PrivateVPN Review in UAE 2023: Impressive Performance

With its center of operations in Sweden, we were initially hesitant about the service. There are major loopholes in the country’s national interpretation of the GDPR that allow for its citizens’ surveillance. However, we were impressed with PrivateVPN’s steadfast attitude in denying authorities access to its users’ data.

PrivateVPN is one of the best VPNs for UAE out there for all the purposes a VPN is meant to fulfill. In this comprehensive PrivateVPN review in UAE, we further delve into its features, performance, and overall effectiveness.

With nearly 100+ servers spread across 50+ countries, PrivateVPN punches above its weight in the true sense of the phrase. Users will be able to unblock all major steaming sites with little difficulty. Similarly, thanks to the SOCKS5 proxy, there is dedicated support for torrenting as well. Accessing premium features is just a PrivateVPN login away, offering simplicity and convenience.

For those wondering “Is PrivateVPN safe to use?” Overall, PrivateVPN encryption settings have proven to be dependable. The service offers robust data protection across all major platforms, making it an ideal choice for keeping your data safe while torrenting or avoiding censorship.

PrivateVPN Review in UAE: Pros & Cons

Plans & Pricing: How much is PrivateVPN?

All PrivateVPN subscription plans offer the same benefits. The only difference is the length of the subscription. This is a common practice in the VPN market. You’ll find this approach in almost all providers. However, with longer subscriptions, you’ll save money.

The cheapest and longest-running plan is the US$9.90 monthly plan. If you sign up for two months (the three-month plan), the price drops to US$17.99. That’s an almost 39% savings. The longest plan also offers the best deal at US$59.99 per year. The prices are on the same level as the competition.

PrivateVPN Payment Methods

Like most VPNs, PrivateVPN offers users the chance to pay via their Mastercard/VISA credit card as well as through PayPal. We were impressed by their support of Bitcoins as it allows users to avail of this service while maintaining anonymity over their financial transactions.

But there was also disappointment over the fact that there is no support for debit cards; although we found support for Bitcoin to be a good start, it would have been nice to have complete support for all major cryptocurrencies.

PrivateVPN Refund Policy

The service offers a 30-day Money-back guarantee. In my experience, this is the standard time frame for a VPN provider in terms of a refund policy to provide users with a full month to decide whether they feel the service is up to their needs or not.

Security: Is PrivateVPN Trustworthy?

Yes, PrivateVPN is considered one of the most cost-effective VPNs on the market. PrivateVPN has a proven track record of protecting your online privacy and comes with the necessary security features. With over 63+ countries to choose from, PrivateVPN gives you a wide range of ways to evade censorship and geo-blocks.

Pro-Privacy Logging Policy

We were surprised to see that PrivateVPN has a strict “no logs” policy. The company claims that the service does not store logs on its servers or any other device for that matter.

To lend credibility to this claim, there are past instances where the service was required to share info on its users, but it denied having any such info. We scoured through its privacy policy but could not find any potential leaks or loopholes that could prove to be potentially dangerous for users.

PrivateVPN Encryption & Protocols

As far as properly encrypting its users is concerned, PrivateVPN has the industry-standard AES-256 cipher. This comes with the 2048-bit handshake, HMAC SHA256 data auth., and the 2048-bit DHE Keys.

Additionally, the service supports all major tunneling protocols like PPTP, L2TP, IPsec, IKEv2, SOCKS5, and the most popular OpenVPN protocol. The combination of these is sure to keep most users safe online regardless of what their distinct needs are.

PrivateVPN VPN VirusTotal Test

While a VPN service is meant to keep a user’s location anonymous online, it is also important that the service itself be safe and free of any malware. Hence, we also conducted a virus test using Virus Total on the service.

Here is the result:

As users can see, the service is free from any hidden viruses or any form of files that may harm a user’s device.

Streaming: Does PrivateVPN work for Netflix and other platforms?

PrivateVPN can unblock Netflix, but there is a catch. As mentioned earlier, it has multiple servers in the US. Out of all the servers, only a select few were able to properly unblock Netflix. Hence, we should caution the users that they might need to test several servers before finding the optimum one for unblocking Netflix.

Instead, explore the best VPN for Netflix in UAE to stream some of your favorite shows in HD. You can also make use of the best streaming VPNs in UAE and test them with Amazon Prime, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and more in our PrivateVPN review.

We repeated the process for all other major streaming sites like Hotstar, and Disney+, and just as we expected, we had to shuffle through a number of servers, but in the end, all of them were unblocked. So, even though the service can unblock most streaming sites, it is nowhere near as smooth a user experience as it should be.

Torrenting: Is PrivateVPN good for torrenting?

Yes, PrivateVPN supports peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic, making it a good choice for torrenting. However, to use PrivateVPN with torrent clients for downloading files, you will need to connect to dedicated IP/ torrenting servers.

It took some time to reach the optimal speed, but it turned out to be satisfactory. The performance of the service depends on a number of factors, including the leecher/seeder ratio. It is recommended to use a PrivateVPN free trial to accurately assess the performance.

The potential issue we could identify with the service is the limited availability of specialized servers. This implies that users might encounter overloaded servers.

Does Private VPN support Port forwarding?

PrivateVPN stands out by offering dedicated IP servers that allow port forwarding capabilities. PrivateVPN port forwarding gives you more control over your internet connection by sending traffic through certain ports. It’s great for torrenting, playing online games, and running certain apps that need open ports.

PrivateVPN has dedicated IP servers that can forward most of your ports, so you can get the most out of your online experience. This gives you more control over how your internet traffic is handled and lets you tailor your connection to fit your needs.

Secured connections using OpenVPN UDP further increase the service’s privacy and reliability. With dedicated IP servers paired with port forwarding options, PrivateVPN stands out as an all-in-one solution for users looking for security and customization in their VPN journey.

Servers and Locations: How Many Servers Does PrivateVPN Have?

PrivateVPN has over 200+ server locations in 63+ countries. You can connect to PrivateVPN anywhere in the world, whether you’re at home or abroad. PrivateVPN provides you with the utmost privacy and protection. You can switch your server location whenever you want.

Most of these servers are located in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. While this may be good for streaming, it does not bode well in terms of safety.

Does PrivateVPN Support P2P/File Sharing?

Absolutely, PrivateVPN is an excellent choice for P2P/file-sharing enthusiasts. When using PrivateVPN, your anonymity and privacy are preserved with the best P2P VPN service. The dedicated P2P-friendly servers ensure optimal performance and security for seamless and confidential file sharing.

As most of this service’s servers are located in countries that have severely strict anti-piracy laws, We would recommend users be cautious in choosing the right servers; otherwise, it may land them in unnecessary trouble.

Does PrivateVPN Work in China?

There is no definitive answer to this question. The Chinese government has a history of blocking websites and services like VPNs in order to control the country’s internet. However, there are some users who have reported PrivateVPN working in China.

It’s possible that PrivateVPN has found a way to bypass the Chinese government’s censorship efforts. But it’s also possible that the Chinese government will block access to PrivateVPN at any point in time. If you’re thinking of using PrivateVPN for the first time in China, you’ll want to make sure that you’re in contact with the service.

Speed and Performance- Is PrivateVPN fast?

PrivateVPN is one of the world’s fastest VPN service providers. It has developed its global network to provide our users with the fastest VPN speeds available. Whether you are in North America, Europe, or Asia, PrivateVPN strives to provide ultra-fast server connections with low latency and high speeds for all devices.

We conducted a PrivateVPN Speed Test For UAE Users on a 100 Mbps connection connecting to 5 random servers in India, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, and the UK. Here are the results:

Compatibility: What Devices Can I Use PrivateVPN On?

Users will be able to use the service on their Windows, Mac, Android, Linux, and iOS without any major issues. Considering how the service is good for use on up to 10 devices, we would say that users will find it easy to use across different platforms and devices almost seamlessly.

PrivateVPN has created an easy-to-use interface for its app. While the look and feel of the app may differ from one operating system to another, it remains the same and provides a well-designed program.

Based on our experience, we found PrivateVPN to be one of the best VPNs for Windows in UAE because of its user-friendly UI, which allowed us to connect and disconnect easily. Not only that, it is also one of the best VPNs for Android in UAE for the same reason. Even though the layout differs, we didn’t face any glaring issues while using the app.

PrivateVPN Customer Support

In assessing PrivateVPN’s customer support, a mixed picture emerges. The company’s live chat feature is available, but users have reported slow response times. On the other hand, the company’s email support appears to be very responsive, responding in a short amount of time.

However, the knowledge base has been found to be incomplete in some areas, especially when it comes to explaining features like port forwarding. Many users have noted that they need to manually check the knowledge base to get all the information they need. On the other hand, PrivateVPN does provide device-specific configuration guides in its Getting Started section.

Overall, the PrivateVPN customer support experience is quite varied. Email support is quick and easy, but live chat responsiveness and knowledge base depth could improve the overall support experience.

How do I contact private VPN customer care?

Contacting PrivateVPN’s customer care is a breeze with two convenient options. For immediate assistance, utilize the live support service for instant responses via direct chat. Alternatively, for less urgent matters, send an email to support@privatevpn.com, ensuring a timely response to address your concerns.

This dual-channel approach underscores PrivateVPN’s commitment to user convenience and efficient customer support.

How do I get a refund from PrivateVPN?

To initiate a refund from PrivateVPN, email your request to support@privatevpn.com and include the reason for the refund. Your refund will be processed within 14 days of the date of the withdrawal decision. The refund amount will be refunded using the same method of payment as the original purchase (unless otherwise agreed). There are no additional fees associated with the refund.

For subscriptions billed through the App Store/iTunes, note that access to the PrivateVPN 30-day money-back guarantee may differ. Refund requests in such cases should be directed to the App Store, and approval is subject to the discretion of Apple Support.

Trustworthiness: What Do Other Users Say About PrivateVPN?

Aside from what we feel about the service, it is important to know what other users feel about the service. In order to be certain to take into account a wider array of opinions, we headed over to the two most popular public forums, Trustpilot and Reddit. Additionally, we looked at the service’s own customer support section.

Here’s what we found out:

PrivateVPN Trustpilot Review

Our first impression on PrivateVPN’s Trustpilot page was surprisingly positive. The service has a highly respectable 4.5 stars, a feat that even some of the more high-profile VPN providers struggle to maintain. Similarly, of the total reviews, 88% were Excellent, while 6% were Great.

With the total number of reviews at 436, we would normally say that it is the bare minimum number that users should trust when seeing whether the average rating is believable.

However, we noticed someone shady and strange. Most of the reviews for PrivateVPN were done by individuals and users who only gave 1 solitary review on the site. We find it highly unlikely that a user would create an account just to give PrivateVPN a 5-star Excellent rating and never review any other service at all.

Hence, we would advise users not to be fooled by the allure of the 4.5 Rating, as we could suspect foul play on PrivateVPN’s end.

PrivateVPN Reddit Review

PrivateVPN Reddit, on the other hand, is stricter when it comes to ensuring that there is no paid or foul play being conducted on any of its subreddits. The community was also fairly active in discussing the merits and demerits of this particular service.

The logging policy continues to be a problem for a lot of users. Despite commending the service on its past history of ignoring the authorities’ request to allow access to user data, users don’t feel entirely safe with this particular service.

Additionally, it appears that the service’s problems with unblocking Netflix are a lot more complicated than we anticipated. Apparently, users in the EU and the US will have two divergent experiences based on where they register the account. It might be just a tad too confusing for most users.

PrivateVPN Alternatives

My initial skepticism about PrivateVPN was quickly alleviated once we realized how seriously the service takes the issue of tracking its users. And while we found it to be a decent service, there were occasional issues that, though not anything serious, shouldn’t be there in the first place.

Perhaps most important, there is no Chinese server. Access to China has become a major reason why so many people begin using VPNs in the first place. That large chunk of users will not find PrivateVPN to be a great VPN for their needs.

For them and other users who still feel unconvinced by what PrivateVPN has to offer, we’d highly recommend PureVPN. It is a well-renowned VPN operating in the year for several years, making a name for itself as an affordable yet secure VPN option. Importantly, it is based out of Hong Kong, devoid of any data retention laws, and offers a Chinese server as well.

You may also go through various VPN comparisons in UAE to choose a different option.

PrivateVPN Review in UAE: FAQs

Conclusion

PrivateVPN service qualifies for us to highly recommend this service. In most cases, an unsafe jurisdiction is a terrible red flag. However, PrivateVPN has had a history of standing up to authorities demanding logging info and maintains that it will continue to adopt the same attitude in the future, too.

Aside from that, the service has one of the most impressive sets of encryption and protocol that we reviewed, while it also offers impressive support for torrenting as well as streaming sites. While there were a couple of minor hiccups, none of those are serious enough to be a cause of terrible concern.

The payment plans are flexible and fairly affordable as well. Aside from its unsafe location and lack of a proper Chinese server, everything mentioned in our PrivateVPN review in UAE makes it a good option for anyone looking for a VPN. If users want to go for something safer and a better Chinese server compatibility, we strongly recommend PureVPN in UAE. A VPN service that is quite simply the complete VPN package.

Embark on a secure online journey by initiating your PrivateVPN download today.