Rocket VPN Review

Overview

Our Rocket VPN review begins with what should be good news but isn’t: it’s free.

While that is designed to entice some potential customers who are hesitant about paying for a lengthy VPN subscription, it often shows a lack of real heft in the development stage, as well as a reliance on in-app ads to fuel revenue. Regardless, our Rocket VPN review is intended to explore the service with the fairest, least-biased approach possible.

While many free VPN services lack an official website, Rocket VPN actually surprises with its ostensibly professional landing page. Regardless, the service is carelessly cagey about the software it employs in bolstering its security defences.

This detail summarizes Rocket VPN well. It tries to present itself with a veneer of prestige but falls flat in so many other regards.

For instance, it provides relatively strong connection speeds, but only offers a handful of servers to choose from. It’s simple to use but also adheres to a severely problematic privacy policy. The list goes on, each turn more frustrating than the last.

Nevertheless, the aim of our Rocket VPN review is not to hammer it from the outset. There is a chance that Rocket VPN is exactly what you’re looking for. Read our review to find out more.

Is Rocket VPN safe to use?

Rocket VPN gets off to a worrying start. At no point does it reveal the encryption cipher it uses to keep users’ information secure.

In its privacy policy, it mentions that it uses “industry standard encryption” to ensure information is never leaked. This would tend to suggest that it uses an AES-256-bit cipher, but as Liquidum fails to disclose any specifics, we cannot say for sure.

Furthermore, there is no mention of which protocols are supported by the VPN. We have even less certainty in this regard because the protocols could be anything from industry favorite OpenVPN to protocols such as PPTP and L2TP, which are often considered obsolete.

Finally, Rocket VPN lacks a kill switch. As a mobile-only platform, this is incredibly poor practice. Hackers find it easier to obtain access to personal information when a VPN connection drops.

This, of course, can happen at any time with mobile devices as they are designed to be used on the go. It’s therefore worrying that Rocket would not protect your data from such attacks – but as we move on to observe its privacy features, that really isn’t too surprising.

Though if you are searching for a service that ticks all marks on the checklist for an all-round VPN, we suggest trying out NordVPN.

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Privacy

Rocket VPN, which is owned and operated by a company called Liquidum, is based in Dublin. Not so long ago, this would have been a relief to hear.

However, in 2017, certain truths surrounding data surveillance by the Irish government began to surface. It transpired that mass data surveillance was being conducted indiscriminately under the guise of data protection laws.

If Rocket VPN did not store any logs of your activity while using their application, then this revelation would not be of too great a concern.

While researching the privacy policy for our review, though, we made the disturbing discovery that Liquidum actually logs everything you do while using their application.

As if that weren’t bad enough, Liquidum also has offices in Canada, which is a member of the 5 Eyes surveillance group.

This makes Rocket VPN one of the least secure applications in the cybersecurity market, and renders its tagline, “Internet Freedom,” as utterly preposterous.

Speed and performance

So long as users are fine with having their activity monitored with an application that claims not to monitor any information, they can enjoy genuinely impressive speeds. Rocket may only have servers in 9 countries – a paltry amount for a VPN – but it actually seems to hold up well enough on speed tests.

Indeed, while test-driving its performance for this review, we found that it performed admirably, losing out only on the slightest bit of speed. We were able to stream videos in high definition, which is good enough for us.

Ease of use and support

For all its failings, Rocket VPN is a very simple app to get to grips with. To install the app, all you need to do is follow the click-through guide, and then it automatically configures your connection.

However, the praise stops there. Rocket VPN does not have a support function. And when we say this, we don’t mean that its customer support team never answers its emails; we mean that clicking the “Support” tab brings up a page that says “We’re sorry. The page you requested is gone. And it may never come back.”

While this is unintentionally hilarious, it’s also highly troubling. Not only does it lack a support system, but it also lacks an FAQ or knowledge base.

Quite simply, there is no chance of seeking further information about Rocket VPN whatsoever.

Rocket VPN for Netflix

Rocket VPN bounces back ever so slightly through its ability to bypass geo-restrictions. Due to its surprisingly quick speeds, it is also effortless in streaming video content in high definition.

Despite having a tiny server fleet and therefore limited options to choose from, this VPN generally does tend to provide access to foreign Netflix libraries as well as BBC iPlayer.

As Rocket VPN is solely available on mobile devices, though, there is no chance of it being able to work with Amazon Firestick/TV. Similarly, its lack of router compatibility means you’ll not be able to use Rocket VPN for Kodi (check out our Best VPN for Kodi list instead).

Rocket VPN for torrenting

Rocket VPN appears to lack support for torrenting. Although there is no mention of torrenting anywhere in their legal disclaimers, Liquidum’s terms of service actively disavows copyright infringement.

Furthermore, Rocket VPN does not use any servers based in territories where torrenting is not illegal, making it impossible to access P2P networks using this service. We therefore recommend choose one of the VPN providers from our Best VPN for Torrenting list.

Is it good for users in China?

Without knowing which protocols are supported by Rocket VPN, it is impossible to say for certain whether the service can penetrate the Great Firewall of China.

Regardless, we can say for certain that using Rocket VPN in China is as good as surrendering yourself to the authorities.

As we mentioned earlier in our Rocket VPN review, the application logs everything you do, meaning that it couldn’t be easier for the authorities to trace your activity on the application.

If you are planning a trip to China, check out our list of Best VPNs for China.

Apps and extensions

As a mobile-only VPN, Rocket is only available for Android and iOS. As with many facets covered in our Rocket VPN review, this is quite disappointing. Without support for Windows Phone and Blackberry, Liquidum leaves a lot of potential users without access to their service.

There are also no browser extensions available for the service. It’s less important for a mobile VPN to have these, but it would be useful as it’d make it easier to switch it on and off for whichever purpose you need it for.