Psiphon VPN Review – Is It Safe in 2024

Our resource is aimed at facilitating users to figure out the comprehensive particulars about one or another free virtual private network. Almost every company on the market claims that she is the best, and the most top-notch service. However, each service has its pros and cons. Every provider has a unique software and hardware architecture. There are plenty of nuances that play a role in the efficiency of encrypted networks.

Understanding the technical details behind VPN performance may seem like a difficult undertaking to the average person who tends to leave his simple life behind. Now is the time when you can have all of us.

Mastering the essentials of the VPN settlement can be a hard nut for a common civil person who does not have a specific technical background. The main task of https://freevpnmentor.com is to provide you with material in a clear form so that everybody can understand it. We hope our job will help you find what you came for.

Pros

• No bandwidth limitations
• Easy installation
• 20+ free locations

Cons

• Non-strict privacy policy
• MacOS speed test is very low
• Windows speed test was failed
• No fundamental security options
• Does not work in highly restricted countries
• Support service does not work
• Annoying ads

Psiphon VPN Features

The current provider has his head office in Canada, Ontario. You can try its VPN software on macOS, Windows, and Android.

Each application has a unique design, a rich server’s selection, and individual security and general options. At the moment, users can not enjoy the browser extension for the reason that this software does not exist yet. We described detailed explanations of Psiphon’s possibilities in the following sections.

Privacy and Logging

Privacy regulations are an integral part of every VPN. The statements in this document vary from provider to provider, and there is no universal guideline for all services. Every vendor has a unique privacy policy with its own individual provisions that can depend on many factors. But the main point for the user is to be sure that the company of his choice does not collect sensitive private data. This block acquaints you with the confidentiality approach of the Siphon provider.

Siphon gathers users’ activity data, which mainly consists of technical data assets that do not reveal private information. But there is a mention that IP addresses are stored for a short timestamp in order to determine the user’s city and country. After the provider receives this intelligence, they immediately delete the IP addresses. Allegedly, there is nothing critical, although it can not be considered a strict no-logs policy.

The explanation from the screenshot above is a bit confusing because the provider says that he compiles sensitive private information in order to create rough statistics. From their example, we can also see that domain names are also collected. If the domain names are under monitoring, then it is again not an approach that ensures users total privacy.

The provider can share users’ data with outer partners, and he does it in such a way that the users identification data is not exposed. The company does not share the domains visited by users as well.

On the one hand, there is nothing dangerous in what is described in the screenshot above. But on the other hand, we do not have any idea what kind of information the provider defines as identifiable and non-identifiable. Do not forget that every company has its own privacy policy and can determine the same things in different flavours.

The free version of the application contains advertisements, and it is widespread practice to provide free services. But the partner who runs ads utilises tracking technologies, which can gather any information, and it is really a good idea to familiarise yourself with their privacy policy too.

The current vendor has created a separate digital entity for storing statistical data.

If you contact them via email, they store it for a period of time. We do not consider it a critical point because an email address is an asset that we usually share with other services for registration or subscription purposes.

Speed Tests – How Fast is Psiphon VPN

The internet connection speed is one of the crucial indexes that determines the workflow convenience. VPN software always affects it and every provider does it to a different extent; there are a lot of prerequisites that play a role here.

Our investigation is very simple for this block, we will not immerse in details about what peculiarities impact the speed. We just measured the speed on all the possible platforms. It is the main thing that consumers want to understand.

There are three indicators that we pay attention on:

• The download speed index shows how fast your device can consume the traffic;
• The upload speed index shows how fast you can deliver traffic to the network from your device;
• The ping time response shows the latency of response from the opposite side that you are communicating with. This indicator is especially important for the live-time events like online meetings, online video and audio calls, or online gaming. 

PC Test

MacOS

The indexes are:

• Download speed is 76.9 mbps;
• Upload speed index 80.4 mbps;
• Ping time is 4 ms.

The top image of the picture shows the US location results. The indexes are:

• The download speed is 16.7 mbps;
• The upload speed is 9.44 mbps;
• The ping time is 126 ms.

The download speed index deterioration is nearly 78%, the upload speed index downgrade is about 88%, and the ping time response increased from 4 ms to 126 ms.

The bottom image illustrates the connection speed of the Swiss server. The indexes are:

• The download speed is 9.93 mbps;
• The upload speed is 18.6 mbps;
• The ping time is 37 ms.

The download speed loss is nearly 87%, the upload speed index loss is 73%, and the ping time response increased from 4 ms to 37 ms.

Both servers demonstrated an intensive downgrade for either speed indexes. Even if you have an ISP with a decent connection velocity, it is most likely that lags during the workflow are inevitable. The ping time response of the American server is too high for ensuring smooth live-time events processing, and the Swiss ping time is good. But considering the speed capabilities it is hard to run online occasions.

Windows

The indexes are:

• Download speed is 90.16 mbps;
• Upload speed index 87.01 mbps;
• Ping time is 2 ms.

The VPN software for WIndows did not manage to show enough performance even to initialize the connection.

Browsers’ Extensions Test

This section is empty seeing that the provider has not developed software for browsers.

Mobile Test

Android

The vertical image illustrates the results of the ISP. The indexes are:

• Download speed is 77.1 mbps;
• Upload speed is 86.8 mbps;
• Ping time is 3 ms.

The top-right image shows the performance of the US server. The indexes are:

• Download speed is 58.4 mbps;
• Upload speed is 42 mbps;
• Ping time is 54 ms.

The download speed fell 24% below the ISP speed, and the upload speed is nearly 52% lower too. The ping time has increased from 3 ms to 54 ms.

The bottom-right image shows the performance of the American server. The indexes are:

• Download speed is 50.9 mbps;
• Upload speed is 51.4 mbps;
• Ping time is 38 ms.

The download speed received a decline of 34%, and the upload speed is 41% below the initial value. The ping time has increased from 3 ms to 38 ms.

The ping time response is good for both locations but the download and upload speed indexes suffered palpable losses for both servers. They are not so critical to hinder the workflow on the speedy ISP, however it is less suitable for utilizing cellular networks, or the majority of public Wi-Fi hotspots where the speed is usually low.

About Safety – How Secure is Psiphon VPN?

The menu list contains two features related to security:

• ‘Use upstream proxy’ feature is a server that is between the user’s device and the VPN server.  At first traffic is transferred to the proxy, and at the second step it goes to the VPN server. This option can give an enhanced speed efficiency and it plays the role of an additional confidentiality layer. Also, it can help to bypass some geographical restrictions;
• ‘Custom HTTP headers’ is a feature for tech-savvy users who can manually customize specific settings. It can be set up in various ways, but we will not discuss it here because it is a separate topic that is out of the edges of our review.

These two features are considered to be secondary security assets. The VPN software does not have a possibility to change the protocol, and there is no mention about the embedded protocol or protocols at all. It is not a positive point because exactly this remedy is a primary safeguard technology.

This list contains four security items:

• Split Tunnel feature in particular case allows to disable websites of your country from transmitting through the encrypt network;
• ‘Local Proxy Port’  enables users to set limited customisable settings of a proxy layer;
• ‘The upstream proxy’ featured is described above in the subsection about macOS’s security settings.

Desktop Apps

• Turn-on/off button;
• Location field;
• The gear icon, which encompasses the menu.

The list of items includes general and security features together. The security set we described in the previous block and the general features do not include something special to pay attention to.

The main screen consists of the menu and the main working area in a single window. The main space contains a connection button and the location field, and on the left there is a menu. Within the ‘Settings’ item you can find all the security functionality that we discussed in the previous section.

Mobile Apps

The Android application has a distinguishing visual representation, as if it were another software. The main screen contains four dedicated fields: home, stats, options, logs, and a connection button in the left-bottom corner of the app’s window. The ‘Home’ field shows on the screenshot above, the ‘Stats’ field shows the volume of the download and upload traffic, the ‘Options’ field shows general and security settings, and the ‘Logs’ field shows the statistical data about the application usage.

Inside this field there are 3 general items and two points related to security: 

• ‘VPN settings’ field contain three options where you can select all apps on your device to be encrypted by VPN, or select what apps should be covered by the VPN tunnel and what apps should be routed directly to the ISP network;
• ‘Proxy settings’ field enables you to set manual customization of the proxy layer, and this feature is useful for the people with an advanced technical background.

Browser Extensions

This section is empty seeing that the provider has not developed software for browsers.

Performance

Speed capabilities are not the strong point of this vendor. The macOS’s application incurred tangible losses of all speed indexes for both regions. The deterioration is high enough that lags can appear even on a forceful ISP network

The Windows’s application failed the speed test for both locations. The velocity was so low that the speed checker even could not initialize the connection.

The mobile application has much better speed results compared to desktop versions, however the objective results are above the affordable values for a stable smooth workflow.

An annoying drawback of each application is that you are redirected to some advertising page every time when you are shifting to another location.

The security is weak: every program has secondary features designed to fasten confidentiality but any app does not provide an ability to select the encryption protocol and any app does not reveal information about protocols at all.

Work in Highly Restricted Countries

There is no information about this query on the Siphon’s resources.

Server’s locations

The macOS’s VPN offers twenty nine countries for exploitation, the Windows’s application contains twenty three free countries, and the program for Android counts 28 free countries.

What Bonuses Does the Paid Version Offer, and How Much Does It Cost?

Provider has not given much details about the subscription plans.

The shortest subscription period is one week and it costs $2.99. The next offer is a monthly plan with a price of $9.99, and the last and the longest term is a yearly plan, which costs $71.99. If you divide an annual plan on a monthly rate it will appear less than $6 per month, but you need to pay the whole sum at once.

Due to the paid version you can get an ad-free application with better speed capabilities and clock-around support. 

About Support

Neither application does not offer an option to contact with a support service, only a FAQ section. Nonetheless, you can find their email at the bottom of their privacy policy page.

We sent them a letter and received their automated template-response. But we did not receive an answer to our actual question.

Psiphon VPN Review: Final verdict

During the investigation we have found that the current provider has gaps in his privacy policy, significant drawbacks with the connection speed and especially critical issues with the Windows’s speed test.

The security core of each application has interesting minor options but neither app does not have fundamental features. The support service is very stingy and will not let you solve unordinary questions on the go. Consuming all the facts we wish Siphon provider is not a very strong player among his competitors.