Features
Speed & Performance
Ease of Use
Mobile App
Customer Support
Pricing
Inside This Article...
Turbo VPN is a free VPN for Android and iOS. While downloading a free VPN may be tempting, it is not always a good idea because there are a lot of restrictions.
With that in mind, read on to discover all of my thoughts on Turbo VPN and whether it is worth downloading.
Overview
Turbo VPN has a massive 300 million users around the world. However, the numbers are always a bit jaded when it comes to free VPNs. A lot of people download them and never use them, so this should never be used as a measure of quality.
Turbo VPN has been created by Innovative Connecting, which is a bit of an ambiguous business, which is described as an Internet start-up. It has developed a number of other basic and free VPNs, including VPN Proxy Master Lite, Solo VPN Pro, Snap Master VPN, and VPN Proxy Master.
It is incorporated in Singapore, which is not a good jurisdiction for VPNs. This is because it is part of the Five Eyes Intelligence Sharing network, meaning it shares data with other countries. Reports have also uncovered that this VPN has strong links with Mainland China too, which is worrying. In fact, Chen Danian, the director of Innovative Connecting, is a Chinese national.
Where are Turbo VPN’s servers located?
Turbo VPN has a very small server network, which is not much of a surprise for a free VPN. There are servers in eight cities, across seven countries, with no indication of the IP addresses.
You do have the option of upgrading in the app, which will give you access to more servers.
For free users, you can choose from servers in the following locations:
- The US
- The UK
- Singapore
- Netherlands
- India
- Germany
- Canada
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Speeds
When it comes to free VPNs, I am never too optimistic in terms of speed. The download speed loss I have experienced on Turbo VPN is between 35 and 40 per cent, which is pretty average.
It really does depend on where you are connecting to, though. Some of the local speeds weren’t so bad, yet a lot of the long distance ones were terrible. For better speeds, check out NordVPN.
Security
There is no denying that security is one of the most important things that you should consider while looking for a VPN. Unfortunately, security is one of the biggest problems with this VPN. It is one of the worst VPNs I have come across in terms of security.
Malware, viruses, DNS leaks, and unsafe functions have all been detected on the app.
If that was not bad enough, third-party advertising platforms are utilised by Turbo VPN to acquire sensitive data for their own personal marketing purposes. This is the opposite of what a VPN should be doing.
There are a few positives, including the fact that OpenVPN is used as the default protocol, and this is my preferred choice.
However, the positives certainly do not outweigh the negatives!
There are a lot of security features that are lacking with Turbo VPN as well. There is no kill switch, which means you are not going to be protected if your VPN connection drops out.
Does Turbo VPN keep logs?
You are probably not going to be surprised to learn that Turbo VPN keeps logs. After all, it is part of data sharing agreements with a lot of other countries.
The privacy policy on the Turbo VPN website is poorly written and rather confusing. This is always a red flag, as privacy policies should be clear and easy to follow.
While Turbo VPN does not collect your IP or ISP address, there are a number of pieces of information that are collected, including:
- Analytics data
- Usage statistics
- Size of data transferred
- Your ISP
- Country you are connecting from
- VPN location you are connecting to
- Whether a VPN connection is successful
When you consider the fact that Turbo VPN have the cheek to call themselves a no-logs policy, it really shows how this phrase is just thrown around in the VPN world and you need to dig deeper.
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Ease of use
Ease of use is not a problem when it comes to this application. It is easy to install, and it is easy to use too. The app looks modern and smooth, so there’s not too much to complain about here.
The ads can be annoying, but they are to be expected when using a free VPN, so I can’t really complain about that.
In the menu, the only personalization options you have is selecting whether you want the app to connect on start-up or not.
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Torrenting
Because of the intrusive logging policy and the lack of privacy features, Turbo VPN is not an advisable option for P2P activity or torrenting.
Plus, in the FAQ section of the Turbo VPN website, the company has stated that their users may have their account blocked if they attempt to access BitTorrent while they are connected. This shows that they have certainly not created their VPN to assist with torrenting.
For a VPN for torrenting, consider ExpressVPN.
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Unblock streaming services
Let’s start with some good news; Turbo VPN does unblock BBC iPlayer. I was surprised to see that this is the case, so it is definitely a positive.
However, you’re going to struggle to unblock any other sort of streaming service. I was not able to access the US Netflix library, for instance.
Can you use Turbo VPN in China?
I would never recommend using this VPN if you are based in China. As mentioned in the introduction, it has been unearthed that Turbo VPN has connections with mainland China and will hand over information to the authorities. Because of this, using this VPN in China is never a good idea.
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Compatibility
In terms of compatibility, it is important to point out that this is a mobile VPN. It is available on iOS and Android devices.
Should you wish to use this VPN on a different platform, there aren’t any manual workarounds, as is the case with the majority of other VPNs on the market.
You can check out my “reviews by device” if you would like more information on the best VPN for a specific device.
If you go for the premium option when in the app, you will have the ability to add as many as five devices to your account and ads will be removed.
Games consoles and streaming devices
There is not much to say in this regard, as the app is not compatible with games consoles and streaming devices. It is better to look for an alternative solution.
Browser extensions
There are no browser extensions available with Turbo VPN, as this has been designed for iOS and Android devices.
Customer support
The customer support that is available is very disappointing. Again, Turbo VPN promises a lot, but it fails to deliver.
Turbo VPN claims that they provide 24/7 customer support, so I was expecting to have a quick reply. Instead, I did not get a response at all!
This really is disappointing; if you have any queries or need help, you cannot guarantee that the team at TurboVPN are going to be there to help you.
There is a very basic FAQ section on the website, but that is all. There are no resources, troubleshooting guides, or set-up help. Of course, as you cannot manually add the VPN to different devices, the need for extensive set-up guides is not present, yet you would expect there to be a basic one at least.
Pricing
If you download this VPN from the app store, it is not going to cost you anything. However, there is also a premium version available, which costs $3.92 per month for 12 months. This will be billed upfront.
It’s a bit confusing, to be honest! It reminds me of those gaming apps, with the prompts to make in-app purchases to unlock different features.
Summary
All in all, I personally would not recommend Turbo VPN if you are looking for a reliable and secure VPN. While it markets itself as a free VPN, you will need to pay money in the app to unlock all of the services.
The main concern, though, is the security, or lack of it! The jurisdiction and attitude toward privacy are both concerning with this VPN.
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