Touch Review – Is It Safe in 2024

Pros

• Easy installation 
• 22 free locations for desktop and browser extension
• Decent speed result for the mobile application

Cons

• Privacy policy is non-strict
• The download index of the US server on the desktop incurs significant downgrade
• 500 mb of the daily traffic
• Live support does not work
• Does not work in highly restricted countries
• Windows app does not work properly

Touch VPN Features

The current vendor offers its software for desktops, mobile gadgets, and browsers. Every edition is filled with distinctive security functionality and some general options. The provider did not share a lot of information on the website about the features set, so the next blocks will reveal all the particulars about this VPN.

Privacy and Logging

One of VPNs’ primary goals is to provide reliable online personal data protection. There is no universal set of rules that all providers must adhere to. Some VPNs stick to a stringent confidentiality approach, while others collect a lot of personal information.

Providers describe all of their provisions for storing, selling, and sharing private personal information on their privacy policy pages. We looked over the statements of the present vendor and emphasised all that was essential to know.

The list of information predicted on the screenshot has basically a technical sense and does not lead to personal data disclosure. It is a common practice for the majority of providers to gather technical information for analytics purposes.

Also, the penultimate sentence says that the provider uses cookies—special tracking technologies—for data gathering. In this specific case, Touch VPN utilises it for the technician’s goals, but this technology can be set up in many different ways and collect any type of info.

We estimated this paragraph as a fuzzy explanation because, under the phrase, the ‘nature of the request’ Touch provider had assigned users visited URLs and location’s data. This information discloses what you are searching for on the web and where you are doing it from.

We have a little confusion, according to the first indent before the list. There is a mention that the company does not log users VPN session activity, but immediately on the previous screenshot, we revealed that they collect visited URLs. And how do we understand these double standards?

Now a few words about the list itself. In general, it seems to be the diagnostic data, however, the third bullet point is unclear. The ‘similar diagnostic information’, as they said, does not give any idea about exact information assets. Yes, it can be just technical data, but it can also be your device’s ID that can expose your location in specific circumstances.

The main idea depicted in the screenshot above means that if you were referred from another source to Touch VPN, then the provider can access the data that you have left on that source. For example, you can register somewhere and then follow the advertising link from that source to the current VPN. In that case, the Touch provider can receive your registration data. 

The first bullet point says that if you want to register somewhere while on a VPN connection, the provider will share your data with this service. The second bullet point describes the situation when using the corporate account. In this case, some of your personal data will be opened to all members of the community. The third bullet point implies the situation when you want to contact someone directly via specific communication channels. Various platforms may require distinctive data assets to initialise the contact between two sides, and current VPNs can share this intelligence.

We have previously discussed cookies in short, and here the provider shows us the grounds of why they use them. Basically, the list presents the technical causes that do not hide threats. But we want to pay your attention once more to the fact that these tracking files can be set up in any way; hence, read every time the cookies alerts.

These remedies are very commonly used today in general for statistical goals. However, every company defines on their own what stuff should be included in their analytics; sometimes it can contain personal data. Touch VPN has described in the first paragraph that they can indicate consumers IP addresses.

The provider ensures that third-party ads do not have access to VPN browsing data. Only the access that they have is related to the ad sources where they appear.

The safety precautions have been described in very general terms, and the provider has not determined the exact measures. If he had mentioned the precise technologies, their servers’ location, and other specifics, it would have been much better to recognise the real level of safety they propose.

Data retention by the provider.

• As long as you have an account,
• Law requirements or legitimate interest;
• Temporary residual backup data copies.

We want to highlight that the law requirements are a very deep topic, and they have divergences from provider to provider.

Indeed, the current vendor has not realised age limitation measures. We did not face even a prompt with an age confirmation. So this statement is more of a kind of legal defence than a real common practice.

A privacy policy is not a document with persistent provisions; companies can make changes from time to time. It depends on a variety of reasons: government obligations, business goal transformation, etc. The current provider has promised to change the date of the last update at the beginning of the page or directly via email.

Speed Tests: How Fast is Touch VPN

The convenience of the online workflow directly depends on internet speed capabilities. VPN software affects the ISP speed, and every particular vendor makes it differently because a lot of prerequisites play a role here.

This block is devoted to representing the real connection velocity with a turned-on encrypted network. When the company provides a location selection for a free plan, we test two regions: the US and a random server from the European region. When we have a limited quantity of servers, we use what we have. Here are a few parameters that have a major role in our investigation:

• The upload speed index shows how quickly you can deliver traffic from your local device to the internet; 
• The download speed index illustrates how quickly your device can consume traffic;
• The ping time response shows the latency of the server response, or the opposite side. This marker is important for live-time events like online video calls, audio calls, meetings, gaming, etc.

PC Test

MacOS

This are the speed results without a turned-on VPN. The indexes are:

• The download speed is 83.1 mbps;
• The upload speed is 47.4 mbps;
• The ping time is 3 ms.

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

• The download speed is 50.6 mbps;
• The upload speed is 55 mbps;
• The ping time is 179 ms.

The download speed index drop is nearly 39%, the upload speed index growth is about 16%, and the ping time response increased from 3 ms to 179 ms.

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

• The download speed is 67.4 mbps;
• The upload speed is 47.7 mbps;
• The ping time is 37 ms.

The download speed loss is nearly 19%, the upload speed index has a little increment, and the ping time response increased from 3 ms to 37 ms.

The American server demonstrated a palpable downgrade in the download speed capacity but was not critical. You can face lag while working on a cellular network. The upload index has received an effective boost, and it is definitely a strong point. The ping time response is too high for live-time events and does not predict a smooth process.

The European region has shown a little higher result compared to affordable values, but just a little. The upload index again increased the speed capacity, and the ping time response is good for real-time events.

Windows

We did not show the results of Windows’s application because the software works incorrectly. When you select any location, the Touch VPN programme reflects it on its screen, but indeed, it does not substitute the genuine IP addresses with the server’s one. The speed checker that we use detects the geographical data, and it fixes nothing while you change countries on the VPN program.

Browsers’ Extensions Test

The top image shows the results of the ISP. The indexes are:

• download speed is 64.71 mbps;
• upload speed is 39.6 mbps;
• ping time is 10 ms.

The central image shows the performance of the US server. The indexes are:

• download speed is 48.4 mbps;
• upload speed is 41.07 mbps;
• ping time is 37 ms.

The download speed fell 26% below the ISP speed, and the upload speed is nearly 3% above it. Ping time has increased from 3 ms to 37 ms.

The central image shows the performance of the German server. The indexes are:

• download speed is 47.72 mbps;
• upload speed is 39.84 mbps;
• ping time is 37 ms.

The download speed loss is about 26% lower than the ISP speed, and the upload speed has a little boost. The ping time has increased from 2 ms to 37 ms.

Both locations demonstrated very similar results, and they are not bad. This VPN impacts very effectively on the upload index; in both cases, it received an improvement.

Mobile Test

Android

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

• download speed is 59.8 mbps;
• upload speed is 50.3 mbps;
• ping time is 2 ms.

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

• download speed is 52.2 mbps;
• upload speed is 67.2 mbps;
• ping time is 178 ms.

The download speed fell 13% below the ISP speed, and the upload speed is nearly 34% higher. Ping time has increased from 3 ms to 178 ms.

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

• download speed is 68 mbps;
• upload speed is 67.9 mbps;
• ping time is 45 ms.

The download speed received an enhancement of 14%, and the upload speed is 35% higher than the initial value. The ping time has increased from 2 ms to 45 ms.

The Android’s application demonstrated decent results for either server, and especially good for the Romanian one. The deterioration of download speed on the US server slightly exceeds the permissible value, which is not palpable in most cases.

About Safety – How Secure is Touch VPN?

The only prominent feature that is related to the security aspect is the ‘Kill Switch’ option. This remedy cuts you off from the internet in case of a sudden VPN network disruption. It is very handy when you are working on an unstable network.

Here we have the Kill Switch feature and the protocol selection. Let us see which protocols are available.

• Open VPN TCP/UDP
  • OpenVPN is a versatile VPN protocol with strong security, flexibility, and the ability to bypass restrictions. It can work over TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol). TCP is more reliable in terms of secure data transmission but less fast because of its complex structure. UDP, in turn, has better velocity, but the data packages can be transmitted in the wrong order.
• Wireguard
  • This protocol is recognised for its superior performance and negligible overhead costs. It encompasses modern and the most enhanced cryptographic algorithms and protocols: Noise protocol framework, Curve25519 for key exchange, and ChaCha20Poly1305 for encryption and authentication. It is prepared for Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. It ensures sustainable connectivity while switching between WiFi and mobile networks.
• HydraVPN
  • Hydra is considered to be a very fast protocol. It utilises strong AES 256 encryption and makes VPN traffic appear as regular encrypted web traffic with reliable confidentiality protection. On the other hand, Hydra doesn’t have strong obscuring potential. It is easier to detect and block VPN traffic, making it less suitable for bypassing geo-restrictions.

In this case, we can see two paramount safeguard features:

• Auto-protect websites
  • This option enables you to automatically turn on the VPN while visiting specific websites. You need to write the domains or URLs of the sources that you want to work with in that way.
• Exclude websites
  • This option gives you the ability to fix certain domains that should work directly with the ISP network when the VPN is turned on.

Desktop Apps

We observed just the macOS’s application because the Windows’s one does not work properly.

The visual representation of the main screen is divided into two logical sections: the menu area on the left and the main area on the right. The main space contains information about the current geo, including the IP address, the turn-on/off button, and the location field immediately above the connection button. The free edition gives users only 500 MB per day, which is an incredibly small volume.

Mobile Apps

The main display includes three main interactive elements: the hamburger menu icon, the connection button, and the location field. Under the hamburger icon, you can find a few general options and the security settings that we discussed in the previous chapter about safety. Also, on the main screen, you can see the income and outcome traffic indices. And the same as on the desktop version, consumers are limited to 500 MB of daily traffic.

Browser Extensions

The main screen contains three main interactive elements: the connection button, the hamburger menu icon, and the location field above the turn-on/off button. The hamburger menu consists of the general feature and the security options, which we have already talked about.

Performance

The speed results of the desktop application have the single trait that the upload index was improved for both servers. And the download indexes incurred deterioration, and the American server showed tangible downfall.

Similar to the desktop VPN, the browser’s extension received an upload index boost. The download indexes for either server suffer an equal volume of loss; it is not critical but may cause lags in some conditions on the slow ISP network.

The mobile application showed its best with a satisfying downgrade of the download indexes for both locations and a significant increase in the upload indexes for both locations.

Despite the decent speed results in general, Touch VPN has a daily traffic limitation of 500 MB for every type of application. It is unlikely that you can exploit it.

Work in Highly Restricted Countries

There is no information about this query in the provider’s resources.

Server’s Locations

The desktop and Android applications contain 22 free servers, and the browser extension includes six servers.

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

If you are considering buying the subscription, you can obtain such bonuses:

• No in-app advertisements;
• 80+ locations;
• 5 simultaneously connected devices;
• Much faster connection speed;
• Clock-around live support.

The provider offers two types of subscriptions: monthly and annual. The monthly plan costs $12.99, and the yearly edition costs $77,99, which is cheaper at a monthly rate if you divide the sum over twelve months: 77,99 / 12 = 6.5.

About Support

Only the desktop application proposes the support service; however, it is not full-fledged for the free version. You can not appeal directly to the live support service; your opportunities lie in the FAQ section.

Nonetheless, we found on their website a contact us link that automatically opens your email programme and shows your Touch VPN email address. We wrote them a letter and have not received a response from them.

Touch VPN Review: Final Verdict

The current provider has its beneficial features but also contains significantly limited functionality; some providers offer for free those things that are not accessible in the current VPN service. In addition to that, the privacy policy is not strict and encompasses unfriendly provisions for users. But the main issue is the traffic boundaries: 500 MB per day is nothing. Considering all the facts we can suggest to extend free possibilities, or at least to give enough traffic for a convenient workflow.