’ve reviewed.
We tested the connection with another server in the UK server below. The speed reductions were worse here than those we saw with the US.
The speed reduction could be due to Avira’s small network of servers. Avira has not explicitly listed how many servers it operates, but its 27-country presence is smaller than those of top VPN providers. Power users may not be impressed with these speed figures, but Avira VPN should be fine for light activities like opening emails, checking social media, and general web browsing.
Pricing and Payments
Avira Phantom VPN is offered in one free version with a data limit, and three paid plans:
- Free plan: You’ll get 500 MB of data allocation per month. If you register with an email address, the allocation will increase to one GB. The free plan has no kill switch feature and minimal customer support.
- Monthly Pro plan for multiple devices: At $10/month, you can use this plan on any supported device (Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android).
- Monthly Pro plan for mobile devices: At $4.99/month, this plan only applies to mobile devices. To download the app for iPhone or iPad, go to the AppStore. For Android devices, you can get the app from Google Play. Note that for Android, Avira offers a seven-day free trial to test the VPN service.
- Annual Pro plan: If you want a long-term plan for all your devices, then the one-year plan should suit your needs. To subscribe, you have to shell out $78 for a one-time payment. This translates to a monthly rate of only $6.50, which is cheaper than the rate of the monthly plan for multiple devices.
If you want to test the Avira VPN’s functions first, you can do so with the free plan. If you want to get the kill switch feature and access all support channels, then choose the monthly or annual plan.
Avira only accepts credit cards and PayPal as modes of payment. The site only lists the annual plan as having the 30-day money-back guarantee, so be aware of this before purchasing.
Support
We find Avira’s support page to be a bit of a mess. The page is not solely for Avira Phantom VPN; it also contains information for other Avira products. If you go there, you will find the following support options:
- Email and phone support: Unfortunately, this channel only applies to paid plan subscribers. Those looking to buy will be disappointed.
- Local search engine: Type your search terms here to be given matching threads that apply not only to VPNs, but also to other Avira products. Below the search bar, you’ll see a list of commonly asked questions.
- Ask the community: If you can’t find a satisfactory answer from old threads, you can post your question to be answered by community members. Type your question in the search engine bar, then click “Ask the community.” You’ll be directed to a new window where you can add more items before you post your inquiry.
- Tweets: This is a window that displays tweets found on Avira’s actual Twitter page. There’s a link that will direct you to that Twitter page.
- Videos: Some educational videos and tutorials are found here. Unfortunately, there are few videos related to Avira VPN.
- Latest News: The recent updates on all Avira products are found here. The news articles are categorized by product.
If you’re a free user, you can only get help by searching answers in the relevant threads or perhaps by posting a question in the forum or Twitter. If you’re subscribed to a paid VPN plan, you get more support choices through phone and email.
POLICIES & LOGGING
Avira VPN doesn’t track the websites you have visited. Avira’s privacy policy states,:
“If you use Avira Phantom VPN we do not collect any data about the web pages you visit or the services you use on the internet. The information we require for our billing system only tells us when someone was online and what data volume was utilized.”
Avira VPN has explicitly listed the types of data it records and doesn’t record.
With regards to data requests from authorities, Avira states:
“Our policy is as follows: we cannot share what we do not know. We must legally comply with the legislation of countries in which we operate. So we make sure that if authorities do come knocking on our door, we have no sensitive information to share, notably what our customers use the VPN for or what websites they visited.”
They have no official policy on torrenting. However, be wary as Avira takes copyright issues seriously, as indicated in its DMCA page. If Avira finds one of its VPN users repeatedly committing copyright infringements, the company won’t hesitate to terminate that user’s account.
Expert Recommendation
Avira Phantom VPN’s app is easy to use as connecting to a server is a breeze. The interface is so simple that there’s not a lot to tinker with in the app’s settings. For instance, you can’t tweak the OpenVPN configuration. Moreover, Avira has a small network of servers, and it noticeably slowed down our connection speeds.
Avira VPN has a clear-cut privacy policy, which is a good thing. The provider has explicitly listed what kinds of details are and aren’t logged. Germany has strict data retention laws, and the country being part of the Fourteen Eyes alliance, could bring some uncertainties to the most paranoid privacy-conscious users.
Avira Phantom VPN User Reviews
No Title
I NEED HELP, it worked great in the first hour but after that it became slow as before, ithink my internet company got the trick, what can i do????
The program itself does not work very well
It seemed to work all right, BUT I kept getting the warning “Internal error – failed to connect to the service.” I wrote for a refund of my money. I will try another system. I have had an ransomware attack and need to stop future ones.
Eaasy
fast enough, n problems so far
All country IPs come up as a US location.
Whether we choose, UK, Singapore or Hong Kong, a check myIP address, leads to the USA. This does not work for geo blocked sites such as Netflix. It used to work, but not since the start of March 2017.
Zero
We paid via Bankcard but the app doesn’t work and Avira informs us that our account doesn’t exist. We contacted Avira Customer Service but they never even acknowledged receipt of our e-mail. Keep well clear of Avira at all costs.
No Title
am not able to get the 7 day trial started. I keep getting a message saying it will be rwady in a few minutes and this has been going on for days. if this is nit rwsolved I will cancel tbe subscription and uninstall this app. very unsatisfactory. shirley sunter
No Title
An amazing app. Started using, for 3 weeks it was simply amazing, smart and easy to use interface, professional and supportive costumer care team. Hovewer is was blocked in my region (UAE) and I received a full refund. For sure will be using other products from Avira team at the future.
No Title
Not a bad VPN, but slows down your Internet speed. I need to sign in again after each update. And finally, the automatic connection doesn’t work every time on WiFi, and it doesn’t work anymore when I’m mobile data (this worked before). I recommand this if your are already subscribed to Avira Prime. Otherwise, look for a better VPN.
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Bought the pro version had full access now only basic. Reinstalled, refreshed the licences but still says error processing order and buy the pro version for full access??? Very disappointed.
No Title
Don’t trust their DC guy! Even if you contact their support, they’ll do nothing but waste your time! The app hasn’t worked on Android 4.4.2 for 3 weeks now! I’ve already contacted them with the details 3 times but haven’t heard from them for 2 weeks! I even opened a new ticket, so I’m pretty sure that they’ve got my messages. Seriously Avira, what kind of IT “SECURITY” company are you, leaving your users “UNPROTECTED” for this long? Thanks to you, my Mom has had no Internet for 3 weeks!
No Title
Best then most of the vpns thats exactly i wanted. you can also play pubg lite. This vpn is simple and no ads, ????????????????
I´ts a PERFECT VPN Software, Made in Germany!
I use the Avira Phantom VPN Software since it came in the Beta Test Phase. It’s an Amazing Software. It’s so easy to use and Very stable to me. I think, that they can give the Option to See available SOCKS and maybe to have an option to choose from.
No Title
Rubbish… Cancelled my account as just will not work! Stay in a lot of hotels and keen to use a VPN, as hear lots of stories that hotel WiFi is very insecure. My Nokia 7 Plus has perfect internet connection before I connect to VPN, but moment I connect to VPN, internet stops working to my phone. No apps work and cannot browse webpages. Apps store will not update, etc… Tried different locations but same issue, it says its connected but nothing happens.
No Title
Keep disconnecting. I believe this is hackable. I have had sooo many problems. Canceling this trial subscription today do not try to charge me. 19FEB19 I’m sure this app works great for other people and it’s so wonderful but sorry not for me.
No Title
Keeps on disconnecting and doesnt connect automatically unless i connect it to internet manually. I used other branded vpn as well and i felt disappointed using this. Its a waste of money i should say. It needs improvement. As in a lot of improvement.
No Title
I am premium member. better work on wifi connection. will you analyze how to connect vpn with my cellular data network. i tried but not connected with my cellular data network
No Title
“Access your favourite shows, even from abroad.” That is a big fat lie. It does not work with the BBC iPlayer or other streaming services (UK or US), rendering this VPN completely useless. A cheek to charge so much for this “service” and then even lie to people. Thanks a lot, that’s money well spent.
No Title
As a premium vpn it should have all country servers. but here only limited servers. Today i am searching for thailand server but its not here. Add more server to deserve 5star
No Title
What if we uninstall the app before the completion of 7 days free trail period? your company can misuse our card details. im not happy with this payment method needed option. it’s like forcing customer to share their account details. i feel you should keel the option of payment method after trail period. if customer really likes the app he/she will go for the pais subscription. thank you.
No Title
Doesn’t work, it says connecting and stays for ever. i used the free version of the app and im using android 9 on Samsung Galaxy S9+. and i dont have any other tools from Avira
No Title
I only ever need a tiny amount of data used through VPN. A subscription would be overkill for me, so I’m very grateful for the free service.
No Title
Great VPN. Use openvpn technology. great speed little bit slow connection compare with my original internet. but it is not noticeable. works superfine with my University network it’s unblock all the websites and apps But the problem is high latency. it’s a paid service so latency should be low. it should be below 50 or 60 milliseconds. Right now I am getting 120 milliseconds that’s not good. By the way my location is Kolkata and virtual location is Noida
No Title
I’m using Phantom VPN Pro premium both on my Android and Windows 10 PC, so far it’s an amazing VPN but my only problem is it keeps disconnecting automatically and it’s kinda annoying. please fix then you get my five stars. NOTE: it’s still an Amazing Application.
No Title
Having used Avira for a solid year, I can say, without hesitation, it is on par with Nord and PIA. The speeds are excellent and after torrenting many GBs of free-from-copyright music, nobody has sent me a letter by mistake. Yes this is a glowing review, but no; I’m not being paid for writing it. Credit where credit is due.
No Title
I ENCOURAGE ALL TO USE THIS APP AS IT IS USER FRIENDLY AND SECURE IN WHAT YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR INFO AND DEVICE PRIVATE…I RECOMMEND THIS APP…THANK YOU APP SUPPORT FOR THIS SERVICE!!!????????????????????
No Title
With my other Avira services I simply use my connected Google Account to log in. There is no option for Google or Facebook account connecting on this app, so I have no way of logging in to my account and taking advantage of the premium VPN service. The app is essentially useless to me and I deleted it. This is what happens when app developers and web/Windows developers aren’t communicating on major things like ACCOUNT LOG IN.
No Title
I like this vpn I’m using and i can call easily but when i use SIM deta vpn is connect but not working can you solve only this problem. vpn is very good for WiFi but SIM deta time vpn is connect but I can’t call video or voice call
No Title
|HIGHLY RECOMMENDED| Wow never really thought that there will be a real VPN app Avira VPN surely does what it states in description
No Title
It would be quite in the trial/option to purchase pro actually worked! But no matter which radio but knew select, monthly or yearly, you can’t get past that screen! Even after logging in and/registering. Seriously needs improvement
No Title
This is a fake VPN . I thought that this was a better one . It simply tells that our IP is changed. It does not work properly , if you have doubt then search on Google ‘ what is my current location’ after securing the connection. Then Google shows your actual location. Dear Avira you have made one of your customer very sad who has been using your Avira antivirus for PC for the last 5 years
No Title
Seems to works smooth in the background except for the slightly annoying, unnecessary pop-ups on my lock-screen (distorting the photo of my wife)
No Title
Purchased the “all devices” subscription but the windows 10 app won’t recognise it, stays on the free version. 5 messages to support have failed to even get a suggestion of how to fix it and now they are ignoring my emails and request for refund
No Title
Even after I disabled Auto Start and cleared all data, it started itself up. Instant uninstall after that. Very suspicious behavior… Update: Not sure what else to tell you. It did it once so I cleared it’s data. I then started the app and it showed it’s initial unconfigured state so I figured it wouldn’t do it again, closed it straight after that. Next time was when I opened the notifications pulldown and saw it there saying it was running. *I’d suggest if you’re going to ask for more details like this, don’t contact using a ‘noreply’ email, really poor form. … and before you say you don’t know that would happen, it’s your job to know.
No Title
Very good app in general. It works great in Europe. But, it failed to override firewall in China, so I couldn’t use Google features, Viber, etc. I had to download other VPN app to achieve that
No Title
1. Fetch server list from really safe resource, your sever might be blocked and in this case you have no way to run the app (to fetch the server list) unless you using another vpn 2. app running in background when VPN disconnected, simply WHY?
No Title
I’ve tried god knows how many vpns and just watch ads and no football I’m happy to pay for a VPN that works and finally found one nice work Dev
No Title
No support of any kind, I paid for premium and cannot even login, reaching for support for the last 3 days with no reply only raised ticket
No Title
A good VPN feature is it protects your ever activity without any leaks, many users already have different VPN but still can not access some blocked websites or contents by ISP and country government, even if visited think is totally safe. My according Avira Phantom is only VPN that gives total access because they believe that internet freedom is for everyone and privacy is much important, government have no rights to monitor our life. Thank you so much team Avira. But I can’t register or login Android edition of Phantom VPN from facebook or Google ID just like PC version.
No Title
Excellent performance, good features, cheap…what’s not to love? 🙂
No Title
So far so good! Its a good service thats affordble just $5 a month while other services like nord vpn or cyber ghost charges $12 a month. The only thing im concerned is it falls under the 5 eyes and it kind of worries me that we could be spyed on by our goverment i know its not this company fault but still scary to think about.
No Title
It used to recognize between cellular and wifi, was able to keep the vpn off for cellular. Now, when I disable wifi, vpn activates automatically in cellular and it eats a lot of data. No way to automate this…
No Title
My go-to VPN. Happy paying for it, although now with Android P you can’t set it to automatically turn on when connecting to specific networks. Also I don’t see anything different when being in the beta channel, it would be good to have a changelog perhaps?
No Title
Great vpn. I run the avira pro on all of my devices. Its easy to setup, easy to use, and if someone steals your phone, its real easy to lock them out and track them. I dig all their security software. I highly recommend, and have for almost a year now.
No Title
Avira you are showing us unwanted ads that means you should offer unlimited use of VPN without any restrictions. Rather You are limiting it. You just want to earn money rather than customer satisfaction
No Title
First Problem, I had to pay twice. I had two subscriptions for the same device for the same Month, emailed support… never received an answer. Second problem, App stopped working, uninstalled, reinstalled. Wants me to pay AGAIN, even though subscribing is still running.
No Title
Not working ,my tv app sees me abroad even though i m conected to a viirtual server in my country and doesn’t allow me to whatch tv.i m trying to conect from Germany to a tv app in Romania .The tv app is digi online
No Title
Paid for the full version. Came over from surfeasy which hasn’t had any updates in 10 months. App was also hit or miss. This in comparison is quick, and connects first time. So far so good.
No Title
In the beginning was very convenient to use, I joined in to become an elite member the connection became a rare option, it’s been weeks since I was able to connect at all in spite of being an elite member.
No Title
In the beginning was very convenient to use, I joined in to become an elite member the connection became a rare option, it’s been weeks since I was able to connect at all in spite of being an elite member.
Free version totally suck.
Nothing works well except it can connect, slow connection, ui not working on windows 7 64, will never ever use it again and will not recommended anyone to use it. Hate it very much, I think they’re not ready for vpn’s market