When it comes to online privacy and security, one of the topics that we always emphasize on is using a VPN service. Using a VPN, you can make sure that your online privacy is secured as you can browse the web anonymously. In case  you are looking for a VPN service for a similar reason, you should not really be looking for the free stuff. A paid VPN service is what would be ideal in such a situation. You might have to compromise on speed and privacy breach might also be an issue. Read our piece on the dark side of free VPN for the risk attached that comes with these free VPNs.

However, at times, you just want to bypass the country restriction while trying out a new service on Android, or you just wish to install an app not yet available in your country. In these scenarios buying a VPN service doesn’t really makes sense. A free VPN app would be ideal to bypass these restrictions. But here also you should be choosing a service which is comparatively secure and trustworthy.
So here are 5 free VPN services that can help you bypass country restriction on Android and at the same time protect privacy.

1. Betternet for Android

Betternet for Android is one of the best free VPN services for Android. The app has some ads to support its free services, but the ads are not at all irritating. From the homepage, you press the Connect button and wait for the connection to establish.

 
One thing to note here is that you cannot select the server/country you wish to connect to  manually. The app will auto-connect you to the best server using a load balancer. Most of the times, it’s US or Canada, but at times, you might also connect to servers at Singapore, Netherlands, and the UK. We have already covered all the details about the app in one of our previous posts which you can have a look at for more details.

2. FlinchVPN

FinchVPN is another free VPN service for Android that you can try. You need to create a free account and after successful activation, you will get a monthly bandwidth of 3 GB. FlinchVPN allows you to select the server/location from US, Canada, and France.
 
There are no ads in the app and as long as you are using the free servers and don’t need more than 3 GB of free data in a month, FinchVPN will work like a charm. However, for just $1 per month, you can get access to many fast servers and extend monthly data limit to 25 GB. For those who would like unlimited data, it would just be $3 per month.

3. Hideman VPN

Hideman VPN gives you a long list of countries to choose from even in the free mode and you don’t need to create an account to start the VPN service. Also, if you are looking for a VPN to download torrents, Hideman can help you with that. There are a few free servers which support torrents and there will be an icon next to the server which will denote the support for them.
 
You get a few free hours on the app and you can share links for the apps and do a few other things to get the time extended. For paid membership, there are hourly packages available for users who would like to have a reliable VPN service for just a few hours.

4. Hotspot Shield Free VPN Proxy

Hotspot Shield Free VPN Proxy, unlike the other apps, give you the power to start the VPN service automatically when a specific app is launched on your Android. This is apart from the usual overall VPN service that it provides. The advantage of using Hotspot Shield on just a few apps will provide more security and privacy.
 
In the free plan, you can change different countries/servers, but there is some time limit and also the app has ads. However, there is an option to upgrade to monthly and yearly elite plans to get better speed and an ad-free experience.

5. Tunnel Bear

Tunnel Bear is one of the most trusted names when it comes to VPN and if your monthly usage is anywhere less than 1.5 GB, you can trust this service even on blindfolds. There is a long list of servers/countries to choose from even in a free account and there are no ads in the app.
 
You get 500 MB of free usage every month on the limited account and a tweet asking Tunnel Bear for free data will give you another 1 GB of free data every month. The interface is one of the best when compared to other VPN apps available for Android. If you are looking for a premium VPN plan, I would definitely recommend this one because of its speed and security. Furthermore, if you’re looking for Android only plans, they have it at cheaper rates.

Conclusion

So those were some of the top free VPN services you can install on Android to bypass country restrictions. I would again suggest you to use these free services on a limited basis and look for a secure, paid service if you want to round the clock security and privacy.

Whether a big milestone in your family’s life is coming up like a child going off to school, or perhaps you’ve been through a personal scare, protection and security for you and your loved ones ought to be a real priority. Fortunately, we’re surrounded by technology that can keep us safer than ever before. Thanks to several great apps, your iPhone is capable of being a life saver.

Whether you need an app to make sure you can quickly and safely get in touch with emergency services or just need an app to monitor your friends and family’s well being, we’ve got you covered. Check out these iPhone apps that can truly help save a life if need be.

1. Patronus

Patronus is a phenomenal iPhone app that focuses on your own personal safety by providing a quick way to get in touch with emergency services at the press of a button. Unfortunately as phones have evolved, doing something as simple as placing a phone call has become a multi-step process, including dialing 911 for emergencies in the U.S. (The service also coming to Alaska and Hawaii by the end of 2016.)

Patronus asks you to provide quick information about yourself like your name, email, gender and age. Then it places a large Request Help button at the top of the app. This connects to the Patronus emergency center which then automatically connects to 911 on your behalf. During the phone call, the app helpfully shows you your current location just in case you’re in foreign territory.

4 Lifesaving iPhone Apps to Keep You and Your Loved Ones Safe

Whether a big milestone in your family’s life is coming up like a child going off to school, or perhaps you’ve been through a personal scare, protection and security for you and your loved ones ought to be a real priority. Fortunately, we’re surrounded by technology that can keep us safer than ever before. Thanks to several great apps, your iPhone is capable of being a life saver.

Whether you need an app to make sure you can quickly and safely get in touch with emergency services or just need an app to monitor your friends and family’s well being, we’ve got you covered. Check out these iPhone apps that can truly help save a life if need be.

1. Patronus

Patronus is a phenomenal iPhone app that focuses on your own personal safety by providing a quick way to get in touch with emergency services at the press of a button. Unfortunately as phones have evolved, doing something as simple as placing a phone call has become a multi-step process, including dialing 911 for emergencies in the U.S. (The service also coming to Alaska and Hawaii by the end of 2016.)

Patronus asks you to provide quick information about yourself like your name, email, gender and age. Then it places a large Request Help button at the top of the app. This connects to the Patronus emergency center which then automatically connects to 911 on your behalf. During the phone call, the app helpfully shows you your current location just in case you’re in foreign territory.

Additionally, Patronus has an “On My Way” feature. It lets you select emergency contacts, pick a location you’re traveling to, and when you arrive there, the app will automatically notify them by email or text message that you’ve arrived safely.
The Patronus service costs $4.99 per month but has the potential to seriously save lives.

2. Safetrek

Safetrek is another monthly service that takes a different approach to personal safety. If you’re perhaps walking around in a sketchy neighborhood or college campus at night and don’t feel comfortable by yourself, open the Safetrek app. Just press and hold the green button that says Hold until safe.

Once you feel safe, release the button and punch in the 4-digit PIN you set up when you first launch the app. If you don’t do this within 10 seconds, Safetrek notifies police of your location and they are then free to pursue this as an emergency.
Safetrek works in the United States and requires a $2.99 per month subscription.

3. Parachute

Unlike Patronus and Safetrek, Parachute relies on your own emergency contacts solely for support. The app has a simple UI with one purpose: broadcast live video and audio of your location to the emergency contacts you choose.
Press and hold the button to begin recording live video. Your emergency contacts get a phone call and a live link where they can watch what’s happening and decide whether or not to take action.

A reassuring feature is that Parachute allows you to record while keeping your screen black, so if you’re in a potentially dangerous situation, no one around has to know you’re recording. You can choose to turn the camera view on if you wish, though.
Parachute is free and works anywhere.

4. Find My Friends

You might be more familiar with Find My Friends, which is Apple’s own app for tracking the location of family and friends in your contacts. But what’s especially helpful for safety and security within the app are the notification options to find out when your friends have arrived at a location or left one.

First, choose some contacts to send your location to indefinitely and request a location from them by tapping Add at the top. Once you’re friends within the app, tap their name and choose Notify Me.

You can choose to get a notification when the contact leaves their current location or arrives at a different location that you specify. This will let you know when they’re safe in their travels. They can also get notifications about you if they please.
Find My Friends is totally free and works anywhere.

Almost all Video Players on Android provide gesture controls to set volume and brightness as the video plays. It easy and handy to have this feature. Now, what if you get this feature in the official YouTube Android app? Maybe you’re too lazy to stretch out your fingers to the volume buttons or pull down the notification bar to increase brightness. Whatever the case may be, if you’re interested in getting this feature then read on.

There are many apps on Play Store that can give you gesture controls to perform different actions. But, that will take its affect system-wide. You need to have an application that can track a specific activity (as in our case a video playing in the YouTube app) and turn on the gesture control for that specific activity. That way the action performed will only affect the specific activity in the app and not system-wide. So, here I’d like to share with you an app that will do exactly that.

Volume and Brightness Gesture Controls in YouTube for Android

Step-1: Download and Install this app.
Step-2: Open the app and you’ll be asked to turn on the Accessibility Settings for the app.


Step-3: Turn on Accessibility for the app. This will enable the app to track when the YouTube video is playing on your Android phone.

Step-4: You’re now all set to use the gesture control in the YouTube app. Play a video on YouTube. Swiping up/down on the left will control the brightness and on the right will control the volume.

The Annoying Message

As you can see in the above screenshot, you get a full sized banner asking you to buy the full version. Yes, this comes up every time change the brightness and volume. It stays for around 2 seconds. But, it’s still annoying. The full version costs $2. If you really want to have this feature in YouTube app then go for it.

Settings

In the settings of the app, you can set the velocity of the swipe and enable the option to show brightness and volume levels in percentage.

Any Other Way?

The free version of the app will surely annoy you. But, the full version is worth the buy (it also contains settings for tap anywhere to pause/start and auto brightness). However, if you have any other way to do this in the YouTube app then do mention it down in the comments and help other readers.

We’re just a few days away from receiving the next iteration of Windows 10. The aptly named Anniversary Update. Certain  new features and some design changes are included. But in all these changes one thing is gonna remain the same. The same boring folders and file explorer. Yes, no doubt, Microsoft totally nailed it with the design language of Windows 10. The sleek and minimalistic design are eye pleasing. But, I still find File explorer and folders to be boring in looks. Well, if you feel the same and are a “Tweaker” then let me show you 3 tools that will help you customize the look the folders in Windows 10.

There are many tools available for customization in Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. No specific tools have yet been developed for customizing Windows 10. The below tools are updated versions (compatible with Windows 10) and some are not (but, they work). I’d still recommend you to take a System backup before performing any tweaks. By the way, there weren’t any damaging issues in my usage. So, it’s safe to proceed. Let’s dig in.

1. Folder Colorizer: Add Colors to Your Folders

Folder Colorizer is the tool that you must have used in Windows 7  to add colors to your folders. The tool is not updated for Windows 10 but it still works.



The usage is pretty simple. After installing go to the folder location. Right-click on the folder. Choose Colorize! and select your color.

Now, after you select the color it will do some loading and present you an error. Just hit OK and the folder color should change. Restoring the color back to original works fine. The custom colors option doesn’t work. The dialogue box does show up but crashes after few seconds of opening.

Also, there are few things to note:

• The sub-folders of the customized folder will also change their colors.
• The thumbnail view of the folder icon won’t show the preview of files that are stored in it.

2. Folderico: Completely Customize the Folder Icons

Folderico has full compatibility with Windows 10 and works perfectly. With this tool, you get the freedom to completely customize the look of the folder icon. You can add custom color, images, and overlays.

Open the tool and browse to the folder which you’d like to customize. Now, you can replace the icon with an image or else add a color and overlay to it.

You can use any PNG or JPEG image as an overlay. Here I’ve used the Counter-Strike logo. You can also add color to the background. If you think you want to use the icon again with other folders then you can even save it by clicking on Save to User Icons. Also, there are some preinstalled icons that you can use.

3. Windows 10 Skins

One of the way to completely change the look and feel of the file explorer and the folders is to install skin packs. There are many cool themes and skins available for Windows 10. Skins for your favorite games, metro themes, and Android themed skins.

I recommend you to download skins from skinpacks.com. I’ve been using their skins since Windows 7. There’s also a Skin Pack Creator and IconPack Creator to create your own custom skins. One thing to note here is that the whole Windows UI will change not only the file explorer. If you don’t want to change the whole UI then you can use the SkinPack creator to create your own customized skins for file explorer and folders.

Few Other Add-ons

In the past, we had shared a tool that gives Chrome-style tabs in the file explorer. Also, if you know the file explorer doesn’t show folder size in details view. So, in order to quickly view the size of the folder, you can use this tiny tool called Folder size.

If you just got yourself one of those amazing new MacBooks and are new to the Apple ecosystem, you might be wandering what are the must-have apps you have to download to get yourself started.

Well, here you have a list of a few native Mac apps that we find essential if you want to stay safe, productive and connected.
Let’s take a closer look at them.

1. Ulysses

If all the writing you do on a daily basis consists of simple notes, then the Notes application might be enough for you. But if you want something far more capable and elegant without having to upgrade to something like Pages, then Ulysses is a great choice.

5 Awesome Apps a New Mac User Must Install

If you just got yourself one of those amazing new MacBooks and are new to the Apple ecosystem, you might be wandering what are the must-have apps you have to download to get yourself started.

Well, here you have a list of a few native Mac apps that we find essential if you want to stay safe, productive and connected.
Let’s take a closer look at them.

1. Ulysses

If all the writing you do on a daily basis consists of simple notes, then the Notes application might be enough for you. But if you want something far more capable and elegant without having to upgrade to something like Pages, then Ulysses is a great choice.

The greatest virtue of this writing app is its flexibility. It is just as perfect for writing a 100 page essay as it is for keeping a few notes organized. And the app is available on iPhone and iPad as well, where it is amazingly fully-featured and look fantastic.

2. CloudMagic

This one is more of an acquired taste, but if you like apps with minimal interfaces and are looking for alternatives to OS X’s Mail app, then CloudMagic fits the bill.


It is the desktop version of the great iPhone and iPad app and supports the most popular Mail and Gmail shortcuts. So if you are a fan of those you are also covered. It is not as flexible as other email apps though, offering a single view option and little to no customizability, so that’s something to consider before taking the jump.

3. Reeder

While for most people news readers are a thing of the past, the truth is that if you have a ton of sites and news outlets you follow, there is no better way to sort and manage all their news items than with a news reader. And of all the ones available out there for Mac, Reeder for Mac is by far the most feature-complete and easy to use. It also doesn’t hurt that it is also the best-looking of the bunch either.

4. WhatsApp

Just recently, Facebook (owner of WhatsApp) released a native Mac version for the most used messaging app out there and it is great. For years, millions of users have been enjoying WhatsApp on their mobile devices and have clamored for a native desktop app. And the new Mac desktop app provides the full messaging experience.

It requires your phone to be connected to the network though, so you won’t be able to send or receive messages from/to your Mac if it is not.

5. 1Password

We have previously gone through how great 1Password can be on your iPhone and iPad, but having it on the Mac makes it a snap to add and manage many items at once.


One of the great aspects of the native Mac version of 1Password is that it offers a menu bar icon that gives you easy access to it, so you can interact with the app just to add an item or open the full application to sort and manage all your passwords.
There you have them. With these applications, you are sure to be set on the right track with your new Mac. But if you are wondering what other apps are great for your specific needs, just hit us in the comments below. We’ll be glad to help.

It was the Google I/O Conference yesterday and as always, there is so much to talk about it in the tech world. So many new things – apps and services were launched like Allo, Duo, Google Home, etc. But out of all these, the one thing that caught my attention was the Android Instant Apps. In simple words, the feature allows a user to work on an Android app without installing them on their device and from what it looks like, the feature is going to be a game changer.

So let’s talk about the new feature as to what it is all about and how it’s gonna be useful for both, the user and the developers.

What is Android Instant Apps

Android Instant Apps is Android apps running on your phone without installing themselves. Basically, whenever we open up a website which needs us to install an app to continue or we get a link in our instant messaging which redirects us to a page on Play Store to install an app to view the contents, things become quite tedious. Just because you wanted to watch live updates of a cricket inning or you wished to buy a cell phone online, making it mandatory to download an entire app from Play Store doesn’t make sense.
What Android Instant Apps does is that it rather than downloading and installing the entire app to get something done, it downloads only the necessary code which is necessary for the task you are performing and executes it on the fly. You won’t even feel the difference and it will run just like a normal Android app. If you think you would want to use the app in the future, you can tap on the install button to get the entire app experience on your phone or just close the browser page to clear the memory.

The Android Instant App download is limited to 4 megabytes and thus, it makes sure that it’s available instantly and does not take too much of memory on the device RAM. Google claims that a user won’t even feel the difference as everything will be as smooth as the app is installed on the device.

Uses and Availability of Android Instant

One of the most important uses of Google Instant is for the websites which are mobile only, and ask you to download the app if you are browsing from the phone. Using Google Instant, they can give you a taste of the app directly from the web and if you like it, you can go ahead and install it. These are also helpful in places like a parking lot where you need to pay for parking using an app but instead of downloading it, you can go to the pay zone and get things done on the go.

Google Instant App will not be limited to Android N or Marshmallow, but will work on any device running on Android 4.1+ (API Level 16) or higher with Google Play services. Devices which don’t have Google Play Services, most of them which are from China, will not be able to access Android Instant App for obvious reasons.
At the moment about a half dozen partners are trying Instant Apps which includes Buzzfeed, B&H Photo Video, and Medium. Google plans to expand Android Instant App and welcomes more partners over the next few months and users will be able to experience it later this ear.

For Developers

As a developer, Google claims that it’s pretty easy to be a part of Android Instant. As a developer, if the source code of the app is modularized, it can take less than a day of setup to make it Instant App ready. Keeping things modular allows Google Play Services to download only the part which is needed on the fly.

Conclusion

As far as my opinion is concerned, I am glad Google launched something like this. This can streamline a lot of things when the user is browsing on the web and he is suddenly asked to install an app to proceed. I just hope Google does it right and keep things simple for everyone to catch up to it. If you’re a developer, for more information and details regarding Android Instant Apps, you can visit g.co/InstantApps.