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.