Urban VPN's Windows app is very easy to use.
The desktop apps are at least user-friendly, but mainly because there's nothing to them (Image credit: Urban VPN) Desktop apps The website claims it 'protects your privacy', but there's no evidence here to back that up. Urban VPN hasn't put itself through a public audit to verify what it's doing, either. But when we tapped 'About' on our Android app, it displayed a 'Can't open this link' error, and we weren't able to opt out. The website claims you can prevent your data being sold by choosing an option on the mobile VPN's 'About' screen. Still, whatever it logs, Urban VPN keeps this data to itself, though, right? Nope: the policy says it might share information 'for security and fraud detection', 'as required by law or regulation' or 'with trusted partners and third parties.' The End User License Agreement for the iOS app goes even further, explaining that the free version also collects 'web page URLs and device screenshots', supposedly to 'identify web pages that load slowly or apps that load slowly.' If the company has URLs, why does it need screenshots? And is it really now admitting that it's collecting data on the apps you use? For example, it describes one paid feature as 'No user data to be collected except the information needed to provide the Services' functionality.' We'd like to know exactly what information that is, but the company isn't saying. Urban VPN says this only applies to the free edition, but the small print is a little vague. In particular, the privacy policy (opens in new tab) has a lengthy list of all the data Urban VPN collects: device IDs, IP addresses, search engine results, web pages visited, 'clicked stream data' and more. The website does provide a lot of information in other relevant areas, though. Urban VPN says it uses OpenVPN, and we confirmed that on the desktop, but its website has no detail on the mobile apps or how they protect your data. If you're concerned about the idea of your VPN traffic passing through other devices, then you would not be alone – so are we. Urban VPN makes big claims on privacy, but doesn't back them up (Image credit: Urban VPN) Privacy and logging
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