![]() ![]() There are a handful of useful bonus features in the background. Nothing intimidating or technical at all. The interface has been mildly redesigned to suit portrait mode and smaller screens, but it follows the same minimalist approach: just the big ‘Connect’ button, a plain location list, and a few tiny icons. ![]() It’s much the same with Secure VPN Android and iOS apps. It has the ad, malware and tracker blocker, too, but is missing some of the more advanced features seen in the Windows app, namely WireGuard support, split tunneling and the kill switch. The Mac app looks similar to Norton’s Windows offering, with the simple stripped-back interface and basic location list. This is the user interface of Norton Secure VPN's Android app (Image credit: NortonLifeLock) Mac and mobile apps If you’re only running Norton Secure VPN on Android, for instance, you won’t be relying on Norton’s app: you’ll be using the very well-tested and reliable Android system kill switch.) It can’t tell us what might happen with other apps. (Keep in mind that this test was for the Windows kill switch only. That may not matter much if you’re just unblocking Netflix or shielding simple browsing tasks, but it’s bad news if you’re doing anything more privacy-critical. There’s no way to be sure it will kick in and block your internet if the VPN drops, and that could mean your device traffic is unprotected for at least a few seconds. Put this all together and it looks like the Windows kill switch is unreliable at best. Secure VPN didn’t block our internet, didn’t reconnect either, and told us to try connecting again later. A good kill switch should block everything but the VPN app until it can reconnect. Maybe we were unlucky? We tried another test, turning our router off and on, simulating a dropped network. The connection dropped, but the kill switch didn’t block our internet, and our device used its regular unprotected internet connection as usual. We ran some extreme tests on the kill switch by ceasing Secure VPN’s WireGuard processes, and stopping its services. The kill switch did not impress us (Image credit: NortonLifeLock) Even better, we would urge the firm to join the likes of ExpressVPN, NordVPN and TunnelBear in putting itself through a public audit, to give potential customers real information on how it’s looking after their privacy. While we’ve no reason to assume Norton is doing anything dubious, we’d like a little more clarity on how it’s handling your data. Which IP addresses are collected, for instance: your device IP, the server you’re allocated, or both? How long is this data kept? It’s not clear. There’s not a lot of detail about what this could mean. The real Norton Secure VPN privacy policy says the service collects or accesses your IP address device name, type, and identifier OS version (for mobile devices) license identifier a running total of bandwidth used and some very basic diagnostic information to help solve any issues (an error state code, for instance). The Secure VPN website claims that “unlike some other VPNs, we don’t track, log, or save your browsing activities.” Sounds promising, but there’s no more detail on the front page.Ī 'What is a no-log VPN?' blog post vaguely states that although “Norton Secure VPN does not log information about where you browse on the Internet”, it does collect “other limited data in accordance with the NortonLifeLock Global Privacy Statement and the Product Privacy Notice.” Norton Secure VPN can block trackers and more, but the service does keep some logs on its users (Image credit: NortonLifeLock) Privacy and logging Whatever your product preferences, Norton protects you with a 14-day money-back guarantee for monthly-billed subscriptions, and a generous 60-days with annual plans. ![]() If you’re in the market for a new antivirus or security suite, that could be the best option. But it's the same $3.33 a month for the first year of the annual plan, and only a little more expensive at $9.17 on renewal ($110 a year). That looks a little costly to us, but wait: there’s another way.īuy Norton Secure VPN as a bundle with Norton 360 Deluxe and you'll get antivirus for up to five PCs, Macs, mobiles and tablets a firewall for PC and Mac parental controls, a password manager, 50GB cloud backup space and more. The 10 device plan is priced at $5 a month on the annual subscription, rising to $8.33 on renewal. Norton’s five device plan starts cheap at $3.33 a month billed annually, although that doubles to $6.66 on renewal. Most providers ask $10-$13 for monthly plans, so if you only need to protect that one device, Norton looks like a very good deal. Norton Secure VPN prices start at just $4.99 billed monthly for a single device license. Both monthly and annual plans are available (Image credit: NortonLifeLock) Norton Secure VPN review: Plans and pricing ![]()
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