Touch VPN Review 2023

Touch VPN is a freemium VPN provider initially launched in 2014 and acquired by AnchorFree (now Pango) in 2015. It started out as a simple proxy service and grew into a full-blown VPN over time.

However, with so many VPN choices available today, it’s important to make the right decision. That’s why we tested Touch VPN extensively, including all of its features, security setup, privacy, and speed.

Check our final results in our full Touch VPN review below.

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Touch VPN: A Short Review

Pros	Cons
Good VPN protocols on mobile apps	Dangerous logging policy
AES-256 encryption	Unknown desktop protocols
Good speeds	WebRTC and DNS leaks
Vast server network	No dedicated IPs
Torrenting is allowed	On the pricier side
Unlimited simultaneous connections	No clear money-back guarantee
Limited free version	Subpar customer support
Beginner-friendly	Headquartered in the US

Touch VPN is a freemium VPN service owned by Pango Inc. (the company behind Hotspot Shield). It boasts robust security elements paired with military-grade encryption.

Its logging policy, however, leaves something to be desired. It’s based in the US, which is only safe if VPNs adhere to strict no-logging practices. According to the official website, Touch VPN has 5900 servers in 80+ countries, which seems impressive at first.

The speeds are moderately good, and you won’t notice any major drops. The app interface is minimalistic and beginner-friendly, with very low installation times. Their customer support could use more work, though.

So, can Touch VPN’s benefits outweigh its flaws? Can they justify its price tag? We’ll answer these questions and cover much more in our full Touch VPN review below.

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Speed – How Fast is Touch VPN?

Speed plays an important role when testing any VPN, and determines its overall performance. The fastest VPNs out there can encrypt your traffic without causing huge speed drops.

These encryption-related dips are not overly problematic on fast networks. However, if your connection is slower, these issues become more noticeable.

That’s why we speed-test every VPN we review. Based on our results, Touch VPN gets an 8/10 for speed.

After our speeds test, we came to these conclusions:

• Touch VPN offers good speeds with acceptable speed drops.
• We didn’t experience any crippling lag during our tests.

Speed test results for Touch VPN

For this Touch VPN review, we tested its Windows client from our headquarters in the Netherlands. We first determined our benchmark speeds (without the VPN connection) and compared it to the speeds we got on various local and distant servers.

VPN’s performance hinges on a couple of factors. So, your results might differ from ours, based on your connection and current location. Therefore, it’s best to view these results as indicators of potential performance.

You can see the results of our Touch VPN speed test in the table below.

Server	Download (MBPS)	Upload (MBPS)	Ping (MS)
No VPN	94.62	94.43	3
Optimal server	92.73	92.82	8
The Netherlands	93.85	92.95	3
Germany	90.93	93.09	10
The UK	90.83	93.33	16
The US	40.55	92.53	137
Canada	92.53	93.29	97
Brazil	41.25	21.75	192
South Africa	16.48	91.94	170
Japan	36.41	18.19	230
Australia	32.08	16.78	253

As you can see, Touch VPN was pretty fast. Naturally, the speed went down as we moved away from our location and the ping continued to rise. However, browsing was still largely possible.

Based on these results alone, we could say that Touch VPN could be used for operations that require sheer speed. This includes streaming, online gaming, torrenting, and other bandwidth-heavy activities. It’s not a dedicated online gaming VPN though.

However, while speed is fairly nominal, there are some issues we’ll discuss later on in this Touch VPN review.

Speed during daily use

Dung our day-to-day tests, we could hardly notice that Touch VPN was on. We were able to browse the web and watch YouTube clips without any problems.

If you’re big on bandwidth-hungry multiplayer games though, we recommend sticking to servers close to you. Also, if you’re using a browser with boosted privacy, the extra encryption could lower your speeds further.

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Safety – How Secure is Touch VPN?

Good VPNs should encrypt your online traffic, disguise your real IP address, and refrain from aggressive logging. These factors separate the best VPNs out there from services that are VPNs in name only.

With that in mind, we gave Touch VPN a 4/10 for online security. Here are some key points to keep in mind:

• Touch VPN’s Android app supports OpenVPN, Catapult Hydra, and WireGuard (desktop protocols unknown).
• The logging policy is questionable and risky.
• Its Windows client doesn’t have a kill switch.
• The registration process requires your email address, name, billing info, and billing zip code.

Protocols

The flexibility and performance of your VPN largely depend on the VPN protocols that it offers. Oddly enough, Touch VPN’s Windows client doesn’t let you change protocols. In fact, we’re not even sure which protocol(s) it employs.

On the other hand, its Android app lets you pick between:

• OpenVPN (TCP/UDP)
• HydraVPN
• WireGuard

HydraVPN, also known as “Catapult Hydra,” is Pango’s proprietary protocol. It has been adopted by many other services, including Bitdefender VPN, Betternet, Cheetah Mobile, and McAfee.

TouchVPN’s website states that the service uses “banking-grade encryption,” which usually refers to the AES-256 cipher. This encryption method is the best cipher we currently have, although WireGuard’s ChaCha20 is not far behind.

We reached out to Touch VPN’s customer support team to find out more about the VPN protocols that it uses, but we never got a response.

During our testing, we also noticed some WebRTC and DNS leaks, which is a huge red flag for your online privacy. This could result in your VPN information being revealed, so it’s not ideal for sensitive usage. We definitely hope that Touch VPN will fix this problem in the future.

Logging and privacy

In January 2020, Pango was acquired by Aura, which means Touch VPN has to comply with US privacy laws. According to its privacy policy, Pango Inc. is subject to the enforcement authority of the US Federal Trade Commission.

With its history of warrants and gag orders and affiliation with the 5 Eyes Alliance, the US is not an ideal place for registering a VPN. Having said that, it doesn’t have any mandatory data retention laws, which, at least, allows VPNs to maintain strict no-logging policies.

With that in mind, Touch VPN logs the following information:

• Your IP address: Touch VPN does record your IP but it can’t link it to your online activity since the service doesn’t keep activity logs.
• VPN usage data: The duration of your VPN sessions and bandwidth usage
• The domains accessed by users: This data is anonymized so (allegedly) the company can’t see which user accessed which domain. It’s dangerously close to activity logging.
• Device hashes: This data is used to identify devices and associate them with other data points.

So, if the government requests user data from Touch VPN, what will it get?

Your IP address, approximate location, info about your ISP, device hashes, the duration of your VPN sessions, and consumed bandwidth can all be revealed. Tech experts can use this to easily identify a person.

It’s safe to conclude then that Touch VPN isn’t a no-logging VPN. It’s easily beaten by other no-logging VPNs out there. The truth is, they have a lot of information to share if compelled by courts or government entities.

Hotspot Shield, another VPN owned by Pango, faced a complaint related to this matter, which was filed by the CDT (The Center for Democracy & Technology) in 2017.

As it stands, we can’t recommend this VPN if you’re serious about your privacy. Security concerns aside, their logging policy leaves much to be desired. Let’s not forget that the account creation demands your name and zip code as well.

Kill switch

If your VPN stops working for whatever reason, a kill switch will prevent data leaks by blocking your internet connection. Touch VPN’s Windows client doesn’t offer one, but its Android app does.

It doesn’t work properly, but the feature is nominally there.

In other words, you’ll be left completely unprotected if Touch VPN drops the connection. This can spell trouble for you if you’re downloading a torrent, for instance.

The absence of a reliable kill switch (or any kill switch on Windows) is a huge problem and exposes Touch VPN users to significant risk. You can opt for ProtonVPN instead and get two different kill switches in one VPN.

What information does Touch VPN need?

Apart from your email, Touch VPN also requires your name, billing info, and your billing zip code during registration. However, you don’t have to create an account to use the free version.

But Touch VPN free is basically unusable, given its numerous limitations and annoying ads. So, if you wish to get something resembling a VPN from this service, you’ll have to go premium.

We’re not fans of revealing names, zip codes, and other personal info when creating a VPN account. Some VPNs, like Mullvad VPN, don’t even ask for your email, even going so far as to accept cash payments to maintain user anonymity.

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Usability – How User-Friendly is Touch VPN?

Touch VPN is a beginner-friendly service devoid of any super-advanced options. As such, it’s not a great tool for power users looking for a modern VPN beast like NordVPN, for example. In its current iteration, Touch VPN gets 5/10 for user-friendliness.

Here’s a quick summary of the main points regarding its usability:

• Touch VPN’s website is easy to use but doesn’t offer much in the way of information.
• The apps are minimalistic and beginner-friendly.
• The installation is quick and simple.
• It’s on the expensive side, given its current problems.
• Customer support is severely lacking.

Touch VPN’s website and installation process

Touch VPN’s website is rather simple and easy to navigate. Unfortunately, a lot of information we’d like to see is missing from it. It looks hastily put together without including as much information about the service as possible.

It’s just a simple landing page, with no detailed information about features or the technologies that Touch VPN uses.

By clicking “Get Touch VPN,” you can download the free version without creating an account. You’ll be immediately taken to the download page, with no popups.

There’s no personal online dashboard with Touch VPN. It’s just the VPN app. This includes inspecting your account info, accessing customer support, and purchasing a premium subscription.

The service supports all major platforms and offers browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. These are not very usable, and definitely nowhere near the best browser extensions out there.

Here are the steps required for installing Touch VPN on Windows:

1. Go to Touch VPN’s official website.
2. Click on “Get Touch VPN” in the top-right corner.
3. Download Touch VPN setup for your device.
4. Wait for the app to download.
5. Click on the downloaded file to start the installation.
6. Follow the instructions.

Note that this will install the free version of Touch VPN on your device. If you wish to purchase premium, you should click on “Subscription” in the client menu and pick the package that works for you.

If you wish to go premium, you’ll also have to create an account. You’ll be prompted to do that when you try to buy Touch VPN.

During the actual purchase, we saw an option that wasn’t phrased adequately, in our opinion. Namely, there’s an option you can check that states “I want a refund if the VPN does meet my need.” It’s a typo, but it does speak to their quality control checks.

We’re not sure what this means exactly and why users would want a refund if they’re satisfied with the service.

Allegedly, you can install Touch VPN on an unlimited number of devices. Naturally, there was no way to actually test this. During our research for this Touch VPN review, we tested it on five devices without any problems.

Touch VPN’s appearance and ease-of-use

Touch VPN offers barebones apps that are quite easy to navigate. We didn’t see any advanced options aimed at power users. If it wasn’t riddled with flaws, this would be a good gateway service for complete beginners.

The main screen features a prominent on/off button as well as information about your incoming/outgoing (spelled in-app as “outcoming”) bandwidth and your current server. There’s also a shortcut that allows you to open the full server list.

The menu bar on the left allows you to inspect your account and the current version of the software, access settings, and contact customer support. On Windows, the settings menu has only one option – Run on Windows launch.

Surprisingly, their Android client offers a few more options in the settings menu. It lets you:

• Receive notifications when you connect to unsecured Wi-Fi
• Pause Touch VPN if your phone goes to sleep mode
• Enable system-wide kill switch
• Select a VPN protocol
• Enable dark theme

It’s the first VPN we reviewed whose Windows client looks like a stripped version of their Android app. The applications also only support English. We would like to see this changed as well in the future.

Overall, Touch VPN is quite beginner-friendly since it only offers basic VPN functionality. You won’t have any options to tinker with, so it’s fairly easy.

Pricing and payment methods

Touch VPN is a freemium service. However, the limitations are quite severe if you use the free version and you’ll constantly be bombarded with intrusive ads.

Furthermore, you’ll only have 500 MB per day with the free version, which is very little. In other words, if you plan on using Touch VPN effectively, you’ll have to go premium.

Here are the actual subscription plans offered by Touch VPN:

• 1 month: $9.99/month
• 1 year: $1.99/month (billed $23.88 every year)
• 3 years: $0.99/month (billed $35.64 every three years)

Given its problems, Touch VPN isn’t one of the best cheap VPNs by any means, especially if you go for its monthly subscription. When you can get Surfshark for just $2.30/month, there’s simply no incentive to even consider Touch VPN.

Granted, they have a free VPN offering, but 500 MB a day on a single server just isn’t enough, and there’s also the issue of non-stop ads plaguing your experience. There are plenty of free VPN services out there with better features and looser limitations.

Touch VPN only accepts credit cards, which is yet another misstep. The best VPNs accept all sorts of payment methods today, including PayPal, Bitcoin, cash, and numerous regional payment options.

Lastly, Pango’s refund policy is quite arbitrary. In their ToS, they state: “All refunds are issued at Pango’s sole discretion and any request for refund may be denied for any or no reason.”

In other words, it’s not exactly a guarantee; it’s up to the staff to decide whether to give you your money back or not. That is not a good business practice and we definitely hope they change this in the future.

Customer service

Touch VPN’s customer support is subpar in every sense of the word. Their Windows client offers a minimalistic FAQ that doesn’t really answer anything. We saw no manuals or troubleshooting guides on the site.

You can only reach the support team through an email that you can send via the VPN app. There’s no live chat or even a chatbot, for that matter. The website boasts 24/7 live support for premium users, but that is clearly a false claim.

During our research for this Touch VPN review, we tried contacting the support team and never actually got a response back.

As it stands, customer support is yet another field where Touch VPN needs more work. The only way to offset their subpar knowledge base is by offering flawless live chat functionality. This is simply not there at the moment.

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Server Network – Can Touch VPN Unblock the Internet?

Generally, bigger server networks result in a better VPN experience. They help you overcome online censorship and bypass geo-blocking restrictions more efficiently. They also prevent server crowding and ensure better speeds. Unfortunately, Touch VPN doesn’t offer a lot of unblocking options. As we already mentioned, we’re talking about a pretty barebones VPN. During our testing, we also discovered that some claims on the official website simply don’t hold water.

With its current network, Touch VPN gets an 6/10. The main takeaway here:

• Touch VPN offers 5900 servers across 80+ countries.
• Touch VPN can’t unblock Netflix US or other streaming platforms.
• Torrenting is allowed but the speeds are so slow it’s almost unbearable.
• Dedicated IPs are unavailable.

Number of servers and locations

According to the official website, Touch VPN offers 5900 VPN servers in 80+ countries. We only counted 53 countries in our Windows client, so apparently, there’s a disparity between the website claims and what the software actually delivers.

The home screen gives you access to the full list of the available locations. You can’t filter servers or create your lists of favorites. There’s also no information on current server loads.

If you’re not sure about the best server for you, the client can pick one automatically. Simply choose “Optimal” on the server list and you’ll be connected to the fastest server for you. This will usually be the server closest to your current location.

Note that this is the only server option for free users. All other countries will be locked until you purchase one of the premium packages.

5900 servers are fairly impressive on paper, but we have our reservations. If the site got the number of countries wrong, what’s to say the server number wasn’t inflated as well?

Touch VPN hasn’t exactly inspired a lot of confidence with us so we take every statement with a grain of salt. The current list of servers includes the following countries:

• Americas: The US, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile
• Europe: Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Hungary, Ireland, Estonia, Malta, Italy, Spain, Austria, Romania, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Sweden, Slovenia, the UK, Switzerland, Greece, Czech Republic, Poland
• Asia & Oceania: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Israel, UAE, India, Australia, Vietnam, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Korea (doesn’t say which), Kazakhstan, Thailand, Philippines, Pakistan, Turkey
• Africa: Egypt, South Africa

There are no specialized servers, even though the site boasts servers optimized for streaming.

Touch VPN and streaming (Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, BBC iPlayer)

During our testing for this Touch VPN review, we weren’t able to unblock Netflix US or any other regional version. We were also unable to access Hulu or BBC iPlayer. With that in mind, we can only say that Touch VPN is not a great tool for streaming.

If unblocking streaming platforms is one of your main reasons for purchasing a VPN, we recommend picking one from our list of the best VPNs for this year.

Touch VPN and torrents

If you can’t imagine a day without using your uTorrent client, Touch VPN is not the service for you. We did manage to get some torrents going but the speeds were greatly reduced. It almost felt like Touch VPN throttled our P2P traffic.

Furthermore, the absence of a kill switch poses an additional danger. If Touch VPN malfunctions in the middle of your download, your real IP address will be exposed.

If quick P2P downloads are important to you, we recommend picking an option from our list of the best VPNs for torrenting. It’s also important to secure your uTorrent client too.

Dedicated IP address

Touch VPN doesn’t offer dedicated IP addresses. This is quite understandable since we’re not talking about a feature-heavy VPN. Dedicated IPs cost a lot to maintain and not many users opt for them.

Having said that, there are many benefits to be had from an IP that’s bound to your account. These include avoiding IP blacklisting (from Netflix, for example) and CAPTCHA popups. They’re also good for online banking and private business networks.

If you’re looking for a VPN with dedicated IPs, we recommend going with Private Internet Access.

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Conclusion: Our Experience With Touch VPN

Touch VPN felt like a half-finished product during our research and testing. Its problems far outweigh any benefits it might offer to its users.

Its security setup is downright dangerous and could expose you to attacks and unwelcomed snooping. The logging policy is also not transparent and needs a lot of work.

The speeds are good on some servers but there’s literally zero geo-unblocking potential due to various leaks. Torrenting works but at greatly reduced speeds.

As such, we couldn’t recommend this VPN to anyone in its current state. Yes, it’s fast and beginner-friendly but that doesn’t mean much when there are so many issues. On top of that, beginners can’t even count on reliable customer support to solve their problems.

Touch VPN charges almost $10 for a monthly subscription and they are doing very little to justify this price tag. In our opinion, you should avoid this VPN until things change for the better.

Touch VPN Review: Frequently Asked Questions

Have more questions about Touch VPN? Simply click on one of the FAQs below to expand the answer.

Is TouchVPN good?

Not really. Touch VPN feels like a half-finished product with a lot of flaws left to iron out. Its logging policy is downright dangerous, it doesn’t have a kill switch, and it leaks private information.

It’s also quite expensive given its current state. None of its benefits can even remotely tip the scales in its favor, as noted in our Touch VPN review.

Does Touch VPN hide your IP?

No! During our testing, we noticed plenty of IP leaks. Exposing your originating IP to the public defeats the very purpose of using a VPN. If you want to make sure your IP remains hidden, we recommend going with NordVPN instead.

Is Touch VPN safe?

No! In spite of its decent security setup, Touch VPN is not a secure VPN. It logs too much data that could be used to identify you. It leaks identifying information while it’s active too.

It also doesn’t have a kill switch, which could pose serious security concerns. You can learn more about this service in our full Touch VPN review.

Is Touch VPN free?

Touch VPN is a freemium service, which means it offers a limited free version of its premium software. The free version is slower, it includes only one server location, and can be installed only on one device.

It also has a 500 MB daily cap, which is not enough, no matter what you do online. If you need a good VPN on a budget, we recommend checking our list of truly free VPNs.

Will Touch VPN slow down my computer?

Touch VPN is pretty fast, but every VPN will affect your connection speed to an extent. As you pick a server with higher pings, your speed will drop. If you have a fast connection, it’s still usable, though it’s not our top choice.

You should pick one of the safer options from our list of the fastest VPNs for this year.

Personal OpinionsExperts VPNOverview

“Nominally fast, barebones VPN with a questionable logging policy.”

5.8

Visit Touch VPN

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