More than 800 public figures including Steve Wozniak and Prince Harry, along with AI scientists, former military leaders and CEOs signed a statement demanding a ban on AI work that could lead to superintelligence, The Financial Times reported. “We call for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence, not lifted before there is broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably, and strong public buy-in,” it reads.

The signers include a wide mix of people across sectors and political spectrums, including AI researcher and Nobel prize winner Geoffrey Hinton, former Trump aide Steve Bannon, one time Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen and rapper Will.i.am. The statement comes from the Future of Life Institute, which said that AI developments are occurring faster than the public can comprehend. 

“We’ve, at some level, had this path chosen for us by the AI companies and founders and the economic system that’s driving them, but no one’s really asked almost anybody else, ‘Is this what we want?'” the institute’s executive director, Anthony Aguirre, told NBC News. 

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) refers to the ability of machines to reason and perform tasks as well as a human can, while superintelligence would enable AI to do things better than even human experts. That potential ability has been cited by critics (and the culture in general) as a grave risk to humanity. So far, though, AI has proven itself to be useful only for a narrow range of tasks and consistently fails to handle complex tasks like self-driving. 

Despite the lack of recent breakthroughs, companies like OpenAI are pouring billions into new AI models and the data centers needed to run them. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said that superintelligence was “in sight,” while X CEO Elon Musk said superintelligence “is happening in real time” (Musk has also famously warned about the potential dangers of AI). OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he expects superintelligence to happen by 2030 at the latest. None of those leaders, nor anyone notable from their companies, signed the statement. 

It’s far from the only call for a slowdown in AI developement. Last month, more than 200 researchers and public officials, including 10 Nobel Prize winners and multiple artificial intelligence experts, released an urgent call for a “red line” against the risks of AI. However, that letter referred not to superintelligence, but dangers already starting to materialize like mass unemployment, climate change and human rights abuses. Other critics are sounding alarms around a potential AI bubble that could eventually pop and take the economy down with it. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/steve-wozniak-prince-harry-and-800-others-want-a-ban-on-ai-superintelligence-123040020.html?src=rss

I came into this review thinking of Private Internet Access (PIA) as one of the better VPNs. It’s in the Kape Technologies portfolio, along with the top-tier ExpressVPN and the generally reliable CyberGhost. It’s one of the cheapest VPNs out there, its interfaces hold together and it boasts plenty of server locations.

Sadly, I was either misremembering PIA, or it used to be better until someone at Kape fell asleep at the switch. The more I tested this VPN, the more I came to terms with the fact that it’s much harder to recommend these days, especially compared to the entries in our best VPN guide. The biggest culprit is unmoored download speeds that swing wildly from acceptable to unusable, but I also encountered dropped connections, high latencies and dead ends in the UI.

I want to make it very clear that this PIA review is a snapshot of a moment in time. I don’t think this is an inherently bad service, but it needs to do a lot of work to right the ship. As I go through my usual 11-point testing plan, I’ll make a (hopefully) cogent case for why you should give PIA a miss as of now.

Editor’s note (10/20/25): We’ve overhauled our VPN coverage to provide more detailed, actionable buying advice. Going forward, we’ll continue to update both our best VPN list and individual reviews (like this one) as circumstances change. Most recently, we added official scores to all of our VPN reviews. Check out how we test VPNs to learn more about the new standards we’re using.

Table of contents

• Findings at a glance

• Installing, configuring and using Private Internet Access

• Private Internet Access speed test

• Private Internet Access security test

• How much does Private Internet Access cost?

• Private Internet Access side apps and bundles

• Close-reading Private Internet Access’s privacy policy

• Can Private Internet Access change your virtual location?

• Investigating Private Internet Access’s server network

• Extra features of Private Internet Access

• Private Internet Access customer support options

• Private Internet Access background check

• Final verdict

Findings at a glance

Here’s a quick overview of everything I learned from testing Private Internet Access. For details on the bullets, check out the relevant section.

Installing, configuring and using Private Internet Access

Private Internet Access downloads and installs with very little friction across all the platforms that support its apps. Since I have basically no complaints about the experience of setting it up, I’ll spend this section focusing on how it feels to use PIA on each platform.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

I have a number of issues with how PIA structures its apps on each OS, but I want to preface them by saying that this VPN generally works fine. It connects quickly, its settings are easy to toggle and it never puts active obstacles in the user’s path. Each app except iOS has a soothingly dark aesthetic that’s always readable. Keep that baseline in mind when I start describing what PIA could have done better.

Windows

There’s no good way to describe PIA on Windows or Mac except as a mobile app dragged kicking and screaming onto desktop. This VPN app never misses an opportunity to remind you that it would rather be on your phone. By default, it’s attached to your lower toolbar and cannot be moved or resized. You can change the settings to have it launch in a movable window instead, but you still can’t change its size.

The main window is cluttered, but once you figure it out, there’s a much higher degree of customization than most VPNs offer. Clicking the arrow at the bottom opens a long panel of additional widgets, including quick-connect links, usage stats, a snooze option and buttons for some of the settings you’ll use most commonly. You can drag these elements around to reorder them, or click the ribbon icon to move each to the default launch display. It’s quite cool — just not especially intuitive.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

The server list is another example of PIA’s mobile fixation. Despite having an entire screen to work with, PIA on Windows does not let you view the main display and the server list at the same time — you have to click the arrow by the name of the current server to swap in the list of locations. This list can be organized by country name or by live latency test, though the buttons to change this are not clearly marked as such.

Though the search bar works quickly, the streaming-optimized servers are not sorted out from the rest. You have to type “streaming optimized” into search to see if your chosen country has a streaming server.

You can click the three dots at top-right to go to the settings menu, which is a breath of fresh air after the clunky main UI. Settings are arranged in tabs, and each tab’s design makes it easy to tell what its feature does and how to control it. PIA’s launch window feels over-engineered to make a distinct first impression, but the settings menu is free from that hangup.

Mac

PIA’s Mac app also feels like it was designed for mobile and then ported to desktop. Like the Windows app, it’s attached to the toolbar until you change the settings to let it move independently. After that, it has the same problem of being crammed into a mobile-sized window, with the server list and the main UI not visible at the same time.

The Mac version also has the unique problem of not showing up in the system dock, instead working entirely from the toolbar. That said, right-clicking the toolbar does let you connect to the VPN and even choose a location, which is awesome and provides some justification for this design choice (though I’ll point out that this could also be done from a dock icon).

Sam Chapman for Engadget

The main window of the Mac app can be reordered or expanded through clicking and dragging just like the Windows UI. The settings panel is accessed the same way and is just as seamless to use. In fact, one big point in PIA’s favor is that its two desktop apps are almost identical — water in the desert after the wild swings of Norton VPN.

Android

Having already complained twice about PIA’s desktop interfaces feeling like mobile apps, I had high hopes for it on Android. While it functions just as smoothly here as everywhere else, it comes with a set of design decisions that are weird in a whole new way.

First of all, you can’t sort the server list alphabetically anymore; it’s arranged by current latency instead, which means the list is constantly shifting in real time. Customizing the main window is now done by clicking a button at the top-right of the screen. This flips the entire look in a way that’s likely to startle first-time users. It’s ultimately the same interface as on desktop — drag widgets around and toggle whether or not they’re seen — but it could be handled better.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

The preferences list is not nearly as user-friendly as on the two desktop apps. Most of the important features are buried two menus deep under the tab marked “Settings,” except for split tunneling, which is called “Per App Settings” for some reason (and barely explained).

The larger issue, though, is that PIA on Android is extremely dependent on making you change system settings outside the app — which would be fine, except that it hasn’t figured out a working interface for actually doing that. Almost every time I was prompted to change something in the settings, I got stuck on a prompt page with a useless button. Going into Settings and making the changes manually did nothing to unstick these pages.

iOS

Of all PIA’s VPN apps, iOS is the closest to a home run, save for the inexplicable decision to lock the interface in light mode. I gather PIA was just trying to keep its iOS and Android apps visually distinct, but throwing out one of its best aesthetic choices isn’t the way to do that.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

That gripe aside, everything else is nearly ideal, pointing to iPhone and iPad as PIA’s natural home. The option to toggle what appears on the main page is finally done right — you still have to tap a button that causes a bit of whiplash, but it’s much clearer what you’re meant to do in order to shift, add and remove widgets.

Browser extensions

PIA’s browser extensions are available for Chrome and Firefox. They look fairly similar to the desktop app, but with some distinct features for the web. The best is the ability to instantly add the website you’re currently on to the bypass list, which is incredibly handy if you’re doing something non-sensitive and the VPN is actively slowing it down.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

The extra features are organized into three categories: security, privacy and tracking. Security blocks WebRTC leaks and automatically connects unsecured websites through HTTPS. Privacy blocks websites from accessing your camera, microphone or real location and can prevent you from connecting to websites with known security concerns. Tracking, as you might guess, blocks various forms of activity trackers.

It’s both very thorough and surprisingly different from any of PIA’s other apps — there’s reason to use this extension even if you’re already using a PIA app on the same device. However, its explanations of each feature rely a bit too much on technical jargon, so casual users might not find many of them helpful.

Other platforms

Private Internet Access can also be installed on Linux and has native apps for Apple TV and Android TV. To protect any other internet-capable device, including game consoles, you can install PIA on your router, which automatically protects any device connecting through your home WiFi.

Private Internet Access speed test

I used Speedtest by Ookla to test how much Private Internet Access impacted my browsing speeds. Running a VPN inevitably reduces download speed (how fast web pages display), upload speed (for posting and torrenting) and latency (the gap in real-time communications, such as during games and live chats. The real question, then, is whether PIA can keep those reductions as minimal as possible — like my current speed champion, Surfshark.

This speed test was a marked disappointment. PIA had some of the most inconsistent readings I’ve seen on a VPN in some time — so bad I initially assumed there was something wrong with the speed tester. I ran more speed tests on more days than I usually do, just to make sure a fluke outlier didn’t permanently taint PIA’s score. Speeds were often good, but occasional sharp drops suppressed them.

This problem was especially pronounced with latency. In practically every test, the three pings swung wildly, sometimes ending up above 2000 milliseconds (or, as we call it in the business, two seconds). I can’t say what the problem is, but until PIA fixes it, I don’t suggest using this VPN for any split-second gaming.

Additionally, on my first day of testing, the server location PIA chose as the fastest gave me four-digit pings, download speeds below 2 Mbps and no upload speeds at all. Other servers worked, so the problem wasn’t on my end. This didn’t happen in every location by any means, nor on every test — but it repeated in Montreal, implying an issue with more than one PIA server.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

Due to several low outliers, PIA’s worldwide averages don’t look good at all compared to other VPNs. The best news in the table above is that upload speed only dropped by about 11 percent, and download speed by about 34 percent, retaining two-thirds of my unprotected speed. But the inconsistency is a serious problem; PIA might be quite fast at times, but it’s unpredictable. I’ve reached out to PIA for comment on its speeds and will update this when I receive a reply.

Private Internet Access security test

Since most websites today use HTTPS encryption, it’s very difficult for third parties to see precisely what you do online — but motivated people can still see your real location and the sites you visit. The purpose of a VPN is not to keep you completely anonymous or safe online, but to prevent your IP address and DNS requests from being visible to your internet service provider or anyone else.

I looked from three different angles to see whether Private Internet Access is actually capable of doing what its name promises. First, I checked to make sure it uses VPN protocols considered to be secure. I next used an IP address checker to see if any locations leaked my IP address, and finally ran a WireShark test to ensure all protocols applied encryption evenly.

VPN protocols

PIA uses three VPN protocols to mediate between your device and its servers — OpenVPN (over TCP or UDP), WireGuard and IKEv2/IPSec. OpenVPN has provided reliable VPN security for many years now; it’s open-source and constantly updated by volunteers to stay current. TCP is slower but more stable, while UDP is faster but more likely to drop connections. OpenVPN is available on all PIA apps.

WireGuard is a newer protocol that PIA contributed to the development of. It’s leaner and often faster than OpenVPN, and uses a stream cipher that’s harder to crack (though in practice, both WireGuard and OpenVPN use cryptography unbeatable by existing technology). WireGuard is available on all PIA apps.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

WireGuard’s one downside is that it stores user IP addresses to keep the tunnel open — but that’s no issue if a VPN is following its no-logging policy, which I believe PIA is. See “Close-reading PIA’s privacy policy” for more details.

IKEv2/IPSec is only present on PIA’s iOS app. Its ability to stay connected through rapid network changes makes it great for mobile, so it’s disappointing not to see it on Android as well. IKEv2 isn’t open-source like OpenVPN and WireGuard, but when paired with the IPSec suite, it’s just as secure.

Leak test

To run this test, I wrote down my IP address without VPN protection. Then I connected to several PIA servers and checked whether ipleak.net showed me a different IP address, ideally in a wholly different location. PIA passed the first round of tests easily, as you can see in the screenshot below — I never once saw my real location, which means neither DNS nor WebRTC was leaking it. PIA also blocks IPv6 on all apps to prevent it from leaking (this can’t be disabled).

Sam Chapman for Engadget

However, since reviewing Norton VPN, I’ve gotten paranoid about VPNs letting security drop during server switches. So I added another test in which I changed servers several times while watching the IP leak test. PIA passed this test as well, always jumping seamlessly from one VPN location to the next without ever revealing my real IP address.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

Encryption test

The last step in testing VPN security is to use a packet sniffer like WireShark to make sure the traffic you send is actually getting encrypted. It’s pretty rare for even the jankiest of VPNs to fail this part, but any VPN that does fail gets an automatic blanket no. Luckily, PIA passed on all three protocols, as WireShark showed data packets with clear encryption.

How much does Private Internet Access cost?

Cost is one of the biggest reasons to pick Private Internet Access as your main VPN. At the monthly level, it costs $11.95 — not that much cheaper than its competitors and more expensive than some of the best, including Proton VPN.

The long-term plans change all of that. One year of PIA costs just under $40, or $3.33 per month. The three-year plan is an even heavier discount, costing just $79 and including three bonus months in the first period. That works out to $2.03 per month for the first three years and $2.19 per month after that.

A single PIA subscription can be used on an unlimited number of devices. This could potentially stretch your money further still, covering an entire family, friend group or small business. Having said that, as with Surfshark, you can still be restricted for using an excessive number of devices. PIA’s terms of service document states that it may contact users who appear to be abusing the privilege and can restrict access to the VPN if the abuse persists.

Private Internet Access side apps and bundles

Alongside the basic Private Internet Access VPN service, there are a couple of add-ons worth noting. You can select one or both of these on the checkout page after choosing your plan.

PIA Antivirus runs continuous malware scans and sends you alerts whenever any activity matches its database of known viruses. You can schedule system-wide scans to catch malware that might have made it through the net. There’s also a quarantine box for storing malicious files. The main thing you won’t get is the kind of actively learning antivirus system that can catch new threats based on their behavior — for that, I still recommend a dedicated AV app. Adding antivirus costs $4.50 per month, $24 for a year or $36 for three years.

A dedicated IP address ensures you’ll have the same IP address every time you connect to the VPN. A constantly fluctuating IP can trigger CAPTCHAs on some pages, so if you’re sick of having to identify crosswalks just to use Google, this extra fee might be worth it. You can also add your dedicated IP to allowlists for remote access services. A dedicated IP address through PIA costs $5 a month, $51 for a year or $90 for three years. 

Close-reading Private Internet Access’s privacy policy

A VPN’s privacy policy is a legal document that lays out the terms of its relationship with its users. It’s easy to assume it’s all hollow words, but directly contradicting its own policy can get a provider in trouble. Looking closely at PIA’s privacy policy can tell us what its priorities are, what your rights are as a user and how much you can trust it not to exploit its access to your secrets.

PIA is a Kape Technologies property, like ExpressVPN and CyberGhost. I’ll get into that more in the background check, but for this section, my overriding question was whether any loopholes in the privacy policy might allow PIA to share user data with its parent company, and from there to its other properties.

Fortunately for me (and everyone who cares about this stuff and isn’t a lawyer), PIA has a very succinct and transparent privacy policy, mostly made up of bullet points. At the top, the policy states that PIA always handles customer data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), even outside of the EU. Further down, we get this key statement:

Sam Chapman for Engadget

That’s pretty definitive, leaving very little wiggle room. It doesn’t include device fingerprints, which can be used in place of IP addresses and activity logs, but lower down, the policy states that device identifiers can only be gathered from users who opt in — and thankfully, PIA’s apps do not send that information by default.

The next section discusses what PIA can do with the information it does collect. It’s permitted to share customer support data with Deskpro, which powers its live chat assistance. It also uses Stripe, PayPal, Amazon Pay and BitPay for payments, but sharing email addresses and payment methods with financial processors is standard even for the most private VPNs (Mullvad has this same carve-out, to name one).

PIA ends the privacy policy by addressing the question of its parent company, Kape Technologies, stating: “neither PIA nor anyone at Kape Technologies logs or stores any kind of substantiative [sic] Personal Data, user browsing data, or individual connection data other than what has been outlined here, nor do we share any personal or usage information with third parties for marketing purposes.”

Misspelling aside, I’m perfectly satisfied with the policy. Combined with PIA’s use of RAM-only servers without long-term information storage, this document all but eliminates the potential for abuse. A PIA representative confirmed for me that while some user data is handled by “cross-group employees,” none of it is sensitive or identifiable.

Independent privacy audits

Third-party audits are one more critical piece of evidence we can use to decide whether a VPN is trustworthy. PIA passed an audit of its systems by Deloitte Romania in April 2024, which found that it was adhering to its no-logs policy.

The report itself is only available to subscribers, which is a bit annoying, but at least not unique. After downloading it through my account portal, I was able to confirm that Deloitte’s investigation found nothing in PIA’s systems that went against its privacy statements.

Can Private Internet Access change your virtual location?

Chances are good that you found this review because you need a VPN to mask your virtual location, whether that’s to get around age verification or to see what’s streaming on your favorite platforms in other countries. This section’s test is designed to see if Private Internet Access is able to change your virtual location convincingly enough for Netflix.

I tried connecting three times in each in five different locations and recorded my results in the table. I used the streaming-optimized servers whenever possible, and the WireGuard protocol for the best speeds. “Unblocked Netflix” shows whether I got to Netflix without being caught using a VPN, and “Changed content” shows whether I actually saw a new library.

My findings continued the trend of PIA being just good enough that I’m frustrated by the ways it fails to be better. PIA never got caught, which indicates that it’s taking care to not use IP addresses Netflix has blocked. Three of the five locations — in Japan, Australia and Italy — managed to change the contest I saw.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

However, with all nine tests in each of those three virtual locations, PIA’s speeds dragged so much that I waited several minutes to see if it had actually worked. The other two server locations, Canada and the UK, didn’t change Netflix at all, no matter how many times I disconnected and reconnected.

The bigger problem, though, is that PIA’s fluctuating speeds meant Netflix took ages to load and often froze until I refreshed it. Shows stuttered and lagged even when I could watch them. Until it fixes whatever is going on with its speeds, PIA won’t be a good choice for streaming in any location.

Investigating Private Internet Access’s server network

Private Internet Access has 155 server locations in 91 countries. Confusingly, I counted that it also has 91 virtual server locations, though it’s not the same 91. Its network is heavily weighted toward Europe, which accounts for 44 countries, but there’s also decent representation in Asia. Traditionally underserved South America and Africa get nine and four locations respectively, though they’re all virtual.

Virtual server locations aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but when used to excess, they may indicate that a VPN is more concerned with making its server network look big than ensuring it works for every user. PIA’s server network is more than half virtual worldwide. Recently, it’s added locations in every US state — again, mostly virtual, which makes it come off as more of a stunt than a genuine improvement. Given the trouble I had using PIA for this review, I find that there’s something to the claim that it’s more interested in growing than in working.

PIA’s website has a helpful page that shows where virtual servers are physically located, though it’s out of date, having been updated last in July 2023. The list shows that PIA tries to put the real locations of virtual servers as close to their displayed locations as possible. There are a couple of weird choices, like the Buenos Aires server really being in Miami, but that’s mostly kept to a minimum.

Extra features of Private Internet Access

Private Internet Access doesn’t have the wealth of features you’ll see on the likes of Surfshark or NordVPN, but it’s not quite as bare-bones as ExpressVPN, either. Some of its most interesting extras are self-explanatory, while others are a little technical. I’ll explain the most important features here.

Kill switch

A kill switch is a must-have for a safe VPN. While active, the kill switch makes it impossible to connect outside the VPN tunnel, which keeps you from accidentally connecting to malicious fake servers. This also means that if PIA drops your connection for any reason, you won’t be able to get online at all — which can be annoying, but saves you from broadcasting any sensitive information without encryption.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

PIA comes with two levels of kill switch. The basic version watches for traffic outside the tunnel when the VPN is active. The stronger “advanced kill switch” works even when you aren’t connected to the VPN, so you cannot get online at all without being protected by PIA first.

PIA MACE

MACE is PIA’s ad blocker. It keeps a list of domains known to display ads, malware, scams or invasive trackers, and blocks them all from loading. This won’t stop all ads, since some of them come from domains considered legitimate — notably, MACE can’t do anything about YouTube video ads — but it works on most banner ads and definitely lightened the load on my browser.

MACE is available on all PIA’s apps except iOS. iPhone and iPad users instead get a content blocker that does much the same thing, but only on Safari. If you prefer to use Chrome or Firefox on your iOS device, you’re out of luck (unless of course you get another ad blocker).

Maximum transfer unit (MTU)

MTU is a somewhat technical feature. You may not need it, unless your connection is extremely sluggish and the traditional fixes don’t work. In short, MTU limits how much data can move through PIA’s servers at a time. Large packets complete loading faster, but may struggle on shaky connections. Small packets make for slower but more stable downloads overall.

I say you probably won’t need it because it’s almost always best to leave it on the auto setting and let PIA pick MTU on its own. I ran some speed tests with both the large and small MTU options and didn’t see a noticeable difference. That indicates that PIA is pretty good at picking the best MTU, so in most cases, just let it cook.

Automation

On the automation tab in PIA’s settings, you can set up rules to save you some trouble with the VPN. On Mac and iOS, automation can respond to three types of network: protected Wi-Fi, open Wi-Fi and wired. On each of these, you can set PIA to automatically connect or disconnect. That’s it — you can only have a maximum of three rules.

Android and Windows users get the option to make rules for specific networks, but only the network they’re currently connected to. On every platform, there’s no way to determine which server PIA auto-connects to. It always picks the fastest.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

The inch-deep options on their own would make for a disappointing feature, but there’s a bigger issue: it doesn’t work half the time. I spent at least an hour on four different platforms trying to make automation happen. On iOS and macOS, I could make the rules, but they never triggered. With Android, I got stuck at a prompt telling me to enable location services, which I had already done.

Windows was the only version where PIA’s automation worked the first time. On the plus side, it gave me the question I used to test PIA’s customer support.

Split tunneling

Split tunneling — which lets you decide which apps or websites go through the VPN tunnel and which stay outside — is a common feature, but PIA surprisingly has one of the best implementations of it. To start with, it can split tunnel by app or by IP address, which lets you protect specific websites or leave them unencrypted.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

In another layer of versatility, you can make your split tunnel rules in normal or inverse fashion. Either every app and website uses the VPN except the ones you designate, or only the ones you designate use the VPN. All these options give you a much finer level of control that you get over the automation feature.

Multi-Hop via Shadowsocks and SOCKS5

Double-hop or multi-hop is when a VPN runs your requests through two servers instead of one. PIA handles multi-hop a little differently than other VPNs, as the second server will always be a Shadowsocks or SOCKS5 proxy. These two protocols are designed to obfuscate VPN traffic so it looks like a regular connection, which gets you around certain firewalls.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

If you choose a SOCKS5 proxy, you’ll need to get a server address from an outside service and set it up yourself. If you pick Shadowsocks, which is the more secure option anyway, you can choose from a list of locations to use as the first node. It’s nice to have so many choices, but still a bit frustrating that you can’t get obfuscation without also using double VPN (which only works on the OpenVPN protocol).

Port forwarding

The final PIA feature worth noting is port forwarding, which keeps the VPN from getting in the way of any outward-facing services you might be using. This gives you a more stable connection on remote desktop protocols or torrenting clients — especially the latter, as that’s the sort of traffic you really want to keep encrypted.

Private Internet Access customer support options

When I set out to test the automation features of Private Internet Access, I found myself blocked on the Android app. A notification popped up telling me to enable background access to location services, but the button labeled “go to permissions settings” didn’t do anything. I took the long way around and made the changes myself, but the pop-up remained stubborn.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

This gave me a perfect opportunity to see how PIA helps users caught in predicaments like this one. First, I went to the website and clicked “support” in the top banner to reach the PIA helpdesk. Then the trouble started. I opened up the Android guide on my Mac laptop and waited several minutes for the file to load. When it didn’t, I tried my Android phone, which also didn’t work. I checked back on the laptop, where I finally saw the guide after reloading the page.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

After all that, the guide said nothing about my problem. Nor could I find it anywhere in the general FAQs, which kept splitting into smaller and smaller categories which never really explained what I’d find. However, after a few minutes of searching, I found the problem had resolved itself with no explanation. 

Live support experience

I still had to test live chat, though, so I pivoted to a new problem: how to get the Android automation feature to recognize my home Wi-Fi network instead of calling it “unknown SSID.” I couldn’t be sure it was my own network and not a malicious duplicate. This may sound like paranoid nitpicking, but paranoid nitpicking is the bread and butter of cybersecurity.

I first had to find live chat, which confusingly can’t be accessed through the helpdesk — you have to go back to the main website. I managed to get past the AI gatekeeper fairly quickly, and sat to wait for a human agent.

In less than a minute, I was chatting with Carl, who requested screenshots and ran me through some tests. Carl was able to explain that the pop-up problem had resolved because I’d given PIA full access to location services (which is not something the window itself specified I would need to do), but the unknown SSID issue persisted.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

Carl was diligent, but slow. After well over 30 minutes of back-and-forth, during which I sent over two screenshots and a debug log, he told me we’d have to escalate the problem. I got an email from the support team about a day later that suggested I try connecting to other Wi-Fi networks and see if the problem persisted; this eventually led me to discover the culprit in my router settings, so I can’t blame PIA for this one.

Private Internet Access background check

The final step, as always, is to look into the history of Private Internet Access as a corporation and look for any red flags I may have missed. A VPN’s biography can reveal its attitudes about critical aspects of its job and show how it might behave in the future.

PIA was launched in 2010 by Andrew Lee in Denver, Colorado, where it’s still based today. In 2019, the brand was acquired by Kape Technologies, owners of ExpressVPN, CyberGhost and the now-defunct ZenMate. I won’t relitigate the full Kape controversy here; you can find a longer summary in my ExpressVPN review. Suffice to say that while it’s come under scrutiny in the past for tacitly allowing its products to become malware vectors, there’s no evidence the acquisition changed anything substantial about how PIA operated.

Most of the usual red flags aren’t factors here. PIA has never suffered a serious hack or breach. In its 15-year record, I only found two things worth pointing out: a controversial executive and its United States headquarters.

Former CTO Mark Karpeles

Mark Karpeles was the CEO of Mt. Gox, the market for Magic: The Gathering trading cards that became the world’s largest crypto exchange, only to lose it all in a massive hack that’s never been fully explained. Karpeles was arrested in Japan after the heist and found guilty of falsifying records, but was sentenced to time served and released in 2019.

While the Japan trial was ongoing, Karpeles joined PIA parent company London Trust Media as its chief technical officer. PIA founder Andrew Lee defended the hiring in a statement on the PIA blog, writing that “If we, as a society, do not give second chances to those who fall, then we as a society will cease to progress,” and comparing Karpeles’s arrest to Steve Jobs being forced out of Apple.

Neither man works at PIA anymore. According to his LinkedIn, Karpeles left London Trust Media after the Kape Acquisition in 2019. Lee left at the same time, and these days seems less interested in cybersecurity than in trying to become the Prince of Korea. 

Bottom line: Although hiring an executive in the middle of his malfeasance trial may be terrible optics, the whole controversy isn’t relevant to the VPN’s operations today.

US headquarters and Five Eyes

The other potential sticking point with PIA is that it’s headquartered in the United States, which is a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement. Now, I’m on the record as not thinking Five Eyes is a big deal for a VPN — either the VPN is following its privacy policy, in which case it’ll have nothing to share with intelligence agents, or it’s not, in which case its location is the least of its problems.

As I concluded in the Privacy section, whatever PIA’s flaws, it’s not mishandling user data or violating its own privacy policy. That’s not only confirmed by two audits, but also by two separate court cases in which PIA was unable to comply with requests for logs on its customers. If the VPN doesn’t save information, there’s nothing for Five Eyes to access.

Final verdict

There’s plenty that does work about PIA. Its privacy and security are unimpeachable — it uses vetted protocols with strong encryption and doesn’t leak. Its iOS app is a nearly perfect mobile VPN, and the ability to customize the home screen on every app is a great touch. Split tunneling is outstanding, MACE blocks ads efficiently and I even like the automation (though I wish it was deeper).

But PIA is aggravating to use in too many ways. While its servers are frequently fast, you can’t trust that download speeds will hold from one moment to the next. Basic quality assurance, like assuring pop-up buttons always do something when pressed, seems to have gone by the wayside in its Android app.

In spite of it all, I still recommend Private Internet Access as a budget VPN. Its three-year plan is the cheapest subscription on the market right now. At $2.00 per month, I’m prepared to forgive a lot, especially at a time when all our wallets are squeezed.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/private-internet-access-vpn-review-both-more-and-less-than-a-budget-vpn-120033882.html?src=rss

As the holiday season approaches, Sony is offering exceptional deals on two of its best full-frame mirrorless cameras. The A7R V, which offers exceptionally sharp photos thanks to the 61MP sensor, is on sale for $3,298 ($902 off), its lowest price ever. And the mainstream 33MP A7 IV, great for both video and photos, has also dropped to a new low of $1,998 or $702 off (28 percent). 

Sony’s A7R V has one of our highest Engadget review scores ever thanks to its exceptional image quality, speed and versatility. With a 61-megapixel sensor, it shoots sharp and beautiful images at a very respectable speed for such a high-resolution model (10 fps). It has equally fast and reliable autofocus, the sharpest viewfinder on the market and in-body stabilization that’s much improved over the A7R IV. Video has even improved, with 8K and 10-bit options now on tap, albeit with significant rolling shutter. Even after a few years, it’s still one of the best high-resolution full-frame cameras on the market and is an exceptional steal at this price. 

Steve Dent for Engadget

Though also released a few years ago, Sony’s A7 IV also received an excellent Engadget review score and is still one of the best mainstream cameras available. Resolution is up considerably from the 24-megapixel A7 III to 33 megapixels, with image quality much improved overall. Video is now up to par with rivals with 4K at up to 60p with 10 bit 4:2:2 quality. Autofocus is incredible for both video and stills, and the in-body stabilization does a good job. The biggest drawbacks are rolling shutter that limits the use of the electronic shutter, plus the relatively high price.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/sonys-61mp-a7r-v-mirrorless-camera-is-on-sale-at-its-lowest-price-ever-113045739.html?src=rss

Samsung

After dropping hints for over two years, Samsung, in partnership with Google, finally revealed its first-ever Android extended reality headset Tuesday night. The new device, dubbed Galaxy XR, will run you $1,800 and you can actually buy it today.

Due to its collaboration with Google, it’s not a surprise that the headset comes fully equipped with Gemini AI built in. “Android XR is the first Android platform built entirely for the Gemini era, and we are incredibly excited to take a significant leap forward today with the launch of Galaxy XR,” Sameer Samat, President of Android Ecosystem at Google, said.

What are the features of the Galaxy XR headset, and how does it differ from its main competitor, the $3,499 Apple Vision Pro? Glad you asked! 

What is the Galaxy XR?

The Samsung Galaxy XR is the first-ever Android XR headset, created by Google and Samsung. If Apple’s Vision Pro is the “virtual reality iPhone,” the Samsung is basically its “virtual reality Galaxy S phone” alternative. The headset looks like a pair of snowboard goggles, but it comes with a whopping total of 12 cameras and six microphones. And because it’s 2025, AI is a big part of the Galaxy XR’s upsell: It has Google’s Gemini AI assistant built in, so while you’re wearing the headset, it can see and hear everything around you.

Google’s “XR” designation stands for “extended reality,” which is effectively an “all of the above” term encompassing augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality. That means the Galaxy XR can put a virtual overlay on the real world (thanks to all those cameras), or it can completely shut out your space to immerse you in a totally virtual environment. In other words, you can customize your own workspace or turn your room into your own personal theater, or you can transport yourself to an international locale with a first-person “you are there” viewpoint.

What can you do with the Galaxy XR?

For watching videos on apps like YouTube, the headset offers a library of 180- and 360-degree VR content. You can also watch movies using Google TV on a large, resizable screen. Plus, if you have a question about whatever you’re watching, you can ask Gemini since it sees everything you see. And when you’re looking at your photos and videos, you can convert them to 3D so it feels like you’re back in the memory.

While using Google Maps, you can use Immersive View to go anywhere in the world (virtually, of course). Visiting somewhere historical? You can ask Gemini to tell you more information about the landmark. Spot a weird-looking plant or bug around your house? You can use Circle to Search to find out what it is while wearing the headset.

Samsung

As for getting work done efficiently, you can arrange your most-needed apps all around your screen — for instance, your web browser, favorite music app, important documents and video conferencing app. And if things start to feel cluttered, you can ask Gemini to organize your windows. Even better, you can link your PC to your headset, as well as your keyboard and mouse.

The headset uses two passthrough cameras for real-time viewing, six world-facing tracking cameras and four eye-tracking cameras, as well as depth and flicker sensors. It also supports iris recognition so you can unlock the device and enter passwords within some apps.

What apps work on the Galaxy XR?

“Almost all” Google Play Store apps will be available on the Galaxy XR headset. That means hundreds of thousands of apps should be available on the headset on day one, including basic streaming apps (for watching things like Netflix, HBO Max or Peacock on that giant virtual display) as well as “new versions” of some of Google’s key first-party software, from Photos to Chrome and YouTube. And, of course, the aforementioned Google Maps is on board, too.

Samsung

As you’d expect, Google is also focusing on gaming. In addition to the full panoply of Android games, the Galaxy XR’s PC Link also lets you use it as a monitor for PC-based games, too. 

How does it feel to wear the Galaxy XR?

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Engadget’s Sam Rutherford got some hands-on time with the Galaxy XR recently, and had some notable first impressions on its comfort and usability:

[I]t seems Samsung learned a lot from its rivals by including a much larger and thicker head cushion that helps distribute the weight of the headset more evenly. Granted, during a longer session, I still noticed a bit of pressure and felt relief after taking off the Galaxy XR, but it’s nothing like the Vision Pro, which in my experience gets uncomfortable almost immediately. Finally, around back, there’s a simple strap with a knob that you can twist to tighten or loosen the headband as necessary. So even without extra support running across the top of your head, getting in and out of the Galaxy XR is much easier and comfier than the Vision Pro. 

How is the Galaxy XR different from the Apple Vision Pro?

While the headset may look pretty similar to the Apple Vision Pro, there are some bigger (and even better) differences. 

For starters, the Galaxy’s micro-OLED display has 29 million pixels, compared to Apple’s 23 million pixels, and a resolution of 3,552 x 3,840, which offers a tad more detail than Apple’s model. Additionally, it has 96% of the DCI‑P3 color gamut, while the Vision Pro has 92%. However, Apple’s headset beats out the Samsung on refresh rate, going a full 120Hz versus the Galaxy XR’s 90Hz.

Since you’ll be wearing it on your head for an extended period, you’ll be relieved to know the Galaxy XR is a bit lighter than Apple’s XR headset by 205g (0.5lbs).

On the battery life front, Samsung is pledging up to two hours of “general use” and 2.5 hours of video playback, whereas the new M5 Vision Pro runs 30 minutes longer in both modes, per Apple.

Besides the obvious operating system differences, of course, the aforementioned price delta is perhaps the biggest advantage Samsung has over the Apple model: At $1,600, you can get almost two full Galaxy XR units for every $3,499 Apple Vision Pro.

How do I order the Samsung Galaxy XR?

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

You can order the Galaxy XR now via Samsung. While that $1,800 price tag is formidable, Samsung is offering financing options. And the headset’s price is actually less than that of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Z Fold 7 foldable phone. Key accessories like the Travel Case and Galaxy XR Controller usually cost $250 each, though both can be bundled in for $175 apiece.

There are additional incentives, too. For anyone buying the Galaxy XR before the end of the year, Samsung is throwing in the “Explorer Pack” at no extra charge. That includes a year’s worth of Google AI Pro, YouTube Premium (including YouTube Music) and Google Play Pass; access to the new season of NBA League Pass; and access to the NFL Pro Era game, the Asteroid and Calm apps and Adobe’s Project Pulsar, a 3D compositing app.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/samsung-galaxy-xr-everything-you-need-to-know-111532664.html?src=rss