VPN by Private Internet Access Reviews

Has worked flawlessly for several years. During that time, I used several iPhones while always maintaining latest iOS and PIA app versions. Then, suddenly several weeks ago, regardless of Wi-Fi/Mobile Network connection, it began disconnecting the PIA this app, yet allowing Internet traffic, even with KILL SWITCH activated. Ugh! So, I took a chance today, and uninstalled app, then installed again. Left PIA install defaults, which were same as my original settings. So far, it seems fine. However, not enough time has passed to be certain. So, I’ll update the review, if deemed appropriate.


Love PIA. Only flaw is occasionally it will not connect with my dedicated IP but will with all other regions provided by PIA. Still have the occasional issue with KILL SWITCH on but app not connected and my public IP revealed. Ugh!!! Frustrating. Windows app works flawlessly. Just the iOS app with latest versions of everything kept updated still has the random disconnect issue even with KILL SWITCH. So, that is the reason for four and not five stars. Support is amazing whenever issues arise. Quick to respond and assist. Hope they can figure out the KILL SWITCH issue soon. Thanks!

I have been using PIA for well over a year on both iOS and Windows and have not had any problems. Up until now I would’ve gave it 5 stars. However, all of a sudden v3.6.1 stopped working for me on my iPhone running 13.5.1. At first it wouldn’t connect, it would just spin and now will not allow me to login citing an “SSL error, secure connection to server cannot be made.” Deleting and re-downloading, switching SSID’s etc has not fixed this.

Outside of VPN not working, my big issue is with the nonexistent costumer support. Initial triage of the issue from PIA was basic. I was told to escalate my ticket since all options were exhausted. So the Development crew replied hours later but showed how they clearly did not read my issue at all from the trouble ticket. If you explicitly state that you do not currently have service and are operating strictly from WiFi as well as you are not able to login, the first two “troubleshooting techniques” should not be “switch to data, or switch from openVPN to WireGuard.”

The PIA app still functions on my Windows 10 notebook, but when you pay for services, you expect it to function as stated. I will not be renewing with PIA and will move to ExpressVPN and pay the extra money unless this can actually be rectified.

I don’t know what you guys did on this new update, but now it’s a huge struggle to connect on iPad and iPhone. It’s try...try...try again, over and over and over hoping it will connect. Switching regions is till a 50% chance it will catch. On my Mac Pro it’s produces slow buffering video streaming even at 100mps speed, slow website loading on both Safari and Firefox and major connection issues on iPad and iPhone. Huge disappointment to a customer of 3 years. Sending “slow speed complaint” for the last 3 years weekly has not improved the service at all and is getting very annoying now. This new update put me over the edge to look for a better service. My one year is up in a month and will be looking for a better provider.

**UPDATE** Since the new Mac update recently, everything is running beautifully...connection is flawless on Mac. Connection speed is faster, disconnection speed is also faster. The new design is great and have had no problems with this new Mac update. So CHEERS to the nice job. What ever you did to the Mac update needs to be done with iPhone and iPad update. Connection problems still arise when connecting to Canada and Mexico on iPad and iPhone even after iPhone PIA update. I use them because of the lower MS numbers. Thank you for fixing the Mac issues. Here’s hoping fixes will come to iPad and iPhone issues.

Like everyone else, I have huge connection problems. It loses the this app IP regularly and does not reconnect when moving between networks. I have to manually power cycle every time I leave my home wifi. Even if PIA shows connected, if you have the kill switch on, apps and browsing is often blocked because somehow PIA has lost the server. I also experience slow speeds and super long reconnect times for PIA. I'm on cellular right now at a coffee shop, I've been at the same table for an hour, and PIA has lost the this app IP twice and killed my connections. I did fine the first month, then when I purchased the 3yr plan it went south. I thought the reinstall (to change accts) messed with it, but based on reviews and comments it may have simply been unfortunate timing. I really like PIA's philosophy and want to stay with them. But when I have to turn it off to finish my work because I'm having that many problems, I'm forced to consider another. I'll keep trying. I paid for 3 yrs after all.

(And to the March 22 reviewer who is annoyed by all the "can't connect" comments: I HAVE "experimented" with the settings. It still doesn't work. I'm glad yours does. Truly. But that doesn't mean mine does.)

I have VPN for a few years. Does it work? I guess so. How would I really know? I know for sure when it’s on I can’t access my search results. They just don’t come up anymore unless I deactivate VPN. Mmm that doesn’t seem to me like it really works. Is it supposed to cause me to not get results from a search? Don’t I pay them to make me anonymous? If I wanted an this app that prevented me from accessing info from a Google search I can have that for free by just going back to paper searches in a library building. There must be a way to prevent information providers from denying access to information bc you don’t want them to know who you are or track you. But I don’t know what it is and neither does this this app. Even tik tok makes me do the puzzle match bf i can watch a video when VPN is turned on to hide my IP address. I tried express this app. But these two this app services are owned by the same company. Mmmm?
My advice is if you don’t mind being thwarted from obtaining results from a Google search or de activating VPN everytime you search, then purchase VPN and you will be satisfied. But why buy it when your searches are useless with it?

For the most part VPN seems to work great. Unfortunately, it’s not 100%. My biggest issue I seem to have is using Wi-Fi. It doesn’t matter if it’s my home Wi-Fi connection, or my Wi-Fi at work, or any public Wi-Fi. Once I connect to my Wi-Fi at home, the this app will be connected and work fine; but when I leave and I shut the this app off, or even when I leave it on when using mobile data, it tends to not want to reconnect to Wi-Fi, any Wi-Fi.

If I have the this app on at home on my Wi-Fi, and then go to work, my phone will not connect to the Wi-Fi at work. The this app will be on, but it won’t connect to the Wi-Fi. If I turn the this app off suddenly it connects to the Wi-Fi. Turn the this app back on and you’re back on LTE. I’ve tried multiple things to try and connect to the Wi-Fi and the this app, and the only thing that works is shutting the phone off and turning it back on. Then when I leave work, whether I turn the this app off or leave it on, when I get home it won’t connect to my home Wi-Fi. I will have the this app on over the LTE, and it won’t connect to my Wi-Fi once again. The only way to connect to the Wi-Fi is to shut the this app off, or once again power off the phone and back on again.

Update 3: I am impressed. Everything about VPN has been improved, and it works extremely well. No battery problems anymore. VPN works in the background very effectively and at low cost in terms of battery. I can now definitely recommend this service and VPN as being top notch. Upgrading to 5 stars easily. Well done software developers!

Update 2: Connections are working pretty well now so the problems associated with my Update 1 are no longer issues. I like the addition of OpenVPN as an alternative to IPSec. So, connections are good, speed is generally good, but VPN now eats up 50+ percent of my battery in a given day. Not totally sure what that is about but I can have my phone in my pocket all day (and not really use it much) and by the end of the day, I’m completely out of battery.

Update 1: Problems are back! Loss of this app connection is way too common. It gets locked in this cycle of trying to reconnect forever, and you have to exit VPN and start over. Sometimes you have to restart your phone to get it working again. Automatic connection leads to countries on the other side of the world with massive latency problems. Really wish they did not update VPN .

First review: While I have had problems in the past, I think this latest update is a significant improvement. I think the company is moving in the right direction and is one of the best this app clients available.

For about $5/mo PIA provides reasonably fast service with a great variety of global servers.
Connecting from a rural area where broadband seldom exceeds 8mbs, PIA thankfully decreases speed only by 1–2mbs, allowing enough headroom to comfortably stream, voip, etc.
Another bonus is that PIA can be enabled across an entire network by purchasing a suitable Flashrouter. While the standard license covers 3 devices, purchasing a dedicated PIA Flashrouter will encrypt all household data: voice, video, and IoT.
Only downside is that the company either moves servers around to different regions or relies on virtual servers. The effect, seen on occasion, is that the geolocation tags can become mislabeled thereby blocking certain regionally restricted content. A while back a PIA server listed as Los Angeles was tagged as originating in Romania. Blocked content was easily restored by choosing another region, but it appears a little quirky the first time encountered.

Within the past year PIA had a customer data issue, and according to trustworthy influencers (Linus Tech Tips) the company has completely revamped their model. They are one of the first this app providers that is attempting to monetize PRIVACY rather than monetizing data, you will see this in their iOS apps such as InBrowser (came with my purchase) and others that their new model is to act as an “All-in-One” internet privacy provider. I sound like a shill, but I have done a lot of research on the matter and thought I would share.

Also, I am coming from ExpressVPN and suffered a lot of connectivity issues (the initial connection to their servers took too long in my view)

I think trusting your this app provider is very important and PIA knows all eyes are on them after the customer data issue, and you can see the changes they have made even upon brief glances.

I've used PIA across multiple hardware for years. Once loved now I'm shopping for the something new and stable. Lately the past 3-4+ versions have been terrible! I don't know what you've done? But, you broke it! My laptops both Win10 and IOS, PIA constantly crashes then eventually locks up when claiming to be disconnecting. Sometimes so bad it requires a reboot. My cell forget about it. It is constantly trying to connect or get a public IP. Forget crossing networks, I'll experience up to a ten minute delay in getting the this app connected. It's become so bad if I don't turn it off for a few seconds multiple times in a day, my texts and notifications are delayed up to a day or two. I work in health IT and protecting PHI and sensitive info is mandatory. I stopped using my cell for work related items. I contacted their support and they had the audacity to proceed in that it was something on my end! Same behaviors, multiple devices, multiple networks, once it worked, now it's broke. I didn't change a thing. I used to recommend and would even debate in the past PIA it was the best, now I don't even mention that I have it.

I’ve tried a lot, like almost every paid and free this app and PIA has had my back from day 1. The amount of features is outstanding. On top of their strict no logs policy just puts me at ease. I was getting cyberattacks for a while. Dealing with things from fake domains to DDOS, trying every trial in VPN Store and on the computer, life got frustrating. I’d tried PIA in the past before and tried the no this app life for a bit as well. But realistically, you shouldn’t be browsing without a this app. Others I’d tried had weak kill switches, would cut out after denial of service attacks, and just had too little to offer in the form of encryption. It wasn’t till I came back to PIA and started paying for their services that I felt at peace. Take my word for it, Private Internet Access is #1. Take advantage of their amazing yearly deals as well! You won’t regret it!!!

I don’t write too many reviews but after using PIA this app for a few years now on multiple devices like my PC’s and iPhones I thought I should give my honest thoughts about PIA briefly.

If you’re on the fence on what this app you should use, this should be towards the top of the list if not 1st to try. The price to buy/renew is always fair if not cheap and I feel it’s worth every penny. The this app has so many features so you can set it up exactly how you want and it’s very simple to use.

Once you have PIA installed and going you really don’t have to mess with it and you’re now free to download any movies or TV shows without worry, as well as visiting websites and viewing media not available/allowed in your country. If you need a reliable this app that’s easy to use, with apps for computers and smartphones and isn’t overpriced, you found it.

VPN is dead-easy to set up, it is effective, and doesn’t sell your info to 3rd parties. Fairly priced for a yearly subscription across I think five of your devices. Supports Apple App Store Family sharing. Plus it now supports WireGuard, the latest this app open source technology. This will eliminate most if not all difficulties people may be experiencing. Settings > Protocol (1st option, change to WireGuard instead of openVPN).

I don’t use the net without this, whether at home on WiFi or on a public WiFi or using cellular LTE. (AS always be wary of public WiFi. No this app is perfect. And practice USB cable hygiene 😊 and never lend your cable to a stranger in, say, an airport. You may get back a different cable, with hardware alterations allowing you to be pwned.)

Update for 2.2.2: VPN STILL isn't working right!!! I think that all they did is to make VPN give a fake report that you're connected and forced it to secretly keep manually auto connecting with no outward indications!!! Essentially they fixed nothing, just hid the issue! VPN clearly shows connected with 0 indicated throughput, the settings page says it connected... but in the settings itself it says *NOT CONNECTED*?!? I have screenshots of all 3! PIA is also refusing to credit me back for any time their app wasn't working saying I'm not eligible because I renewed in June yet they broke it AFTER I renewed?!?

Apparently PIA is hiding in shame by just recently ending their live chat support and actively DELETING reviews critical of their obvious intent to keep charging/taking days off your subscription even though their app doesn't even work!!! Look at their canned "responses", so the newest version doesn't work with the newest beta iOS or *any* older versions of iOS? Uh, what other versions of iOS are there?!? That's literally saying VPN isn't iOS compatible at all!!!

Update 2017. I like the thought of being "protected." I assume this app is what it says it is. Recently my connectivity with my own WIFI has slowed. Sometimes brokerage websites won't work as they assume you are conducting nefarious business from outside the country. If connectivity deteriorates, I will reluctantly discontinue. However, I still like the protection.

I
had VPN for 1 year before I got it to work. I an older codger and impatient. But when I was automatically renewed for another year, I made up my Geritol-laden mind to get her going. Once I got VPN working on my computer (delay due in part to not realizing right away that the website sign on and VPN sign on we're different), the implementation of the iPhone and iPad apps was a snap. Cost is reasonable, speed is great. I have been from South Carolina to New Hampshire with NO access problems. Go get it and be confident.

Overall PIA is a solid this app and the iOS app is better than most. I do find it does not wake from sleep well and almost always requires reconnecting on long sleep sessions from WiFi only iPad. Speeds have consistently been much better lately with less drop off from IP provided bandwidth. Personally I would like to see a notification when there is a connection issue rather than having to wonder whether the website I am trying to reach has issues or the this app is in transition. Might be an iOS limitation though. I will say PIA has excellent performance with OpenVPN but again that app lacks the notifications I would like to see. 5 connections at one price solid value IMO. A piece of advice for those rating some of the apps 5 stars, make sure you do a DNS Leak test because some of the apps are merely an icon giving you a sense of security.

UPDATE: After the update to version 2.2.2, connectivity issues seem to have bern resolved. Bumping up to 4 stars. Original review below.

I've been using VPN on my iPhone for several months now and had no issue until the dreaded 2.2.1 update. Now the connection drops if I let my iPhone sleep for a couple of minutes, and I have to toggle the connection on and off multiple times a day to get it restored. Worse yet, losing connection to the this app also causes me to lose connection to the internet as a whole. And finally, it seems to disconnect my iPhone from my Apple Watch, which causes the watch's battery to drain much more rapidly as it struggles to connect to the iPhone. I love this service and have no issue with it on Mac or PC, but the iOS app is broken. Please fix this so I may continue to enjoy what was a great service.

I used PIA for over 6 years. It had always been a 10/10 experience. Unfortunately, they’ve adopted a business model of theft.
Two years ago I bought a three year subscription, an offer I still often receive emails for. When my service expired after two years I had assumed it was just a glitch and tech support would review my payments and add another year.
Wrong.
I was told they don’t offer and never have offered a 3 years subscription offer. So my third year was stolen from me. Even though my receipts showed I paid for it. Even though I have the emails they sent me offering the sweet deal, and even though they STILL send me emails offering the same deals. I wish I could still use their product, it really did make my life a lot easier. I don’t pay twice for anything and I’m not sure why they think they could tell me they don’t have a three year offer, any single one of their current or past customers knows that’s not true.

Do not buy this! While the this app itself has some nice features the company behind it is a mess. The first order I placed apparently went through but the pass through link was broken so I never received confirmation or the login information. It appeared as though it crashed. A couple weeks later I had time to look at it and ordered it again. Big mistake. The reset password feature is broken, their online chat is literally non functioning, they don’t follow up when you submit a support ticket. The form itself is so outdated it’s not even possible to communicate currently version. The only reason they respond was because I went to Facebook and all I got was an email that confirmed I had an account but still no help. So three weeks into a subscription and lots of frustration I still can’t use the this app on my other devices.

Spend the extra money and choose a company that is established. The tech reviews don’t take into consideration whether the company itself is competent

I purchased this about 7 months or more ago and the first three months all was great ! Then I started having connection problems with my iPhone and my laptop and turned to PIA Support team for assistance !
They sent me an email about a page and a half of configurations to do to both my phone and my laptop and it was so technical I had to research how to accomplish the configurations . After i finished my this app has been totally USELESS and I CAN NOT get a response from PIA Support as of yet .
My advise to anyone is to buy elsewhere and I really have a bad taste in my mouth for APPLE supporting them by selling this crap on there site and NOT reprimanding them for there incompetence and lack of support !
There is better out there and I’m going to resort to the change as soon as possible and again I advise to stay away from PIA no matter what APPLE says about the product because they are NOT the ones having to deal with the issues this program has ! Good luck !

I’ll put it simply, the PIA price point is on target. I have been running it head to head with F-Secure, with PIA being less in price. PIA only suffers from the occassional slow down. So much that I have to toggle off during a VOIP call or while searching for something online. But this happens not very often. I don’t think the competition is perfect either and I’m probbaly being too picky. Also, this isn’t a review of the desktop version, and that is where you will see any performance degredations much easier. PIA is great because it circumvents censorship while travelling ir redirexting your requests to local versions of news stations. When I want US news abroad, this will get me what I need. Are you using Hotel wifi? You need to be Protected. The website covers the rest of the benefits, but again, this product is a must have for a traveller. Compare, let them compete. PIA is worth the money.

I have some security knowing this app protects me, at least from what I've heard - and this one got good ratings from different sources. I even use it when I join my home wifi network, which is supposed to be protected - you can't be too safe. A couple of things - and this may be the general nature of VPNs and not simply this one:
I can't send an email if it's turned on, since the internet can't verify who is sending the message because the IP address is masked.
Also, it seems I must be connected to my carrier - not wifi - to turn on my this app. But some locations, such as the hospital where a couple of my doctors practice - block access and you must use their wifi. If I need to surf for somethingwhile I'm there and didn't turn on my this app before entering the building, I can't open it so I'm stuck until I leave. I guess it's something you just have to remember, but it's inconvenient.
I rather wish it would automatically connect when I turn on my wifi. Sometimes I forget that step.

I use an old version of app on 8.4- Wouldn’t connect. It connected once, now it won't connect anymore. Installs a profile. Finally I was able to get version 2.1 or 2.0, and so far, it works. But the version which installs automatically to older iOS, is not the best version and the profile does not work with it. So I think I found which version works.

I'm running iOS 8.4, not really many choices as to what version of VPN I can use. Finally got a version that works. The profile is not even signed. The old versions need to be maintained as well as the new versions.

I depend on these apps on my iPhone 6s’s and on my PCs and those are all five star ratings, there but on my one iPhone 5s, The only available version is so poorly maintained and has so few settings that it almost doesn’t really do anything.

There is nothing wrong with VPN , their service/support OR functionality on any iOS version.

I have tested, monitored and analyzed it's "strange" behavior and there is nothing suspect about it's functionality. It behaves exactly like a this app sever is supposed to..

I mean really people.. if you can't understand the purpose of using a this app in the private sector (opposed to enterprise services). Then don't post.

PIA is great, one of only two that I trust implicitly to not leak info and responsive to perceived breaches as I'm told. Highly recommend.

* just a special response / note to other reviews...

1. If your connected to another country, and understood this concept, take solace when the language changes when visiting a geo responsive webpage swaps out the charset... <#ignorance>

2. really defeating all purposes of anonymity if you are visiting such a sensitive account like a brokerage house. Really ?? ++ you couldn't login, huh.. that means that you brokerage has some great host based IDS/IPS deny/drop rules. Just like above, a good sign.!!

But for attempting to access sensitive systems while inside an IPSec tunnel ... <#ignorant>

Thanks PIA. !! keep doin as u were, thank you for the trips all around the world.. ;)

Update Aug 6: the latest fix indicates you have a secure this app connection (e.g., East Coast); however, when you check with IP locator it shows your real location and IP. Therefore, it looks protected but is not. Typically, it will show as Resolving while the indicator shows a secure this app connection. This is misleading and a false sense of security.

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While this service works reasonably well on desktop PCs, its performance on mobile devices is not acceptable. Several recent updates including the most recent update on July 26 has made a bad app almost an unusable app. This is especially true on older iPads. PIA needs to post an update as to when they will fix the constant drops and errors indicating resolving negotiation issues. I have to reboot my device every 30 minutes to keep the connection going. VPN so far has gotten worse with every update. PIA needs to consider offering 1 month free or some other compensation for all the issues once they get VPN fixed.