Avast Vpn For Mac Review
The former governor of Massachusetts, looking to avast vpn for mac review endear himself to his new voters, was sporting a customized white home jersey with “Romney” on the back over a blue, long-sleeve collared shirt. Avast VPN Review 2018: Synopsis. Although Avast Secureline is a relatively new VPN service, its parent has been around since two decades. The VPN was launched in 2014 and it has since been upgraded to include several advance security features. Armed with a military-grade encryption along with OpenVPN, IPSec and IKEv2 protocols, it is no ordinary VPN. Let me share with you Avast VPN which is the top VPN networks and also Avast SecureLine VPN Review. In today’s era of digitalization, hacking is a widespread phenomenon. Hackers can access your information from anywhere– from the sites you use or from the Social Media.
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Avast SecureLine is a simple VPN from the popular security vendor Avast Software, but powered underneath by the HideMyAss! network (HideMyAss! is now a part of the Avast group).
SecureLine's specs are relatively ordinary. There's an average-sized network of 55 locations (P2P is supported on just 8) in 34 countries. You get clients for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, but nothing more – not even downloadable OpenVPN configuration files which might let you manually set up other software and devices.
And there's no zero-knowledge DNS system, no custom protocol to bypass VPN blocking, no sign of anything even faintly advanced. SecureLine isn't bad, but it's not outstanding, either. It's more focused on being 'just good enough'.
- Want to try Avast SecureLine? Check out the website here
Pricing is, well, complicated, as Avast does things very differently to most of the competition.
You can opt to buy a one-year license covering a single device, for instance. Covering one Android or iOS device is relatively cheap at £15 ($19.50), but Windows and Mac licenses are more expensive at an annual £50 ($65), or the equivalent of £4.17 ($5.42) a month. Private Internet Access currently charges $3.33 (£2.56) a month on its annual plan, and that gets you coverage for any five devices, not just one.
Alternatively, paying an annual £65 ($8.40) – equivalent to a monthly £5.42, or $7 – gets you coverage for up to five devices. That's still more expensive than Private Internet Access, but it's cheaper than many others, and there's another important advantage. Most VPN accounts only cover you for devices owned and used by the account owner. SecureLine's five devices can be owned and used by anyone. A single license could cover the whole family.
The service seems reasonably priced, then. And if you're tempted to try it out, a no-strings-attached seven-day trial makes it easy, no payment details required.
Privacy and logging
Avast's support for the highly secure OpenVPN protocol using AES-256-CBC gets it off to a good start in the privacy stakes, but there's little else to say about the service. There's no control over protocol settings, no support for other protocols, no kill switch, no custom leak protection technologies or other privacy-related extras.
This isn't quite as bad as it seems. SecureLine more than covered the basics during our tests, preventing DNS and WebRTC leaks which might give away clues about our identity and online activities.
Understanding Avast's logging policy was more difficult, mostly because the company has so many other services and applications to explain. We fought our way through the mammoth 20,000-word privacy policy, though, and eventually uncovered some useful information.
The company explains that it doesn't record your browsing history, stating 'we do not store details of, or monitor, the websites you connect to when using our VPN service.'
Sounds good, until you read about all SecureLine's session logging: 'We will store a time stamp and IP address when you connect and disconnect to our VPN service, the amount of data transmitted (up- and download) during your session together with the IP address of the individual VPN server used by you.'
This may not matter very much if you're just using the VPN to watch US YouTube clips, or as a more secure way to access your emails over public Wi-Fi. But if you're downloading torrents or doing anything else where someone might record and investigate your IP address, it could allow them to connect those actions back to your Avast account.
- We’ve rounded up the best free VPN services of 2018
Apps
Avast knows what it's doing with security software, and the Windows client was one of the most polished and professional we've tried. Installation was quick and hassle-free (apart from being presented with a 10,000+ word license agreement, anyway), it was supremely easy-to-use, and everything worked just as we expected.
We weren't asked for payment details, and the client didn't even ask us to register with an email address. You're able to set up and use the service for a full seven days without providing any personal information.
The Windows client interface has clearly been designed with the VPN novice in mind. An arrow draws your attention to the Connect button, and simple captions explain what each function does, for example: 'Turn on your VPN to encrypt what you do online', or 'When your VPN is on, your location will appear to others as <USA>.'
The client displays notifications so you can tell when it's connecting, connected or disconnected. We like to see that, as users need to know when they're protected or not, but there's one annoying issue. The client uses its own notification system rather than the native Windows desktop method, and its pop-ups grab the window focus.
If you're typing something in Notepad, and a notification appears, your typing is interrupted and you must click or Alt+Tab back to the Notepad window before you can carry on. There's an option to turn the notifications off, but we would prefer it if Avast implemented them properly in the first place.
The feature list is okay in overall terms, but there are issues here. For example, the location picker allows filtering servers by continent, and to display P2P and streaming-optimized locations – but there's no indication of server load or ping time to help you make the best choice. Neither is there any favorites system to speed up the process of reconnecting to commonly-used servers.
It's a similar story with settings. We like the ability to connect to SecureLine automatically when you access unsecured Wi-Fi networks, but there's almost nothing else here. No ability to change or tweak the protocol (it's strictly OpenVPN-only), no kill switch, no DNS options, little more than the ability to connect when your system starts.
Even SecureLine's system tray icon has only a very minimal right-click interface. Many clients will allow you to choose a location direct from the right-click menu, but here, if you don't want to choose the default server, you must open the full client and click, click, click your way to whatever location you need.
We checked out SecureLine's Android app to see if it might hold some surprises, but for the most part, it worked much like the desktop edition. Connect and disconnect with a tap, and choose your location from a long list (even longer here, as it's just a single list with no option to filter by continent). There’s still no favorites system or recent servers list to speed up reconnections.
There's just one small but welcome bonus with a more powerful auto-connect system. Instead of just having the app connect when you access an insecure Wi-Fi network, you can have the service connect whenever it accesses anything other than specific trusted networks, or when you're using a cellular connection.
That's good news, and apart from the lack of a kill switch (and maybe the notifications), the apps do nothing obviously wrong. But they don't excel at anything, either, and we saw nothing which would persuade us to pick SecureLine over any of the big-name competition.
Performance
Avast SecureLine doesn't provide OpenVPN configuration files, which meant we weren't able to run our usual automated performance tests. Instead, we switched back to our manual approach, connecting to various servers via the apps and using SpeedTest.net, Fast.com and other websites to check their speed.
UK download speeds were consistently high at 50-60Mbps on our 75Mbps test line. Switching to nearby European countries where we would expect high performance – France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden – gave us much the same results.
Heading a little further afield showed one or two issues, with for example Poland returning anything from 12 to 31Mbps. That's slower and less consistent than we expected, although still usable for most tasks.
US speeds were very reasonable at an average of 54Mbps on the east coast, to 35Mbps on the west.
Going long distance gave us a mixed bag of results, with Australia giving us a solid 25-40Mbps, while Malaysia struggled to a lethargic 1.8-3.6 Mbps.
Overall, Avast SecureLine offers above average speeds from most servers, with just a few exceptions. If you only need to use a couple of servers in some very common locations (London, New York) then you'll probably be fine; if you're looking further afield, run your own speed tests before you buy.
Netflix
Avast SecureLine's Windows client offers only four servers it says are 'optimized for streaming': one in the UK, and three in the US (New York, Miami, and, apparently, Gotham City – which is maybe the very definition of a virtual server). Would that be enough to allow us access to geoblocked content?
We began by trying to access US-only YouTube content, and the results were a surprise. We don't recall the last time we saw YouTube block anything, but we weren't able to get in via Miami or 'Gotham City'. Fortunately, New York worked just fine, and we were able to view and stream YouTube clips.
We moved on to try accessing BBC iPlayer via SecureLine's 'Wonderland, UK' server, but without success. The site detected the VPN and displayed its standard 'content is not available in your location' warning message.
So far, so not-very-great, but the picture improved when we logged back into the New York server and were able to view Netflix content without difficulty. Netflix blocks new IPs all the time and this can change at any moment, but right now, at least, Avast SecureLine makes it easy to stream content, wherever you are.
Support
The Avast support site is a huge resource, absolutely crammed with setup, usage and troubleshooting guides. Unfortunately, the vast majority are for Avast's other products. The SecureLine section is probably the most basic VPN knowledgebase we've ever seen.
No, forget that – 'basic' is too kind. The main page lists just 15 articles organized into three categories (Basic Usage, Subscription and Purchase, Technical Issues), and many of those are on something other than core VPN issues (creating an Avast Account, GDPR Compliance, two articles on activating the product, two more on cancelling automatic renewal – you get the idea).
We dug a little deeper and found a SecureLine FAQ. This does have more relevant topics, but there's little detail, and nothing that compares with specialist VPN providers such as ExpressVPN.
If you can't find any immediate help online, you can try posting a question in the SecureLine section of the Avast support forum. This isn't particularly busy, but it does get some use – the Windows section of the forum alone had nine threads created in October 2018, for instance, and most of these had a helpful response in less than an hour.
If you're still in trouble, you can always contact Avast support directly. There's no live chat, just a web form, and a disclaimer that 'Avast Support usually responds within two business days' didn't fill us with confidence, but it's available if you need it.
Final verdict
Easy-to-use and with above average performance, Avast SecureLine could be a smart VPN choice for a single computer, especially with a cheap mobile device license. But beware – there are barely any features, the inflexible licensing system won't work for everyone, and you can't set up SecureLine on your router as a shortcut.
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Avast VPN has 256-bit encryption and is best suited for P2P, Kodi, and hiding your browsing history. For the price of $6.66/month, it is a touch expensive but manages to secure 3.5 stars.
Based in | Czech Republic |
Price | $6.66/mo |
Servers | 55 (34 Countries) |
Logs | No Logs |
Multi Login | Upto 10 Devices |
Refund | 30 Days Money Back |
Recommended | Yes |
Website | Avast.com |
Avast Secureline VPN uses a military-grade encryption and supports all good protocols (OpenVPN, IPSec, & IKEv2). It offers a 7-days free trial and connects up to 10 VPN devices.
It has 8 P2P torrenting servers out of 55 servers in total.
Their server speed is just about average, but it isn’t the cheapest VPN around like Surfshark or NordVPN.
But that depends a lot on the features they are offering. Is Avast VPN good? Is it really the most expensive VPN available?
Let’s check it out in this Avast Secureline VPN review.
For a similar VPN, have a look at our VPN Reviews 2019.
Rating Criteria
To review Avast Secureline VPN, I had to test and give my verdict based on these 8 factors. Let’s have a look at them:
- Pricing – How much does Avast VPN cost?
- Security – Encryption & features
- Jurisdiction –Is it located in a 5-eyes country?
- Speed – How fast is Avast Secureline VPN?
- Streaming –Does it work with Netflix?
- Leaks – Does it leak IP, DNS & WebRTC?
- Trustworthiness – Logs, Transparency, Customer Support
- Compatibility – App Interface and Supported Devices
Pricing – How much does Avast VPN cost?
Avast VPN is an expensive brand in the industry. The good thing is, it has a different pricing for PC, Android, and iOS devices.
Let’s have a look at these pricing:
- $79.99 a year for All VPN devices (up to 5 devices)
- $59.99 a year for PC/Mac
- $19.99 a year for Android/iOS
But that’s not it, these prices are extended to 3 years plan, which might be a touch cheaper than its 1 year plan.
For example, Avast VPN 3 year plan costs at $159.99. That means $4.44/month.
The reason why I say its expensive because when you compare these prices with Surfshark which is the best cheap VPN, or with PureVPN’s 1-2 year pricing plans, you will get to know why.
Avast VPN prices also vary with the increase of multi-logins (10 Max multi-logins).
For example, if connected to 1 PC it will charge $59.99/year as previously discussed. But if connected to 10 PCs it will charge $99.99.
See the difference?
That is why, Avast in not a cool choice for users who happen to use it on multiple devices.
Payment Methods
Here is a list of payments options accepted by Avast Secureline VPN:
- PayPal
- Wire Transfer
- VISA
- MasterCard
- Discover
- American Express
NO Bitcoins accepted. After all, the crypto currency is the favorite for any online privacy advocate.
Hopefully, the provider will add this option in the near future.
Refund Policy
While writing this review, I learned that the VPN offers 30 days money back guarantee. Through this amazing benefit, you can use and experience the impacts of true online anonymity without any hassle.
If you are not satisfied with the level of service, you can claim for the refund within 30 working days from anywhere.
A good refund policy refund window in addition to the free trial, make this VPN more accessible to the people on the internet.
7-Days Free Trial
Avast Secureline VPN offers a 7-days free trial.
With this trial, you can test the VPN for 7 Days without any restrictions on servers or sessions.
It gets better.
The free trial requires absolutely no credit card information or anything else. Just download the VPN and start its trial straightaway from the client.
Security – Encryption & features
In our Avast VPN review 2019, I learnt that Avast VPN uses a military-grade encryption. This protocol is reinforced with a 256-bit military grade encryption, which is the work of NSA’s engineers.
It is used by everyone from giant corporations to small banks to secure confidential information.
This VPN has multiple protocol options. However, you won’t need to look further than Avast’s OpenVPN UDP and IKEv2 with AES 256-bit encryption for guaranteed privacy.
OpenVPN is the best tunneling protocol in the market. Its Open Source nature allows for constant upgrades, making it more advanced than any of its alternatives.
Meanwhile, Mac users can also use IPsec protocol. A less powerful but still capable cousin of OpenVPN.
Kill Switch
It is quite often the most ignored feature of a VPN. Some even consider it an overkill. However, an efficient kill switch can do your online privacy a world of good.
When I checked for Kill Switch feature in our review of Avast VPN, I found that it does have this feature.
Quite simply, kill switch protects your IP address in an unlikely scenario where your VPN connection drops. Now, a few seconds of exposed IP address may not be enough for cyber thugs to latch onto your connection. But you can never be too careful.
Hence, I have put kill switch in the pros section.
Servers
As of July 2019, Avast has 55 servers in 34 countries. This include servers in China and Russia, but does not include any Middle East countries except for Israel.
The server count isn’t something close to impressive. PureVPN has a server count in thousands.
Have a look at the VPNs that has obfuscated servers that tends to work in countries with strict internet regulations.
Jurisdiction –Is it located in a 5-eyes country?
Avast Secureline VPN operates from Czech Republic that does NOT fall under 5-eyes country.
Czech Republic may not be considered as a member of a five eyes VPN alliance, but it does collaborate with them.
This fact would raise a few eyebrows. But it is not something that would make me turn away from this VPN.
Many people asking me ‘is Avast VPN good to use?’ I always say them, if it doesn’t fall under these countries then it’s perfectly safe to use.
Still, I like my VPNs outside the dirty claws of the American and British intelligence agencies.
Speed – How fast is Avast Secureline VPN?
Avast VPN speed performance was average in my speed test. The download speed was recorded 17.65 Mbps and upload speed of 14.25 Mbps.
The speed test was performed with a base connection of 30 Mbps.
Here are the test results when I checked for Avast Secureline VPN speed for US server:
Avast license file download. In the past, Avast was also using license files which were generated for a specific e-mail address. License files are luckily not used anymore and the only thing you.
Speed declined by: 41%
Now we tested Avast VPN speed in UK server:
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Download Speed: 15.95 Mbps
Upload Speed: 13.69 Mbps
Speed decline by: 47%
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Streaming –Does it work with Netflix?
Avast Secureline VPN does NOT unblock US Netflix. Although it does offer streaming servers, but when we tested, it did not unblock.
This could be due to less number of streaming servers. Avast lists down its best servers when comes to streaming.
Netflix can easily identifies when a massive number of users try the same server to unblock its website.
It easily blacklists those IP address and you are never going to access any Netflix website with it.
Avast VPN does offer P2P server for Torrenting. Here is a list of servers you need to connect when downloading torrents:
Other than P2P server,users now can access tons of Live TV channels on Kodi, a free media player. Avast and Kodi compliments each other very well.
Apart from that, there’s a complete list of VPNs that works well with Kodi. Learn how to install a VPN on Kodi and stream channels from around the world.
Leaks – Does it leak IP, DNS & WebRTC?
Avast VPN did NOT leaked IP and DNS. It passed the WebRTC test as well.
I connected to an Israel server of Avast VPN and visited IPLeak website to check for any leaks.
Here is the screenshot:
If you see the IP address in the leak test, it is the same Virtual IP given to me by Avast VPN as you can see in the picture below:
The Virtual IP and the IP mentioned in the leak test website must be same. Otherwise, it may be leaking.
You can have a look at our IP Leak Test guide to see which VPNs passes leak test.
Trustworthiness – Logs, Transparency, Customer Support
After a thorough review of Avast VPN, I learnt that it does NOT keep usage logs, but it does keeps connection logs.
Other than that, they collect personal information for the purpose of making their security product better.
Here is a list of personal information they collect:
- IP address
- Name
- City/Country
- Billing Data
They know your original IP address for the first 60 days. After that, they replace it with your City or Country, or they hash it.
Here is their statement:
“We collect your IP Address to provision your product or service. We also use the IP Address with mobile products to serve ads.”
Avast VPN clearly mentions that whenever you visit its website, it collects some server logs.
These server logs information include: Completely remove avast for mac.
- Your region
- Length of visit
- Webpages you request
- Websites you visited prior to visiting on their website
- IP address
- Cookies
Avast uses this information to:
“We use this information to fulfil our legitimate interests, which are to analyse overall trends, administer our webpages, track users’ use of the webpages, help us improve our website(s)”
Have a look at the VPN logging policies of the entire VPN brands.
Virus Test
In this Avast Secure line VPN review, I checked for any viruses in its download file. It did NOT contain any viruses.
This test was performed using VirusTotal that alert users if there’s a virus in a file.
Here are the results:
There were NO engines detected in this file.
Customer Support
The provider’s website maintains a comprehensive knowledge base filled with step-by-step guides and FAQs.
In our Avast Secure VPN review, I found out that it gets better.
Avast Secureline also helps the users with a ticketing system and a live call option.
Unfortunately, there is NO Live Chat option available but the call line is the next best option available. Some would even categorize it as better than live chat as chats are a less personal experience.
Thankfully, the call option really is 24/7 and the service agents are well-informed about the product.
You can also reach Avast via Facebook and Twitter. They are extremely active on Twitter in particular.
Compatibility – App Interface and Supported Devices
Secureline is only accessible on four operating systems, which are Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.
As I have mentioned before, the Windows client is user-friendliness personified. However, the mac does not lag far behind. It is also armed with some nifty features to thwart online bandits.
Meanwhile, the apps for Android and iOS provide incredible online privacy with just a single tap. These two apps are optimized for user-experience and come with the server library of the VPN.
In case, if you’re not interested in Avast then you should read our detailed guide on best Android VPNs 2019 to disclose more VPNs.
App Experience
To check for the friendliness of the app, I managed to review Avast VPN with first-hand experience.
Using Secureline’s Windows client is a pleasant experience. At first glance, the app has an attractive design and an intuitive interface.
It is familiar to the famous Anti-virus software, sporting the typical Avast purple design.
You can change the location with a single click and get an IP from a comprehensive list of servers.
Here, the P2P and streaming servers are segregated quite clearly. This eases the process of selecting servers for a particular task.
Moreover, the burger menu on the top right of the clients navigates you towards ‘Settings’. This is where you can toggle options such as Auto-start.
Avast VPN Review Reddit
However, you should have a look at some of the recent reviews of Avast Secureline VPN Reddit:
A user was complaining on Reddit that he uninstalled Avast app due to endless pop-ups with DLC missing
However, in the same thread, the same user re-installed the app and it started working.
There’s another Avast Secureline VPN review Reddit where he says that the bottom pop-up annoys him so much:
That is indeed a problem. You cannot mute the pop-ups.
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Here you can have a look at the best VPN service by Reddit users.
Avast Secureline VPN Reviews on Play Store
Here are the 5 recent reviews on Avast VPN:
Users keep suggesting Avast to stop with the popups that keeps begging them to rate the app.
Once user mentions that it is easier to setup and use.
Comparison between PureVPN & Avast VPN
Have a look at the comparison between PureVPN and Avast Secureline VPN and check out their key difference.
Features | PureVPN | Avast VPN |
---|---|---|
Price | $2.95/mo | $6.66/mo |
Servers | 2000+ in 140 Countries | 55 in 34 Countries |
Compatibility | All Devices | Windows, Mac, Android, & iOS |
Jurisdiction | Hong Kong | Czech Republic |
Logging Policy | Zero Log | Zero Log |
Customer Support | Live Chat & Email Support | Live Call & Ticket |
Trust Pilot Score | 9.5 | 4.9 |
Website | PUREVPN | AVAST VPN |
Alternatives
Looking for an alternative to Avast VPN? I have a list combined just for you. Here is a list that you need to consider:
FAQs
Avast Secureline VPN is another online privacy service striving hard to become one of the major players in the industry. It uses 256-bit military grade encryption level to secure users’ crucial data. However, it stores some kind of connection logs.
Avast SecureLine is an app that enables users to connect to the internet through secure servers. These servers use encrypted tunnels that safeguard your online tasks to another level.
Avast SecureLine offers different pricing plans to its users. You can avail Avast VPN pricing plan at the cost of $ 59.99 per year. Similarly, you can get the Mac plan at the same price of PC pricing plan. You can pay $19.99 for both Android and iOS on yearly basis.
To cancel subscription, go to Menu option on its app and select My Licenses. Click on Cancel Subscription. If you need to uninstall Avast Secureline VPN, simply go to Control Panel, then select Uninstall a Program. Find Avast VPN from the list and press Uninstall.
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Yes, you can get Avast mobile security free for only 7 days. After that you will need to pay for its subscription.
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Yes, Avast VPN is definitely worth buying because of its strong encryption and its dedicated P2P servers. It is also works best with Kodi media player.
Do I Recommend Avast Secureline VPN?
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Yes, I do recommend Avast Secureline VPN.
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It’s particularly a good VPN when it comes to encryption and protocols. But its price is too much when compared to Surfshark or PureVPN.
The speed performance is average, but it does not leak IP or DNS. It has a simple-to-use app interface, compatible with major operating systems, and does not keep usage logs.
But when it comes to unblocking Netflix or looking towards a larger server network, then Avast VPN isn’t for you.
Lastly, it is a good choice to buy this VPN, but it not the best one.
I strongly recommend Avast secure line due to its great security feature.