Atom VPN Review – Free VPN Service for Firestick

Atom VPN Review

Atom VPN is a wildly popular free VPN service available on Google Play and other alternative app stores, like Aptoide. The app itself is tiny at under 5MB. They used to offer free access to servers in Singapore, London, and Tokyo. Lately, the app has only given free access to the London servers. Even more mysteriously, the website listed for their contact email, atomvpn.com, is a dead website. This leads us to wonder why are they running the service? There are some ads, but it doesn’t seem like they would provide enough income to merit the service.

Speed Test and App Overview Video

Client

Privacy /Anonymity

It took some digging even to find Atom VPN’s website which is a bare 1-page presentation. We found the owner is Jiacen Zhang and the company is based in Colorado, USA.

As for a privacy statement, there isn’t one to be found, the website only states that it adheres to internet regulations. Which basically means nothing at all. 

We can deduce a couple of things from using the application. First, Google Ads are being served in the application, and they were targeted based upon our recent usage habits which means that there is third-party data being shared from the application.

Unlike some of the more extreme Chinese VPNs, it doesn’t ask to access everything on your phone, just your network connection, which is some solace, at least it is doing what a VPN should be doing. As far as a logging policy goes, you have no idea of knowing. As it’s the first VPN we have used that doesn’t even bother to have a privacy policy which to us is a red flag. If you just want a simple free VPN to use on your Firestick then fair enough.

We have no idea what they are logging from your home IP, to your browsing history and time-stamped connection dates. Atom VPN is not for those who have privacy at the top of their list of concerns.

Torrent Policy

AtomVPN makes no mention of torrents, but they seem to offer unlimited connection time and bandwidth within the constraints of a free service, as well as giving you the choice of 6 servers in your local location.

Like a lot of other applications, not mentioning Torrents is as good as saying you don’t mind them. Its popularity with Fire Stick and Kodi users would point us towards it is quick enough to use for video streaming.

Does It Work Well With Kodi?

Atom VPN is used a lot by Fire Stick users in conjunction with Kodi, it can be best described as a basic proxy that can change your IP and prevent your usage from being tracked to your home IP.

Streaming Netflix?

Atom VPN did not work with Netflix US servers when we paid for the premium package. Like a lot of other basic VPN’s they aren’t sophisticated enough to get through Netflix’s increasing vigilance for VPNs.

Tor Compatibility

You could definitely use Atom VPN with Tor, but they make no mention of it. Though considering how slow Atom VPN is, you may want to consider a faster VPN with the already slow Tor.

GeoIP

We saw 4-5 locations listed. In the UK we had no problem accessing I Player, but the range of countries isn’t listed and seems pretty bare. We wouldn’t count on them being anything more than a good proxy service.

Speed

Atom VPN is really slow on application to get started, once the application is up and running the speeds seem average but you’ll get enough to stream. Again, its free so beggars can’t be choosers. But there is nothing to say the premium service will be any faster.

Security

Atom VPN uses Open VPN and 256-bit AES encryption as standard

Customer Support

There is none. All you have is an email address. We saw no comments in response to bad reviews. Seems to be run by a sole developer.

Jurisdiction

Appears to be an Asia developer in the US, so the application would need to abide by US retention laws. But considering the lack of finesse put into the website and the application we doubt there is anything secure about your records with Atom VPN.

Apps

Atom VPN has an Android application only.

Servers

Atom VPN has a few servers based across 5 or more countries. Impossible to determine the exact number as its not recorded anywhere.

Final Thoughts

Our overall experience of Atom VPN was pretty poor. It crashed multiple times when running from our phone and has next to no information on their website and application.

If you just want any free VPN, then Atom VPN seems to work just fine. If you want something that resembles a true VPN service, we recommend you check out IPVanish or Cyberghost.