Hotspot Shield on Android has features and benefits not found on other devices such as iOS and Mac. Please review this brief summary explaining each feature and where it can be located.
Once you are signed in to the application on your Android device, please select on the top left the gear icon which shortcuts you to your settings, or please select the person icon on the bottom right and navigate to settings.
We have a few categories we have to go over so please read the following for each for a brief explanation of what these settings mean and how they can protect your privacy.
Connection Center
Connection on startup: Enable this in case your device shuts off completely and you need to reboot using the options displayed on the screen or if you need to turn on the device, this option allows the VPN to connect immediately upon that.
Connect on app launch: Enable this for that once you start up the app the VPN will automatically connect to the most recent Virtual location.
Disconnect on sleep: Enable this option which will disconnect the VPN once you put your Android device into sleep mode.
Network: You have 3 options you can use to auto-connect the VPN when your device connects to one of these networks. Enable unsecured WiFi when you connect to a public network such as Starbucks, enable secured Wi-Fi in the event you connect to a more private network such as your home, and lastly enable the cellular network to auto-connect the VPN once your device connected to LTE or 4G.
Smart VPN
Similar to Windows, Android also has a SmartVPN feature. Once you manually add an app to this feature the VPN will automatically connect to that app once it has been opened. To disconnect the VPN once you have closed that app you will need to go back into the Hotspot Shield application and disconnect it manually.
Trusted Wi-Fi Networks
With this setting enabled the VPN will not connect or it will be disabled if your Android device is connected to a listed network on this setting.
VPN Protocol
You can easily change your protocols from this section which can help solve issues with connections or access. We highly suggest changing your protocol whenever you have a technical issue with our application. You can choose from 3 different protocols.
Automatic (Recommended)
This is automatically turned on when you connect to a virtual location. When this protocol is selected, we will pick the fastest and most secure protocol to connect to for your network or area.
Hydra
This is our company-developed protocol. It only can be found with us. This unique protocol is the fastest in the VPN industry and faster than our other protocols. It is the most secure of our protocols, so whenever you have a technical problem, please try changing to Hydra.
IKEv2 (IPSec)
While being less secure than the other protocols, this is one of our very fast protocols under our belt. If not at par with Hydra, this is still a reliable protocol that may help with certain technical issues.
Wireguard
This protocol has been designed for ease of use. While it is not entirely recommended, it is a faster protocol with a lower chance of it being compromised compared to other protocols.
Internet Killswitch
Protect yourself even further with this feature enabled. Once toggled on the VPN will disconnect automatically if there was a loss of internet connection from the device. This prevents data leaking from the time you were using the VPN. Having this enabled will not be allowing the internet traffic to run in the background once the VPN disconnects.
Please feel free to contact us via chat or email if you have any more questions or concerns.