The Wirecutter:
Everyone can benefit from an increase to their privacy and security, and reliable services are available for less than $4 per month. Setup is automated, too—you need only install a small application. To track down the best advice about what a VPN can and can’t do for everyday people, we rounded up research and advice from around the Web, and we spoke with Rich Mogull, the CEO of security consultancy Securosis.
Mogull is my favorite guy to talk to about Mac security issues. With all the talk about ISPs (potentially) selling your browsing data, there’s been a lot of talk of VPNs and what they can (and can’t) do for you.
I’ve been using Cloak for a couple of years. It works great for me.
I recall Shawn interviewing the Cloak folks a while back on his show, Your Mac Life. They’ve been around a while, and seem reputable. However, they’re also charging approximately double in comparison to others.
Shawn, have you continued to use this service, or have you tried others? Any recommendations?
Thanks!
No but I’ll be interviewing Rich Mogull of Securosis on Wednesday’s YML and I’ll ask him for recommendations.
Agree completely John. I’ve used Cloak for a while and it’s superb. They are Apple guys, so the stuff is entirely optimized and created for macOS and iOS. They are 100% transparent about privacy and data collection policies, which is critical for a VPN.
The performance is very good and the annual rate is fair, but not the cheapest. The nice this is the $99 per year covers all of your devices (Macs, iPad, iPhone), so you don’t need to buy more than the one subscription. It automatically engage when you connect to any untrusted network (you specify which you trust) so it’s set and forget. Cant recommend it highly enough for personal VPN.
FWIW, you’ll rarely see it recommended by sites like thewirecutter.com (which I love) because they generally only look at cross platform solutions, and Cloak is iOS/macOS only.
How is Cloak on speed? I find VPNs to be prohibitively slow most of the time.
All VPNs will slow you down, but how much you’ll notice depends on your connection speed. At my office where we have 50 Mbps, there is no difference in speed test results, and I can’t perceptibly notice a difference.
At my house, where I have gigabit internet, I see about a 20-25% hit. However, I only notice it on very large downloads/uploads, not in general browsing or streaming.
In mixed use of my iOS devices on various public WiFi networks, I find it to be imperceptible as the performance on those is so spotty anyway.
I hope that helps!
I find it Cloak doesn’t significantly affect speed. At home I don’t use it and that’s where I stream/download media. Away from home interacting with Github, Docker, or Dropbox has no noticeable difference.
In places like airports or restaurants, I’m really happy that I have it.