AUGUST 2021 MACWORLD 31then in the upper-right corner, you have
access to the app’s settings. To connect
to a location, you just click the large
button or choose the Smart Connect
button located in the upper-right corner
of the window.
That’s all there is to this app. When I
said it was simple, I meant it. Even the
Settings are cut down to just a choice
between the default VPN protocol, IKEv2
or IPSec. That’s it.
FastestVPN has 32 country
connections with more than 250 servers.
It’s not a huge VPN network, but it’s still
decent. By default, FastestVPN for Mac
uses IKEv2 as its VPN protocol, with the
only other option being IPSec. The default
data encryption is AES-256-GCM, data
authentication is handled by TLS, and the
handshake uses SHA-II.
What’s surprising about FastestVPN’s
Mac app is how limited it is compared to
the Windows app, where there are more
VPN options and a few extra settings.
FastestVPN does have an internet kill
switch where the VPN blocks all online
traffic if the VPN connection drops. Oddly,
however, there’s no option to turn it off, and
it’s just enabled by default. FastestVPN also
has a built-in ad blocker, and an anti-
malware feature at the server level.
FastestVPN is officially based in the
Cayman Islands, but the company also has
an office in Los Angeles. The company
CEO and founder is Azneem Bilwani.
FastestVPN’s privacy policy is written in a
plain-language Q&A
format, making it easy
to understand. The
company says it does
not log any of your
online activity, including
your browsing history
and DSN queries. It
only keeps your email
address to maintain
your account, and it
says that once you
deactivate your
account it also removes
that information from its
FastestVPN with an active connection. database.