McAfee Safe Connect: Not the VPN You Should Choose

Here is the information as it appears in the McAfee privacy policy:

McAfee retains this information indefinitely, deleting it only when an account is removed. Even then, the data is kept for an additional 30 days.

McAfee also shares this information with other McAfee-owned companies, third-party advertisers, and “service providers who perform services for us.”

Strangely, McAfee Safe Connect shares its privacy policy with the broader McAfee cybersecurity suite, and the policy does not mention Safe Connect by name.

After we contacted McAfee, a representative confirmed that Safe Connect is governed by the same rules and standards as all other McAfee products.

McAfee claims this information is required “to help protect” users and “to run [McAfee’s] business.”

This is not true. Many VPN services protect their users and run their businesses without engaging in such intrusive data collection.

US Ownership is problematic

McAfee Safe Connect is owned by McAfee LLC, the cybersecurity company. McAfee LLC also owns TunnelBear VPN (see our review), which it acquired in 2018.

Like its parent company, McAfee Safe Connect is based in the US, in Silicon Valley. As such, its jurisdiction is about as bad as it gets for a VPN. The US is a poor location to base a VPN service.

The US is part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which shares surveillance data with the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

McAfee is also subject to intrusive US laws, such as the PRISM surveillance program, which allows the government to access online communications from US-based technology companies.

More concerning is the Stored Communications Act (SCA). This law allows the US government to seize a VPN user’s information if it has been retained.

This is particularly troubling with Safe Connect, as McAfee logs almost everything.

Moreover, McAfee’s privacy policy explicitly states that it will provide information to any legal, governmental, or judicial authority upon request.

In summary, McAfee Safe Connect is bad for user privacy. To see the benefits of a trusted no-logs VPN, read our review of Private Internet Access.

McAfee Safe Connect runs on the relatively opaque Catapult Hydra protocol, which raises concerns about transparency and security.

Our concerns about Catapult Hydra are twofold. First, McAfee does not disclose its chosen protocol anywhere. When we asked, multiple support agents said this was “information that cannot be disclosed to customers.”

Most other VPN providers clearly state their protocol choices, including those that use Catapult Hydra, such as Hotspot Shield and Kaspersky Secure Connection.

McAfee’s secrecy is suspicious, and there’s reason to be cautious.

In 2018, independent researcher Paulos Yibelo discovered a major Catapult Hydra flaw that exposed user data, including a user’s country and Wi-Fi network name, to third parties.

Combined with other publicly available data, this could be used to identify a user’s location and identity.

A fix was issued quickly, but the incident highlights a broader problem: Catapult Hydra still lacks transparency.

By contrast, our preferred protocol, OpenVPN, has existed since 2001 and has been thoroughly vetted by the open-source community.

Our biggest concern is that McAfee Safe Connect lacks a kill switch on all platforms.

A kill switch blocks traffic if the VPN disconnects. Without it, your IP address could be exposed during a dropout, compromising your privacy.

There are no advanced features like split tunneling or manual port selection, either.

On the plus side, McAfee Safe Connect uses the AES-256 cipher — the industry standard — and it passed our IP and DNS leak tests. The image below shows a US IP address with no leaks while connected to an East Coast server.

Despite AES-256 and leak protection, these positives do not make up for Safe Connect’s broader security shortcomings.

Simply put, we don’t trust McAfee Safe Connect to keep your activity anonymous, and neither should you.

While the network is small, it includes the most popular locations.

Coverage is concentrated in Western Europe and North America, including the US, Canada, the UK, France, Spain, and Germany.

Asia and Oceania are underserved, with just four locations total: Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore.

If you live in these regions, we recommend choosing a VPN with stronger local coverage, such as a provider tailored for Australia or your country.

Coverage is poor elsewhere, with Brazil the only option in South America and no servers in Africa.

McAfee refused to say how many individual servers and IP addresses it has, or whether the servers are physical or virtual.

We were repeatedly told that server information is “information that cannot be disclosed to customers.”

No reason was given, which is frustrating given how common it is for VPNs to publish server and IP counts.

If your country isn’t covered, or if you travel frequently and need broader coverage, read our HideMyAss (HMA VPN) review. HMA has servers in over 190 countries.

Downloading the McAfee Safe Connect app on mobile is easy — search for it in your device’s app store.

For Windows, go to the direct Windows download link and your download should start automatically.

From there, installation is as simple as following the on-screen steps.

Once installed, the McAfee Safe Connect app is clean and pleasant to use, despite being plain.

We particularly liked the tutorial screen, which clearly explains and highlights key features.

The main screen is minimal, with a connect button and server list. It shows helpful information at a glance, such as connection time, data transferred, and your Wi-Fi/network status.

Settings are in the sidebar, but the options are too limited for our taste.

You can choose your language and whether the app runs on startup, and that’s about it. Power users will miss deeper configuration.

If you want more control and advanced features, consider a more configurable VPN like AirVPN (see our expert review).

Without a kill switch, you risk exposing your real IP address if the VPN connection drops. Combined with McAfee’s extensive logging, your activity could be easily linked back to you.

This is unfortunate, as torrenting is allowed on all Safe Connect servers and its strong upload speeds support fast P2P transfers.

However, torrenters should choose a true no-logs VPN with a kill switch.

To see which VPNs we recommend for P2P, check our guide to the best VPNs for torrenting.

These services combine strict privacy policies with fast speeds and no torrenting restrictions.

There is no Smart DNS tool, and you can’t install Safe Connect on a home router. That means no workarounds for devices that don’t support VPN apps, like game consoles.

There are no browser extensions, either.

For a paid VPN, this level of platform and device support is poor.

McAfee Safe Connect allows up to five simultaneous connections, with a major caveat: you can register only five devices on your account.

Most paid VPNs let you install the app on unlimited devices. With McAfee VPN, you’ll need to be selective about which devices you register.

Live Support Is Not Very Helpful