Touch VPN Review
In this Touch VPN review, you will find out what a free virtual private network has to offer users and how it compares to leaders in the industry.
Touch VPN Review
A virtual private network is a secure way to connect your devices to the internet, as the system encrypts your private information and protects you from anyone watching what you do online.
There is a wide range of VPN providers available, but most of them cost a bit of money to use. In this Touch VPN review, we’ll see how this newer, free service works and if it stacks up against the competition.
Although Touch’s services seem promising, free may be the only word you want to hear.
What is Touch VPN and How Do You Use It?
Touch is a virtual private network (VPN) service provider that’s entirely free to use. The service aims to protect your sensitive data and personal information safe from scammers and advertisers alike, so you can surf the internet in complete anonymity.
They encrypt your private information so no one (except them) can see what you’re doing online and send your traffic through their connection to protect you.
The service is easy to use across different types of devices, and the installation process is quick. You can use Touch with the following devices:
- Mac
- Windows
- iOS
- Android
- Google Chrome browser extension
As long as your device supports PPTP protocol, it will work. And because the service is free, you have unlimited access to these devices. You can connect as many as you please.
You don’t even need to set up an account to get started because the service allows you to sign in using your social media accounts such as Facebook or with your email address alone.
Touch claims they will also work on your tablet with an app, the same as a smartphone. The app, however, can have issues downloading for some Windows users.
Although, most people have no trouble downloading the Android or iOS apps and using them instantly. Overall, Touch is designed for people with no technical knowledge and you can begin using it in less than three minutes from signing up.
There are also conflicting results on whether or not Touch will work on Mac. The company website claims to work with Mac, yet many real customers say the service will only work on a platform that supports PPTP, which doesn’t include Mac.
Simply download the app or desktop version of the service, sign in using your Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus ID and password, and connect in a single touch. Touch offers a few features they say will improve your battery life and WiFi security while using the service, and boost bandwidth. But you will notice the user interface contains a ton of ads and there are constant pop-ups asking you to rate the service, which is a huge turn-off but typical in a free service.
The user interface of the apps is all easy for beginners, and even the Google Chrome extension is easy to navigate. Hit the large Connect button to get started or choose the server location you want. There are no fancy features or added bells and whistles.
How Well the Touch VPN Works
If you’re looking for security when it comes to a VPN service, look elsewhere. Touch claims to help protect your identity and internet traffic, and they slightly do. However, they do so use PPTP encryption methods that are outdated in the industry, which means your information is highly compromised.
PPTP protocols may be faster, and Touch probably aims to speed up its service, but there are much more secure protocols you could use such as Open VPN.
Sure, you can use Touch to access websites safely while you travel to another country. The aim to protect you from hackers though, not advertisers.
If all you want to do using Touch is to browse a few websites or stream a few videos, PPTP would work fine. But Touch also doesn’t work with streaming services like Netflix (more on this later), and you may be way better off just purchasing service with another provider if you want security and access to streaming services.
Touch also logs everything and sells your information for a profit.
The biggest downside to using Touch is though you may open your computer system up to possible virus attacks. Because people look to a VPN for security and protection, this is very concerning. Not only does it open you up to hackers, but they can access all your information since Touch logs everything.
Touch seems to only offer a false sense of security, as they even leak your domain name system information, including your IP address and browser settings on every site you visit.
Touch claims to offer users complete anonymity, like any VPN service, yet they leak your DNS information. Despite what they aim to do, the service doesn’t protect your privacy at all.
Most free services may also have issues with virus threats and selling your private information and search history to third parties, which is exactly why you’re better off paying for a VPN that actually works.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to detect a virus before it happens to you either.
The service also lacks a kill switch, which is one of the biggest and most important features most VPNs offer. A kill switch is designed to keep your online information secure if there were an interruption in your VPN service or your internet connection.
That way, the system locks up your data when there’s a break in service. However, Touch doesn’t provide this feature, making it risky to use in public places where you may have spotty WiFi connections.
Touch offers basic protection at best, and even then, it seems to be compromised by the fact that they log and sell private data to third parties.
The very advertisers you tried to keep out of your browsing history are simply handed all your information on a silver platter, especially if you log in using your social media account like Facebook.
Touch Compared to Other VPNs
Unlike many other VPN services available, Touch is completely free for users. However, this may be one of the only perks to using the service. You may wonder if it can be that bad, but when it comes to VPNs, you really do get what you pay for.
You can’t connect to as many devices at once or use Touch with your gaming console, router, or smart TV, you can’t access Netflix, and the server locations may not even be located where the company claims – which delivers spotty results and slow speeds.
Servers and Speed
Although Touch claims their service is fast and reliable, many different Touch VPN review speed tests have shown that downloading and uploading using this service slows your internet to a crawl.
Touch only offers 30 servers around the globe, which is among the smallest number we’ve seen. There are many other fast and reliable VPNs out there, with more server locations and channels.
That said, if speed isn’t important to you, Touch would work just fine. However, the lack of server locations and the unreliability in knowing where each server is actually located means there are some countries where Touch won’t work.
Places like Africa and New Zealand, for example, may not have any access whatsoever. This may not bother you if you live in the US or UK, but it may if you travel abroad.
The Touch website also claims to offer servers in over 30 countries, yet the text that explains more isn’t complete. This begs the questions as to whether the website is simply incomplete, or they made a huge mistake by leaving the Lorem ipsum testing text where customers can see.
Touch has servers in popular locations that perform better, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, France, and the Netherlands.
However, you may not be able to use servers in each of these locations depending on the type of device you use. Windows, for example, is only compatible with servers located in the US or UK.
The company doesn’t offer much of any information on the location of their servers, but after some digging, we found that the Chrome store’s description of the Google Chrome/Touch extension works with servers in various countries, including countries like the UK, US, France, Denmark, Canada, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
Most of the information is vague, though they may also have server locations in Singapore, Mexico, Brazil, Czech Republic, Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine, Turkey, and Russia as well.
When you connect, Touch will also connect you to a server location seemingly at random. Unlike other VPNs who choose the server nearest you, this company isn’t consistent with the servers they select and when they do so.
This makes the speed more unreliable. Servers further away from your location may provide slower speeds and WiFi performance.
Logging
When you’re looking for a VPN to use, privacy is a big deal. Most people look for a service that doesn’t track any information whatsoever, other than maybe a username, email address, password, and possible payment method information for service use purposes.
Some services may also log and monitor a little information from you that they only use for their own advertising or performance improving uses, such as login and out times, favorite server locations, or your IP address.
While most of these services still try to protect their users’ right to privacy when it comes to government-issued subpoenas or warrants, Touch VPN doesn’t really try at all. The company tracks and logs their users’ activity, which is the complete opposite of what you want.
Most people use a VPN to protect their privacy and keep it secure, but free options still need to make money somehow. That’s why they log your information and then sell it to third parties.
This means those advertisers you were trying to keep out of your search history are paying for your sensitive data and a log of what you do while you’re online. When using a free VPN service, there are dangers worth looking into.
If you ever question your security, read their privacy policy. At least Touch is open about using your information and logging your data there. But this policy defeats using the VPN, to begin with, even if you’re very careful about the information you disclose.
The company also resides in a country where the government can force them to hand over the information they’ve collected, which makes the fact that they log lots of personal data even worse. If for some reason the government or advertisers wanted to, they could access your personal information with ease.
Plus, because Touch allows you to log in using your social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus, any app you connect receives information about yours.
Logging into Touch using Facebook, for example, will allow the site access to more information than ever, including your profile photo, birthday, username, gender, email address, and other preferences.
All of this logging is concerning, especially in a VPN service where you’re looking for total anonymity and security. Facebook is a company that’s been known to also sell your data to third parties and advertisers, so if you were trying to avoid this from happening in the first place, connecting your social media accounts to Touch may be the worst thing you could do.
Lastly, the apps will ask for a lot of permissions such as managing your apps, themes, and extensions or to cooperate with other applications outside the browser. When you want privacy, why would you want an app to communicate with so many other parts of your computer system?
Streaming Services and Torrenting
Most VPN services struggle when it comes to video streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime because these companies have strict policies. Touch is no different.
When you attempt to play a video on Netflix using Touch, for example, you will only receive an error message. This isn’t surprising in a free service, especially since some of the best VPNs out there don’t even offer reliable access to streaming services like the Private Internet Access VPN, we previously gave a score of 4.25 out of 5.
Unlike many of the best VPN services on the market, Touch also doesn’t offer torrenting. When streaming services don’t work, you’d expect a VPN to at least allow you to torrent even though many big sites are cracking down on torrenting.
However, Touch VPN won’t allow you to do either even though they feature a Netflix logo directly on their homepage.
Customer Support
Another huge downfall of Touch compared to the competition is their customer support, which is email-based only. A free service normally wouldn’t offer 24/7 support or live chat capabilities, so if that’s what you’re looking for, you’re better off with a standard paid VPN service.
However, Touch doesn’t even respond to customer inquiries in a very timely manner. Many customers’ questions will go unanswered for over 24 hours, and this is not a good sign if an urgent problem were to happen to you.
There are many suggestions that because Touch is a newer VPN service and ultimately free, they’re understaffed. They don’t have the capabilities to keep up with customer support, and they may not even have a customer support team.
In fact, the FAQ page on their website’s homepage doesn’t even work let alone the popular questions and answers sections located at the bottom.
Pricing and Deals
Touch VPN is 100% free for anyone to use, anytime. Although there is talk that the company may begin offering premium services in the future, they have yet to mention these on their website.
They may accept donations if you like the service or want to contribute to the website’s future development, but there are no paid plans currently available.
Overall Rating
We rate Touch 2.25 out of 5 stars because, while you can’t expect much from a free VPN service, our Touch VPN review shows the company doesn’t offer as much protection as you want. They actually open your system up for viruses in some cases and track user data, which are huge disadvantages.
Although the speed is decent, the service is totally free, and you can use it on more than one platform, the lack of use with streaming services like Netflix and lack of torrenting capabilities is yet another letdown.
If security and anonymity while surfing the web are really important to you, using Touch actually seems to do the opposite. While this provider will sell your information to third parties for a profit, they’ll even hand over your browsing history to authorities if requested.
The Touch VPN needs to make money somehow, but this free service profits off the very people it claims to protect.
