HideMe Free VPN Proxy is an Android app that does pretty much what you think it does, it gives users a way to hide their IP address and appear as if they’re connecting from a different country altogether. It’s a free app to download – whether or not you have access to the Play Store – and it has 10 different countries that users can connect from, including the United States and parts of Asia, too. Simple and easy to use, HideMe Free VPN Proxy from TigerVPNs is designed to be as easy as possible, and as such it’s a fairly basic app that gets the job done. Let’s take a closer look and see just how well HideMe Free VPN Proxy gets the job done. While traditional VPN protocols prevent people from connecting to a VPN with the ideal quality of service. By designing the new HideMe VPN protocol, we have created an opportunity to offer the best possible service to our users all around the world.
Users will first need to download the app, and they can download HideMe Free VPN Proxy either from the Play Store or from their website if they live in an area without access to the Play Store. Once installed and then launched, there’s not a huge amount to see, just the main menu of the app.
The main menu is split up into three different sections; one for the VPN, a Discover pane as well as the WiFi Analyzer pane. I was intrigued to see that there were extra features here, but the Discover pane seems to be nothing more than questionable links to content online.
Things don’t get any better if you click on the WiFi Analyzer option, either. Here I was thinking that HideMe Free VPN Proxy had an extra feature to make sure that people’s WiFi networks were working well and find out more about what network they’ve connected to, instead it’s just a link to another app. Regardless, the majority of people will only be looking for a simple VPN option, to help them connect or appear as though they’re connecting from a different country. In this regard, HideMe Free VPN Proxy does the job. To test, I chose the United States, which is curiously ticked as default although users can choose whichever nation they want.
As with all VPN apps, users should be aware of the potential risks that come with such a service, and HideMe Free VPN Proxy does an okay job of informing users about these dangers.
To test this out I went to an independent website to check my IP address, and despite living in the UK, I was shown to be connecting from somewhere in California, so it definitely works.
I never noticed any slowing down of my connection speed or anything like that, but I was confused by the fact that the Play Store listing note that the app features “Unlimited speed, bandwidth and free trial”, but there was no mention of any of this in the app. Still, I tested the IP change again connecting from Canada, and it again worked as advertized.
There are, for whatever reason, two notifications that appear whenever using HideMe Free VPN Proxy, which is a little annoying, but it’s good to see that users are informed when connected to a VPN at least.
When choosing the more detailed notification, users are given some information about how much data they’ve used as well as the option to quickly disconnect from the VPN.
After spending some time with HideMe Free VPN Proxy I can see why a lot of users would find the app useful, after all it’s a free VPN option with 10 different countries on offer. It includes the United Kingdom, the United States and parts of Asia as well to make sure that they get access to the sort of content they want. Besides, any VPN is a good way of making sure that your data and identity are somewhat hidden from prying eyes, although there was no talk of a specific encryption level or anything like that here in HideMe Free VPN Proxy, which I was a little disappointed by. The Discover part of the app is, frankly, just an annoyance. It’s no better than shady ads you might find online, and the link to another app that has the WiFi Analyzer feature is also a little misleading as well. While the core functionality of HideMe Free VPN Proxy works as advertized, it could really do with some cleaning up and cutting of the ads and the link to another app.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – HideMe Free VPN Proxy connects quickly and I didn’t notice any effect on my connection speed or anything like that, either.
- Theme (3/5) – The overall look and feel of HideMe Free VPN Proxy feels a little cluttered and it’s nowhere near as smooth as it could look with a little work. The assets used aren’t high resolution, and it doesn’t fit in well with Android, either.
- Features (3.5/5) – The core VPN functions work well and do exactly as users are promised, but the “extras” here are just annoying and will put some users off.
- Overall (4/5) – Despite not being the best-looking VPN app out there, and having some annoying features outside of the VPN functions, HideMe Free VPN Proxy does what it promises, and it offers users a quick, easy and free solution to hide their activities and get access to geo-blocked content no matter where in the world they are.
Pros
- Completely free to use when connecting to any of the 10 different locations available.
- Great for users looking to connect from within China and get past the Great Firewall.
- Doesn’t ask users to sign up with any email or phone number or anything like that, just connect and go.
- Makes keeping your identity and information safe no matter what network you’re using really easy.
Cons
- Discover and WiFi Analyzer links in the main menu are just ads.
- Could do with a cleaner UI and a smoother interface.
All-in-all, HideMe Free VPN Proxy is the sort of app that serves a purpose, and while it is free it doesn’t come without its downsides. As a VPN, it works well and connects quickly. It’s a good option for those that know they want to connect to somewhere else, but don’t want all of the drama that goes with it. For some users however, the ads from the Discover and WiFi Analyzer might be more than a small annoyance. Regardless, HideMe Free VPN Proxy gets the job that it promises to do, done.