HideMyAss Review
HideMyAss!
HideMyAss!
- Quick Summary (TL;DR)
- Features
- Servers & Countries
- Reliability & Speed test
- Pricing & Payments
- Support
- Policies & Logging
- Expert Recommendation
HideMyAss! In a Nutshell
HideMyAss is a VPN provider based in the United Kingdom. The company started in 2005 and now operates 880 servers in 190 countries. It claims to offer strong security and privacy at affordable prices.
We tested HideMyAss’ service and found the connection speeds decent. We also like the app’s user-friendliness. On the other hand, we found the provider’s security policies contentious, especially in the use of log files and storage of user information.
Customer support also turned out unreliable, with them not responding to our questions in a thorough manner. Because of these issues, we would suggest you either use HideMyAss at your own risk, or find a better alternative by click the button below.
Reliability & Speed Tests
Speed wise, Hide My Ass was found to feel the same when you’re using it as any other top 5 VPNs tested. Streaming video speed is normal, and everything else loads as quickly as you’d expect.
Here is how the connection was performing on the day of testing without a VPN connected:
Our Speeds Without HideMyAss
When using HMA, you find that they have virtual servers for clients who want a connection in the USA, but who are far outside of the USA. When tested, the closest virtual USA server was in France:
Our Speeds On a HideMyAss Server Located In France:
To compare, here are the results with a server in Manhattan, NYC:
You get a quicker ping rate with the physically closer virtual server, and roughly the same download speed with either one. When using the connection to surf around the web, the virtual server feels quicker.
A UK connection had similar results, showing that all connections would operate at nearly exactly the same speed:
Our Speeds On a HideMyAss Server Located In the United Kingdom
After three entire days of testing, HMA did not once drop a connection. Every connection felt exactly the same as the next, regardless of whether the VPN server was 100 miles away, or 10,000 miles away.
Of particular note is HMA’s dedication to monitoring their servers. Out of the 900+ servers that were online when we tested, only 5 were found to be offline, and those servers were in remote locations. Best of all, HMA has been found to work perfectly fine with all geo-blocked content providers – including Hulu. Some IP addresses are blocked by Hulu, simply switching to another US based or virtual server can unlock it for you.
Pricing & Payments
HideMyAss offers three different plans for its VPN service:
- One-month plan: $11.99
- 12-month plan: $6.99
- 24-month plan: $4.99
Features
One of HideMyAss’ main draws is its easy-to-use client app. The app has the Instant Connection button displayed prominently on the home screen. There is also a Location Mode tab where you can select the country and server to connect to. This tab also displays the servers available for streaming and torrenting.
Another notable feature of the app is the Freedom Mode, which HideMyAss claims will help people go around a country’s censorship. The provider explains that when you use this mode your traffic is directed to the closest country that doesn’t have strict censorship.
The app also has a simplified Preferences section, where you can make adjustments like:
Start the VPN client when your computer starts
Show your recent connections
Shuffle your IP addresses
Toggle the kill switch on and off
The section’s layout makes it intuitive to use, but it noticeably lacks some of the finer control options, like Load Balancing and Secure IP Bind, that were previously present.
User experience
With such a complex network, you’d expect Hide My Ass to have VPN software that’s just as complex to use. This isn’t the case. They’ve taken the essentials that the average user needs and placed them right in the easiest place to find them – the ‘Dashboard’ tab.
From the Dashboard you can quickly change which country your server is in from the ‘Quick VPN Country Change” menu:
This really plays to Hide My Ass’ strength as a tool for defeating geoblocking. You can enjoy their software entirely from the Dashboard tab and never have to stray. This is what the average user will do.
For users with more advanced needs, you’ll find it’s simple to customize your experience. The country selection tab easily lets you navigate their worldwide network via a text based listing of all their servers grouped by country, or the world map we prefer:
Advanced users can simply keep on looking down through the tabs to find their:
- Simple IP address settings tool.
- Secure IP Bind, more often known as a VPN kill switch.
- Speed Guide for the fastest servers near you (Ping tested)
- Choosing between a direct connection, HTTPS proxy, or SOCKS proxy.
Each tab down from the top has a more complicated feature. This is great for user experience as the most useful features for the largest number of users is closest to the top. There’s no digging into the more complicated stuff if you don’t want to.
Streaming and P2P
HideMyAss offers Netflix unblocking services, which can be accessed in the Location tab. The company gives you access to both the US and UK servers, as well as the BBC iPlayer. It also offers unblocking services for Amazon Prime Video, but this is not as reliable as the Netflix services.
The available peer-to-peer servers are also displayed in the Location tab. Some users have noted that they have difficulty transferring files through the servers or that these are inaccessible. HideMyAss recommends you make some adjustments to your Preferences, like only using TCP, to resolve the issues.
User interface
It seems like more VPN providers are moving towards a layout much like Hide My Ass’ layout. In the early days of VPNs, the interface left much to the imagination. Today, Hide My Ass are leading the way with an interface that is always looking better, working better, and helping users secure their connection faster.
The software has a very simple and clean look. It’s a little bit blander than the yellow and black software of theirs from years ago, but the VPN world is maturing so it’s only right:
Features
Perhaps the greatest strength of Hide My Ass over the years has been the cutting edge features they’ve built right into their software. To start with the most basic stuff, you can use their software to:
- Launch when the system starts.
- Auto Path for OpenVPN problems where it automatically tries to solve issues.
- Use load balancing that switches you to a less busy server within the same city. You can choose how ‘crowded’ the server is by percentage.
These three are all designed to help you get connected quickly, and to maintain a fast connection with no effort on your part. You can find them on your Dashboard tab under ‘Settings’:
Their next best feature is their IP address switching tool. You can choose to simply change your IP at the touch of a button, labelled ‘Change IP’, for complete control when you need it. You can use it when you’re about to visit a different website and want a different IP address displayed to it.
Or you can schedule an IP address change for a certain time. It will be done for you automatically. Both IP address changing tools make it very difficult for someone to track you.
If you’re ever in doubt about where you IP address is, and how websites see it, you can click on their ‘Verify IP address’ button on the bottom. It will take you to this website where you’ll be shown what other websites are seeing:
Next, you can change your Secure IP bind, or VPN kill switch, settings. This will disconnect the connection of certain apps you choose. For example, if your connection to a VPN server drops, and you’re doing a secure file transfer with your legal team, the software will stop the connection for that transfer so your information remains safe. Being able to select only certain apps is a feature completely unique to HMA Pro.
The Speed Guide feature is incredibly useful with their huge network of servers. They automatically display the 10 closest VPN servers. You can then check more servers to test Ping rates, and other server tests.
The last feature, Proxy Settings, is really only for advanced users.
Reliability
You need not worry about your software crashing with Hide My Ass. After months of testing, lots of playing around, and an attempt at getting it to crash, it stood up to our abuse. This is a good thing as a complex network with a bad piece of software can be a frustrating experience. No such problems here.
Fair warning: If you choose to check the Ping rates of a lot of servers, and they have a lot of servers to check, you can have a longer wait time. The point of their Speed Guide is to lower the wait time for users who want to get server information. If you abuse it you will have a slower experience.
Platforms and Compatibility
Hide My Ass have VPN software for the following platforms:
- Windows
- Mac
- iOS
- Android
Along with instructions to set it up on a router, or manually. This is a shorter list of platforms compared to others, such as IPVanish, but it does cover the vast majority of users.
CPU load
Hide My Ass’ software is slightly larger than some we’ve tested in terms of file size, but it will not take up very much space on your hard drive at all:
Given the size of their network, you’ll be surprised to find that it only uses around 48.8MB of active memory. For a modern laptop or desktop computer, you’ll be able to run your torrent client, browse around the Internet, listen to music, and play around in a graphics editing program while Hide My Ass is open with no problem. We know this because we tested it!
Overall, Hide My Ass has one of top VPN software tools we’ve used. The interface is clean and easy to understand. You can use their more advanced features with limited knowledge. Navigating their large and complex network is made simple through how they designed they designed this excellent piece of software.
Servers & Countries
HideMyAss operates 880 servers spread across 190 countries and territories, including:
- Denmark
- France
- Puerto Rico
- Brazil
- Hong Kong
- Australia
While HideMyAss has a large number of servers, there are other providers (like IPVanish) that have bigger networks. The servers are also distributed unevenly, with most locations having only two servers available.
Support
HideMyAss provides several means of getting customer support, namely:
- Live Chat: The agents are claimed to be available 24/7 on chat, but you won’t get detailed answers to questions since they only direct you to other pages.
- Help form: The help form is basic and doesn’t let you direct your support requests to specific departments. This might result in longer resolution times.
- Email support: You can send any email inquiries to info@hidemyass.com, but the site is again slow to respond.
- Social media: The site has both a Facebook page and a Twitter account where you can send questions.
The large variety of channels available lets you make contact anytime for inquiries or troubleshooting.
However, the quality of provided support is less than stellar. While agents respond within minutes on live chat, most of their answers just direct us to links on their site. This is the same case with the social media pages. There felt like there was no personal touch.
Users also noted that HideMyAss’ support is less responsive on non-real time channels like email and support tickets. This will be problematic to some users since they will be limited to use only these channels for sending refund requests or inquiries. We, unfortunately, personally received very poor support from HideMyAss. It is one of the major reasons why we gave HideMyAss a lower ranking.
Policies & Logging
While HideMyAss states that it does not monitor or store the details of the sites you visit, it still collects a variety of log information during your session, including:
- Your username
- Your session timestamp
- The IP address used to connect to the VPN
- The IP address of the server you are using
- The amount of data you transmit
The provider can still use these log files to trace your online activities, even without viewing your actual traffic.
The company also states that it may actively monitor your sessions for technical purposes or when detecting fraud and abusive use of the network. This will be worrisome for users since HideMyAss is based in the UK, which is known for its aggressive monitoring of citizens. In fact, HideMyAss has allowed authorities access to user information in previous cases.
Technical Assessment
Expert Recommendation
We initially found HideMyAss to be a serviceable VPN provider. The app is easy to set up and use, letting you connect quickly. The speeds are also fairly consistent and are sufficient for most online users. We did find the company’s more specialized services (like streaming and P2P) less reliable than that of other providers.
However, upon closer inspection of HideMyAss’ policies, we found some concerning issues. The most notable of them is that HideMyAss does collect a significant amount of user information. We are also concerned by the company’s track record of giving authorities access to this information too easily, wondering who else may be able to get hold of it (like the bad guys).
Customer support is another point of contention. While HideMyAss provides plenty of contact channels, the response rate is not that impressive. Because of these issues, we suggest that you be cautious about using HideMyAss. You can also check out better alternatives in our top VPN list.
User Reviews of HideMyAss!
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I tried to sign up for a trial and wasn't able to create an account due to a bug in their system. I tried again without success. However, I received two emails from them saying that I had signed up for two subscriptions. I emailed them about it and received no response. I then contacted via Live Chat and spoke to some incompetent guy named Jorah who started to lecture me on how I should not sign up for several trials. He refused to listen to me and just kept lecturing me. I won't be using this company again and will leave as many negative reviews as I can.
The new app is simply great. It works at great speed and you get the biggest number of places on earth than any other VPN provider offers. Form it's number one for few years already.
I got hidemyass after a friend who had been using at the same station i was going to at that time recommended it.I was aware a lot of content i was accessing back home was not available due to geoblocking. Hidemyass works for me and am now able to watch and access everything just like i did at home.
I got hidemyass after a friend who had been using at the same station i was going to at that time recommended it.I was aware a lot of content i was accessing back home was not available due to geoblocking. Hidemyass works for me and am now able to watch and access everything just like i did at home.
The first thing that caught my attention is the fact that Hidemyass is very simple to use despite being capable of doing complex stuff. I am now able to watch content that is blocked from viewing in the country am deployed.
I work for an international NGO and often have had to travel in Africa and Asia. Every country i have been to i have been able to get a server when using hidemyass. The speeds are very good as well.
The customer support at hidemyass are great. They were helpful and answered my questions since i was a first time user. I recently moved to south Sudan on a 6 month assignment and needed a service that would allow me to watch my favourite show on netflix.
Hidemyass has done the job for me perfectly over the last 12 months. I mainly use it for streaming purposes as most netflix is inaccessible at my current location. It has good speeds as well.
I got a new job overseas and a colleague who was previously stationed there recommended hidemyass after he heard me complain about missing out on my favourite shows on netflix. I use this service primarily to watch shows i would have missed for the duration am away from home.
I use hide my ass at my university where they have blocked lot of cool websites.The simple user interface it has is one of the reasons i settled for it. I am not a very technical person and only needed a VPN service that would allow me access sites i would otherwise not access.