If a VPN Kill Switch is important to you

Here is the lowdown on services that have an active and working kill switch on Android TV boxes after doing a trial on many of them and contacting them via email or chat. Here are the ones I tried and contacted them about…PIA, Nord, Proton, HMA, Pure, Express, Surfshark and CyberGhost and here is what I found…
The ones with a working kill switch are…
Express
Surfshark
CyberGhost

I do have emails as well as screen shots depending on the service if anyone is interested as proof.
I do have subs to Express, SS, CyberGhost and Nord for at least close to one year and a couple 2 years. If you have any questions please feel free to ask away!

FYI…The KS has worked for me on both Express and SS. I haven’t used CG in awhile and don’t remember ever having to deal with it

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I wonder is the lack of kill switch due to google or android? My surfshark has a kill switch on my phone and my router but I dont use a vpn directly on a box due to the router…

Most KS are available in iOS and Android, Win and Mac just not on Android TV boxes

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I have learned a ton from testing all these for awhile. From KS to using multiple sources for DNS leaks and WebRTC leaks. I just didn’t download and turn on. They all went through rigid and thorough testing before putting this info out

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yea, thats google then and their stupid restrictions. Google hates vpn’s to begin with and why I sideload the vpn on my phone just to make sure I get the entire app and not one configured to their liking. Surfshark has an ad blocker and google suposedly doesnt allow ad blocking software in their store.

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I put CG back on my iPhone and it disconnected but I was still able to access the web. Kill Switch fail. The only 2 true Kill Switches that have proven to work for me are Express & Surfshark. Sure narrows down the playing field

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One other one I’ve played with is Ivacy. Two different formats of this app for android. One of those has very little in it as far as settings go and has no killswitch and that format is for android tv but the other one that appears to fit a phone screen can be installed on android tv device. This comes with the works including a killswitch that does seem to work but I haven’t used this extensively because I use ExpressVPN.

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I actually had the kill switch fail on SS yesterday on my Km2 plus. Left the room for a while and came back to monitor dot flashing red and the show was still streaming, went into SS and checked settings and reconnected. Monitor dot was still flashing red so force closed and cleared cache on both, started streaming again to have it happen a few more times within an hour or so. Unplugged it for the night, have to try again today and see what happens .

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I’ve been fighting with SS. Over the weekend I unplugged modem/router, did a master reset on our KM2. Got modem/router going with KM2 still turned off and reset network settings. I started KM2, put a couple apps on including SS and SS only for VPN. It ran for about 22 mins until the dreaded “Another VPN Connected” message and was turned off. I give up with them

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I went ahead and contacted CS again and explained the issues. Here is part of the transcript where CS admits there is an issue with them having issues, not fixing but adding new stuff. I canceled my recurring billing which would have billed me next month. After all this time with them, things seem to have gone downhill for me with them. Can’t speak for everyone

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@AMD237 I have an Express account expiring soon as well. I went to the Express website and came across this…4 Months FREE!! Unheard of for Express so I signed up for a new account

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ExpressVPN is fantastic, nice find! I know you wouldn’t agree with your issues with SS, but SS and Express are in my opinion the 2 best VPNs out there. If something happened to Surfshark and it didn’t work as well for me, I wouldn’t think twice about switching back to Express.

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Thanks for the update, I have been streaming with the KM2+ for a few hrs now with no issues, but when I started it up it did say another vpn detected. No other vpn has been on it so I just selected a location and it has been running fine so far. Time will tell…

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I have another Express acct expiring in November. I’m considering picking up one more at the 4 month free as I don’t know how long that is available. I’ve never even seen a month free with them until very recently. Really considering an Aircove. SS was so amazing for the almost two years that I would not even consider leaving. I bought an Express to try last year and man, I have to give it to them on their product. Pricey yes, but now I know why. Dash is so simple Grandkids can use it as it’s not cluttered

I used my first expiring account as a referral for new sign up and it’s now actually 1 yr 5 mos and my first expiring got an extra month! Already received the email they added the month on each one, checked and sure enough it was added. No waiting 30 days

I found when SS kill switch shuts down the net, that if say I’m watching something in Film+, the show will continue (for maybe a minute in some cases) to play out what is left in the cache. At least I think that is what is happening.

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That is possible but when mine tripped, it was instant no net on both SS and Express

I was on iptv when it happened. The first time I’m not sure how long it was running but the next few times I let it go for a bit and still kept playing. :man_shrugging:

That’s when mine happened as well. I actually had the dot going at the time. Turned red and the circle was spinning

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