Ivacy Review 2021 - Keep This in Mind Before Buying

Ivacy — a Singapore-based VPN released in 2007 — claims to be a top-of-the-line, extremely fast, and innovative VPN. The real question is: is Ivacy worth your investment or are there better VPNs out there?

With over 3,500 servers in 50 countries, Ivacy allows you to stream Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and HBO Max, but I couldn’t get it to work with Hulu.

This VPN offers a zero logs policy, AES-256 encryption, split tunneling, 10 simultaneous connections, P2P servers, IPv6 leak protection, and a kill switch. Your IP address, browsing history, and personal information are completely safe and never tracked. The only information Ivacy keeps is your email address for billing purposes, and even then, you can request it to be deleted. It offers a few protocols to choose from: L2TP, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 — but no WireGuard.

They also have a few protocols to choose from: L2TP, OpenVPN, and IKEv2. But, they don’t support WireGuard. There’s an ad and malware blocker that stops malicious sites from infecting your device, too.

Ivacy claims to have fast, low-latency servers (and dedicated P2P servers). But, its slow speeds make gaming and streaming more frustrating than enjoyable. Even on a local server, Ivacy cut my speed in half. Because of this, I recommend trying a faster VPN.

There are apps for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, Chrome, Kodi, game consoles, and routers. They also have a free version of the app called Ivacy Lite — but it’s very barebones and isn’t useful. When you sign up, you get a 1-day free trial to test Ivacy anyway (and Ivacy premium is affordable).

I have taken the time to test Ivacy to see how it works, if support is responsive, what features are available, how much it costs, where it’s available, and if it’s private and secure.

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Short on Time? Here Are My Key Findings

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Ivacy Features — Updated in October 2021

Streaming — Unblocks Netflix US, Disney+, HBO Max, and Others

Ivacy unblocked almost all of the streaming services I tested, including Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime Video. Unfortunately, it couldn’t unblock Hulu.

Unblocked: Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime Video

Using the Android app, under the Purposes tab, I found the Smart Streaming section. This lead me to a page with a list of dedicated streaming servers for HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix US, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video US, and more.

I chose Netflix and was sent to the connection page, where it asked if I would like to watch Netflix. After choosing ‘yes,’ the Netflix app was opened on my phone, and I jumped right into streaming.

I was able to unblock Netflix easily with Ivacy

The whole process of using the Ivacy app was pretty easy and self-explanatory. I also unblocked HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video using the same method.

It was also easy to unblock Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max

Disney+ was a little different because the Ivacy app doesn’t have a dedicated server for it, so I had to test a little differently.

First, I used Ivacy’s ‘Smart Connect’ feature to connect to my closest and fastest server. Once that was done, I went to my Disney+ app and signed in. It worked!

I tried to test BBC iPlayer using Ivacy’s dedicated streaming server in the Smart Streaming section, but didn’t have any luck. I reached out to Ivacy’s customer support to see what exactly was going on. Support asked what device I was using and then sent me a step-by-step guide on how to connect using the “Smart Streaming” option.

When I explained that is how I had attempted to connect to BBC iPlayer, I was instructed to switch between security protocols in the app settings. I changed the protocol from UDP to TCP and tried again via Ivacy’s Smart Streaming option, and I was in!

Ivacy unblocked BBC iPlayer, but I had to change my settings first

Every show I watched with Ivacy had buffering problems, taking close to a minute to load. The whole experience of streaming was slightly annoying because of this.

Blocked by: Hulu

Hulu, on the other hand, was unsuccessful. I reconnected to the VPN three times, hoping that a change in IP address would resolve the issue, but it didn’t.

I also tried to use the Chrome and Firefox extensions to see if they could unblock it but they were so slow I couldn’t load the pages. I contacted their live customer support about this issue. According to Ivacy, other users have reported the same issue.

Support confirmed that Ivacy can’t unblock Hulu

Streaming services like Hulu and Netflix try to stay on top of blocking VPNs, so considering only one was blocked out of the handful I tested, this isn’t a bad outcome.

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Speeds — Slashes Speed

While Ivacy advertises exceptional speeds, I was far from impressed.

I attempted to test Ivacy’s Chrome and Firefox extensions on my laptop, but my speeds dropped so dramatically that webpages wouldn’t open. I connected on my Android, where I had better luck. It took between 10-30 seconds to connect.

My speed was decent on local servers, but I had significant drops on overseas servers. If you don’t have the best connection initially, Ivacy will not help.

I tested several locations using OpenVPN (the only protocol available on the app). It’s disappointing that Ivacy doesn’t have WireGuard like most top VPNs do. WireGuard is faster than OpenVPN and this would help with speed tremendously.

Ultimately, your location and distance from the server determines whether you get a decent connection. Still, when I connected to my local server here in the US, my speed dropped by a lot. French and Australian servers were better, but the speeds were awful in general. Germany by far was the worst.

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Are Ivacy’s Speeds Fast Enough for Gaming? Maybe

Using the Smart Connect feature will give you the best gaming results, but ultimately speed reduction is inevitable with Ivacy.

Ivacy claims to have a decent latency rate, but from personal experience, their claims fall short. Latency on my local server was 54ms — which is pushing it, considering a decent ping rate for gaming, on average, is 40-60ms. I wasn’t even able to test properly due to Ivacy making everything extremely glitchy while in use.

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Server Network — Plenty of Servers

Ivacy has 3,500 servers in 50 locations. This seems like a good setup because you will have a wide variety of options, but we need to dive into this a little further.

Having a lot of servers looks excellent on the surface, but we need to look at the number of servers in one country vs. the number of users in that country. You’re going to have an easier time accessing a country with 100 servers than a country with only 10. And, if the country you want to connect to is overcrowded because there are too few servers, your speed will drop. Think of it as a traffic jam caused by too many people on one roadway.

Let’s take a look at where Ivacy’s servers are located:

About 25% of Ivacy’s servers are virtual. Ivacy hasn’t always been upfront about its use of virtual servers. For example, its Venezuelan and Saudi Arabian servers are actually in Miami, Florida. Ivacy also doesn’t disclose the number of IP addresses it assigns.

On the plus side, I was impressed to see it has servers in countries that many VPNs don’t — like Panama, Kenya, Ghana, and Costa Rica.

Looking at the app, the “Smart Connect” feature is the first thing you see. This feature routes you to the best local server. With one tap on the screen, I was connected in seconds.

I then tested servers in the UK , France , Nigeria, and Costa Rica. I am based in the US, and anything overseas was very slow and inconsistent. The UK server took about a minute to connect, and had a connection drop on my first attempt. France took about 10 seconds to make a connection. Nigeria connected almost instantly, and Costa Rica took about 30 seconds.

I then took a look at the app’s specialized servers; you can find them under the ‘Purposes’ tab.

• Smart Streaming servers can unblock streaming sites.
• Secure Downloading servers are optimized for P2P.
• Start Unblocking servers are optimized for accessing blocked web pages (like social media).

The catch to the latter two is that they don’t tell you the best server to use, so you have to experiment to find your best choice, which is a bit of a hassle.

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Security — Locked Down

Ivacy offers 256-bit encryption. This is what all premium VPNs use to encrypt your data. Everything is encrypted to shield your information from potential hackers, whether you’re streaming, downloading, or browsing. You are anonymous and hidden when you use Ivacy. Ivacy prevents ISP monitoring, so your location and your online activity are always hidden.

There are several security protocol options, such as: IKEv2/ IPSec, L2TP/IPSec, OpenVPN (TCP and UDP), PPTP, and SSTP. You can choose which security protocol best suits your needs, however, not all devices have the same protocol options. For instance, I was only able to select OpenVPN protocols on my Android. OpenVPN is only available in 17 countries and WireGuard is not supported at this time. I noticed that you have to disconnect your current VPN connection to switch protocols.

It also offers DNS, IPV6, and WebRTC leak protection, along with first-party DNS and a kill switch. All of which help you keep your actual IP address hidden.

The security features are easily accessible on the app under the left side toolbar.

I first took a look at the split tunneling feature. Once you open that tab, it directs you to a page where you can turn on the feature. Once the split tunneling feature is turned on, you are directed to a list of apps, where you can choose which ones you want to route through the VPN.

The settings menu is easy to use

This is an excellent feature to have so you can browse the web safely with the VPN in use while other apps can be used directly with your ISP. This is good for times when you need to connect to a printer or other device on your local network. Unfortunately, this feature is not available for Apple users, only Windows and Android.

I had to enable the kill switch manually before connecting. Once connected, I couldn’t turn the feature off (and likewise could not enable it while connected). When my connection dropped, the kill switch was activated and I got an error message sayingI was disconnected. I had to manually connect the VPN. The whole experience of testing was quite annoying and didn’t go as smoothly as hoped.

Ivacy’s ‘Secure Download’ feature was probably the worst to test of all. This feature protects your device from viruses by scanning the document before downloading. It also has a malware blocker that detects harmful URLs and stops you from accessing them.

Another red flag is Ivacy’s zero encryption option. Encryption is vital because it protects your sensitive data from cybercriminals. It isn’t safe to use a zero-encryption option, and it’s shocking that a VPN company would even offer this.

Ivacy says it offers a zero encryption option

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Privacy — Using Ivacy is Worry-Free

Ivacy is upfront about their basic procedures and their relationships with third parties.

Your browsing history, what you download, and IP address are not stored. Ivacy only collects data you consent to, so you know what is being processed. The only information you need to provide is asked of you upon registration. The website states that you can also ask for deletion of all your personal information.

Ivacy is upfront about the data it collects

Ivacy is based in Singapore, which is well-known for cooperating with the Five Eyes Alliance and easily hands over information.

The Five Eyes Alliance is a surveillance network involving the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. While its zero logs policy means that it can’t share your data with the Alliance, Ivacy has yet to go through a security audit. This is bad news because security audits make sure that VPNs are telling the truth about their security policies.

To make this worse, Ivacy is secretive about its ownership, failing to provide any information to the public. Ivacy’s Public Relations Manager went on record and even validated these claims by stating, “There is no ethical obligation to reveal who the people behind Ivacy are.”

Why be so secretive? And do you want to trust a company that refuses to name its CEO?

Ivacy’s parent company is PGM Private Limited, the same parent company as PureVPN, which isn’t an issue on the surface because this is a common occurrence for several competing businesses to be owned by one parent company.

I contacted Ivacy’s customer support to ask about ownership and if they have any ties to PureVPN due to speculation after Ivacy claimed they had a minor affiliation with their competitor. Unsurprisingly, I did not get a response.

Do we want to trust a company that holds our privacy in their hands when they cannot even be upfront and honest about who they are and what is going on on the inside?

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Torrenting — Good Choice in Theory

In theory, Ivacy is a good choice for torrenting for Windows and Android users.

1. Their zero-log policy keeps your information safe.
2. Their kill switch protects you in case of a disconnection. Be mindful of the fact that macOS and iOS do not support the kill switch feature. Your safest option for using Ivacy for torrenting is to do so on Windows or Android devices.
3. They have dedicated P2P servers that help lighten a load of popular servers to keep them from getting over-crowded, which, in turn, would slow down speeds. But if their speeds are terrible in the first place, does that really help?

You have to be connected to one of these servers to be able to access P2P:

• Brunei
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Costa Rica
• Denmark
• Germany
• Latvia
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Pakistan
• Panama
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Sweden
• Turkey
• United Kingdom
• Venezuela

Be sure to check the rules and regulations for your country before torrenting. My team and I do not condone illegal torrenting.

You can find Ivacy’s dedicated servers for torrenting/P2P under the “Secure Download” section of the app under the “Purposes” tab.

Here, you are given a shortlist of P2P servers to choose from, but they don’t give you any inclination of what server will be the best option for you, so it’s a bit of a trial and error type of situation.

Ivacy has many P2P-optimized servers

In the testing process, the app froze several times , and was too slow for me to test this feature at all.

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Does Ivacy Work in China? No

I contacted customer support and, according to them, Ivacy does not work in China.

There is an app that’s just for Chinese users (called Ivacy Prime). Oddy, they didn’t give me any information about their app — and this app isn’t advertised on their website, other than one installation guide.

I later asked customer support about Ivacy Prime to see what information they would give me since they were vague about my other question.

Customer support says it’s hard to get a VPN to work in China

I then decided to do some research, which was hard because Ivacy’s website gives no information on the subject. Ivacy Prime is made specifically for Chinese users, but it is not equal to its original counterpart. This version is only available for Windows and Android users, as well.

It doesn’t cost extra; it’s just a separate app.

Ivacy Prime has fewer features — it doesn’t have the kill switch feature or split tunneling. The kill switch is a significant feature that protects users in the case of connection drops, and by not having this feature, users put themselves at risk.

Unlike the original app, Ivacy Prime only supports OpenVPN. OpenVPN is a good choice for this app, however, because of how secure it is.

I attempted to test the Ivacy Prime app with no. Everything tells me this app is available for Android, but in my case, it was unavailable. It is nowhere to be found in the Google Play Store, but I found a setup guide on Ivacy’s website via a Google search.

I followed these instructions, but wasn’t able to download the app due to this security message. I honestly didn’t feel comfortable attempting to download by changing my phone settings because of the lack of information I could find about the app. So testing this section for this review was a flop, as well.

I wasn’t able to download the Ivacy Prime app

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Simultaneous Device Connections — More Bang for Your Buck

According to their customer service support, you can connect up to 10 devices simultaneously.

Device Compatibility — Wide Variety of Devices, but Not All Created Equal

Ivacy is compatible with:

Some apps have extra features — for example, the kill switch isn’t on macOS or iOS. So if you choose Ivacy, you run the risk of being exposed if your connection drops.

When I was testing customer support, I asked if Ivacy is compatible with Roku (the same goes for Nintendo, PlayStation, and XBox). I was told I might need to configure the VPN through a router. To do this, you have to manually configure your router’s settings.

They offer browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, these extensions are only proxies. They don’t provide you with full coverage security as the app does.

The app is simple and a good tool for new users. I found it to be relatively easy to use, besides being vague about the purpose of certain sections.

When you open the app, you’ll see the “Smart Connect” feature. With a click on the grey power button in the middle of the screen, this turns on the VPN. When set to automatic, it connects you to your nearest server.

To change your server location, tap underneath “connect to” or the location tab on the top right-hand portion of the screen. Here, you can select your location of choice. There is also a search option, and you can look for servers in specific cities. The downside is that the app does not indicate which server is best.

Ivacy’s apps are easy to use

The “Purposes” tab could use a little more explanation. This tab gives you 3 options: “Smart Streaming”, “Secure Downloading”, and “Start Unblocking” but doesn’t go into detail about the purpose of each mode.

By clicking the toolbar on the left side, you will find your kill switch, split tunneling, and security protocol options

On the upper right-hand top of the screen, you will find a “More info” button; this leads you to a FAQ and contact page.

The desktop app is very different from the mobile app, with fewer features. The kill switch is easy to spot and is off by default.

The “Purposes” tab is slightly different; the desktop version is labeled as “Start Streaming” and “Internet Freedom (unblocking)” and seems to be missing the “Secure Downloads” feature for dedicated torrenting and P2P servers that the mobile app provides.

The mobile app is different to the desktop version

The locations tab is similar to the mobile app, with a list of server locations, but still no help in finding the best server.

Also, surprisingly, compared to the mobile app, there are far fewer setting options. The only options are the ability to bypass a proxy, a link under “Members Area” that directs you to their webpage, an “about Ivacy” section that also links you to their webpage, a link to their privacy policies, a webRTC leak protection switch, and a FAQ section.

Where are all these features Ivacy brags about? Am I missing something?

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