FAQ

In order to further clarify how Hola works and better explain our policy, we made changes to a few FAQ entries and added new ones. We are tuned to all the debates online and do our best to provide more answers and clarifications as needed

All edited changes are clearly marked as . Visit Internet Archive for previous versions of this page.

Introduction to Hola

Troubleshooting

Faster internet

Hola freedom VPN

Hola media player

Android

Security & privacy

Misc.

Introduction to Hola

What is Hola?

Hola's goal is to make the internet faster and fully accessible to everyone. Install Hola on your PC phone or tablet to make your internet faster, more open and more anonymous. Hola lets you have access to information that is otherwise not available in your geography while protecting your online privacy. It also lets you stream videos faster than ever before. Hola is a collaborative internet -- it works by sharing the idle resources of its users for the benefit of all.

What is a community powered (Peer-to-Peer) VPN?

Hola is the first community powered (Peer-to-Peer) VPN, where users help other users to make the web world-wide again. This means that Hola routes your traffic through other nodes (peers) in the Hola network, as opposed to routing through power-hungry costly servers. This allows Hola to provide you with a superior VPN service with minimal underlying costs. Since it uses real peers to route your traffic and not proxy servers, it makes you more anonymous and more secure than regular VPN services. This also means that Hola is harder to detect and block.

How does Hola protect my privacy and security?

We have built Hola for you, and with your privacy and security in mind. Hola routes your traffic through other nodes in the Hola network, making your IP harder to track, thus allowing you to be more anonymous and secure. When your device is not in use, other packets of information from other people may be routed through your device. Hola does this securely, not allowing any access to any of your information. Your device is used only as a router. As with any new technology, in addition to the benefits it brings there can be work arounds (such as in wifi where malicious people can try to hijack your WiFi hotspot). Thus, Hola invests in protecting you and closing these work arounds as they are identified. We also do not collect, store or sell your personal identifiable information (PII), and never will.

Which operating systems, browsers and devices can I use Hola on?

Hola may be installed as a browser extension to Chrome (version 22 and up) and Firefox (version 23 and up) on Windows and Mac PCs or as an app on Android. It is also available as an application (.exe) for Windows (for users that are using Internet Explorer). All downloads are accessible directly from our home page. (Installation and use of Hola is subject to our Terms of service and Privacy policy). Hola does not yet run on the Safari browser, iOS and Windows media center.

Is Hola free?

Hola is free for private (non-commercial) use. The only exception is Hola VPN on iOS which costs $4.99 (monthly) or $44.99 (annual) due to Apple's restrictions. Commercial use of Hola for business class VPN is available through our Luminati service. The Hola peer to peer architecture makes Hola free and secure. However, some users may prefer not to contribute their idle resources to the Hola network, and thus can join the Hola premium service which lets you use Hola without your idle resources being used in return.

About Hola premium:
  • Payment is a monthly subscription ($5 per month) or yearly subscription ($3.75 per month) that can be stopped at any time without any further obligations
  • Helps fund our efforts to make the internet better!
  • Includes "Tab VPN" -- which lets you access even more sites by routing all of the traffic within a browser's tab through our Network (normally, Hola routes only a certain part of the traffic through the VPN network, as per the routing rules used for a site).
  • You are never used as a peer
  • You can use your premium membership on multiple browsers by signing in to http://hola.org in each browser (you must be signed in to http://hola.org for the premium membership to take effect)
  • Sign up for Hola premium here
Get free premium service!! Go to our referrals page and get a free month for every one of your friends that signs up for Hola!

How can Hola be free?

VPNs have existed for almost as long as the Internet. VPN companies need to setup and maintain servers in various countries. These servers are then used to route your traffic in order to change your IP, make you more secure and anonymous. In addition, these VPN companies need to pay bandwidth bills for their users' traffic. This is very expensive. This built-in cost and the need of any company to turn a profit makes a traditional VPN service quite expensive for the end user (typically around $10 per month).

Hola built a peer to peer overlay network for HTTP, which securely routes the sites you choose through other Hola users' devices and not through expensive servers. Hola never takes up valuable resources from these users, since it only uses a user as a proxy if that users' device is completely idle (meaning device is connected to electric power (not on battery), no mouse or keyboard activity is detected, and device is connected to the local network or Wifi (not on cellular)). This makes Hola the first VPN service without underlying operational costs. Although Hola doesn't need to pay for bandwidth, we still need to pay the engineers who create, maintain and keep improving the free Hola service. Hola generates revenue by selling a commercial version of the Hola VPN service to businesses (through our Luminati brand). This is what allows us to keep Hola free for our users. Users who want to enjoy the Hola network without contributing their idle resources can do so by joining the Hola premium service for $5 per month (or $45 per year).

What is the Hola commercial VPN service?

Hola is free for non-commercial use. In order to keep hola free for consumers, Hola operates a commercial VPN allowing carefully screened corporations to use the Hola network for a fee. The name of this commercial VPN is Luminati and it allows the following benefits:
  • Automation: Developer API that enable controlling the routing of your HTTP requests via software
  • Allow many concurrent sessions
  • High bandwidth/high request rate with multiple IPs
  • More precise resolution of exit node IP
  • Faster changing of IP
  • Engineering technical support
Interested? contact sales@luminati.io

How can I use Hola for my business?

Hola and Hola premium are for private, non-commercial use. For a commercial license to Hola please see our Luminati service. Your commercial license will provide you with these additional features:

Hola For business:
  • License to use Hola for commercial purposes
  • Automation: developer API that enable controlling the routing of your HTTP requests via software
  • Allow many concurrent sessions
  • High bandwidth/high request rate with multiple IPs
  • More precise resolution of exit node IP
  • Faster changing of IP
  • Engineering technical support

Troubleshooting

Hola is on, but I still can't access the web page I want to see. What should I do?

Try each of these separately:
  • Go to the site you want to access, then click the Hola extension icon and choose the flag of the country you want to view the site from
  • If that does not work, press 'Not working' on your Hola extension menu, and choose one of the other VPNs offered in the list
  • If that does not work, disable and enable the Hola extension (in the add-on or extension page of your browser)
  • Try forcing the site to reload by pressing the CTRL key and F5 (or Shift key + refresh button)
  • Clear your browser's cache, including the cookies (typically under 'Settings' > 'Privacy' or keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+DELETE)
  • Close all of your browsers, re-open and try again
  • Disable all your other extensions to check if that may have been the problem. If it was, enable them back one by one to find the culprit
  • Un-install Hola (on your browser's extensions, and through add/remove software), and re-install Hola from Hola's site
  • Disable any other VPN (Virtual Private Server) or other proxy software or extensions running on the computer. (These extensions are known to have problems working together with Hola, we recommend disabling them when using Hola - IE tab, Avast WebRep, Flash Blocker, NoScript)
  • Test your Hola VPN by going to www.ip2nation.com. It should show you the country which you are from. Now click the Hola icon and change to a different country. The ip2nation.com page will refresh, and you should show you that your country is now that country you chose. If it does not, continue with the steps below, and let us know in your problem report to Hola (help@hola.org)
  • Make sure you have the latest version of your browser:
    • Chrome: click the menu button > About Google Chrome. Chrome will check for the latest version and prompt you to restart if needed
    • Firefox: click the ALT key (to reveal the menus) > click Help > click About Firefox. Firefox will check for the latest version and prompt you to restart if needed
  • Restart your computer
  • These Chrome settings may have problems running together with Hola. Disable or remove these settings and try again: SPDY, HTTP Pipelining
  • Try disabling your Anti Virus or Firewall to see if they are causing the problem. If they are, send us an email (help@hola.org) and we will help you find the right settings
  • If you still have problems, please see the problem report list below on what to send to us, and email it to us at help@hola.org

The Hola extension icon on my browser has disappeared, or is in a strange location. What should I do?

Try each of these separately:
  • Close all your browsers, re-open and try again
  • In Chrome, try clicking the ">>" (more) icon on the top of your browser to see if Chrome hid the Hola icon there
  • Try to resize your address bar by grabbing the right hand side of it and pulling it to the left. This may uncover the Hola icon
  • Open your extension page ("Tools | Extensions" in Chrome, or "Add on page" in Firefox), disable and re-enable Hola. If there's a 'Show Button' button in the Hola section of the extensions page, click that button.
  • In Firefox, right click a button on the top Navigation Toolbar
    • Choose customize - this will open the Customize Toolbar
    • Look up for an item named hola_firefox_ext
    • Drag the item named hola_firefox_ext up to the Navigation Toolbar
  • If this did not work for you, email us at help@hola.org

I get this message: "There seems to be an error - Reload Hola". What should I do?

You could be receiving this message because you are behind a corporate firewall that Hola cannot pass through, or the Hola system may be down, or some other problem we are not able to pinpoint. If you are behind a firewall (e.g. at work), try connecting to a different network (different wifi for example), or outside of the company. Otherwise, try the following:
  • Disable and enable the Hola extension (in the add-on or extension page of your browser) and try again
  • If that does not work, clear your browser's cache, including the cookies (typically under 'Settings' > 'Privacy' or keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+DELETE)
  • Close all of your browsers, re-open and try again
  • Un-install Hola (on your browser's extensions, and through add/remove software), and re-install Hola from Hola's site

It could be that our servers are temporarily down (pretty rare), so try again in an hour, but write to us about it at help@hola.org in any case to let us know.

I have a premium membership. Why is my status not updated to premium?

Your premium membership is associated with the account you used to sign in to http://hola.org when starting the membership. As long as you're signed in with that account you will appear as a premium user.

For example, if you signed in with Google when getting the membership and now you are using your Facebook account, Hola will not recognize you as a premium user.

The email you received from Hola after starting your membership indicates which account is associated with your membership.

If you used PayPal to pay for your membership, it may take a few minutes for the membership status to get updated.

In case you have premium mebmership but still do not see that in your status, check the following:
  • Go to the My Account page.
  • If you're not signed in, you'll be asked to do so. Use the same account you used when starting the membership. If you're not sure which account to use, refer to the email you received from Hola after starting your membership.
  • Check the Premium Membership section for your membership status:
    • If it says you have a valid membership, it means your membership was recognized.
    • If it says you don't have a premium membership, you may be signed in using the wrong account. Try logging out and logging in using a different method and check the My Account page again. e.g. if you're signed in using your Google account, log out and try signing in using your Facebook account or your email address.
  • If the problem is not resolved, contact us at billing@hola.org

Which information should I provide to Hola when reporting a problem?

If you have gone through the above troubleshooting steps and are still having problems, send us a bug report, and include as much of the following information as you can:
  • Hola product you are using: Hola extension (Chrome/Firefox), Windows or Android client application
  • Your Operating System: e.g. Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8), Android, Mac (OS X version), Linux (2.3, 4.0, etc)
  • Client ID (CID) number:
    for Windows: click the Hola icon in your browser, then hover your mouse over 'settings' (you can copy/paste from there)
    for Android: press menu key on your phone then "About")
  • Screenshots of the problem
  • A brief description of the problem, and how to recreate it
  • Antivirus or Firewall you are using
  • Network type that your computer is on: Personal (like your Home) or Corporate (like your work or University)
  • Does the problem happen on Wi-Fi, mobile data, Ethernet or other network connection
  • Other VPN or Proxy applications you are using/running
  • Which website(s) are you having problems with?
Note: Many times resetting your PC/Phone and making sure that you have internet connectivity will solve your problem.

I have problems with Hola on Firefox: sites are missing, I'm stuck on an old version, I keep getting redirected to install Hola for Firefox, etc.

Some old versions of Hola for Firefox installed from the Mozilla Add-ons store don't get automatically updated to the newest version of Hola.
Install the latest version now which includes more sites and bug fixes and automatically updates itself to the latest version.
Note:If you have uninstalled Hola but are still getting redirected, it's easy to fix! You can do it two ways:
  • Re-install Hola from the above and then uninstall again, that's it. Or:
  • In Firefox click 'Tools' > 'Options' then under the 'Advanced tab' click 'Network', then 'settings'. If see anything under 'Automatic Proxy configuration URL' (should be empty after uninstall), then clear it, then select 'Auto-detect Proxy settings' for this network. This should reset the previous settings

I am having trouble using the Hola extension on my Mac, what can I do?

  • You may need to enable "Auto Proxy Discovery" in your Network settings. To do so:
    • From the Apple menu, click System Preferences, then click Network.
    • Then choose the network service you use from the list, for example, Ethernet or AirPort.
    • Then click Advanced, and then click Proxies.
    • From here, select Auto Proxy Discovery to automatically discover The Hola settings.
    • You can read more here.
  • If the above doesn't fix your problem, It may be a problem with the OS X automatic proxy settings (let us know at help@hola.org).
    You can try this:
    • Disable Hola extension
    • From the Apple menu, click System Preferences, then click Network.
    • Then choose the network service you use from the list, for example, Ethernet or AirPort.
    • Then click Advanced, and then click Proxies.
    • Click "Automatic proxy configuration" and delete any settings.
    • Click "web proxy" and delete any settings.
    • Click "secure web proxy" and delete any settings.
    • Re-enable Hola and try again.
    • Here are some screenshots to help you.
    • If you are still having problems, it could be that your OS X needs to be updated.
      Update OS X then try Hola again.

Troubleshooting for Android

If Hola isn't working on your Android device, it's possible we have a conflict with another application or system settings.
The following apps cannot run at the same time as Hola:
  • AD-blocker apps: turn off any Ad-blocking application, such as AD-blocker and AdFree
  • VPN apps: Hola can't work with other VPN applications at the same time, such as Onavo Extend, TunnelBear and Hotspot Shield. This is because only one App at a time can use VPN Auto-configuration or manage the device's IP Tables. Turn them off before using Hola.
  • DNS apps: Hola can't work with other DNS applications at the same time, such as SetDNS or DNS Changer. This is because only one App should manage DNS resolution, and Hola includes its own DNS management. Turn them off before using Hola.
Proxy settings:
Some cell phone operators pre-install Proxy IP settings on your phone, which won't let Hola run. Here's how to remove this setting:
  • Open Android Settings > Wireless and Networks > More...(Android 4.0+) > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names
  • Tap on the currently enabled APN (the one with the green or blue dot)
  • Choose 'Proxy'
  • Delete the IP address you see here
    (we recommend writing it down in case you want to add it back later)
  • OK
  • Tap the Menu button/three-dot button
  • Save
  • Turn Hola off and on again to reset
App is set to a different country with Hola but still does not work:
  • Open Android Settings > Apps > Downloaded > select the app you wish to get access to> Clear data
  • Open Hola > Press "Unblocker" > tap the app you are trying to access to turn it off and then on again
  • Reopen the app and try again!
Can't access a site even with Hola on:
  • Chrome browser:
    • Menu > Settings > Advanced > Privacy > Clear Browsing Data (very bottom)
  • Android browser:
    • Menu > More > Settings
    • Clear cache > OK
    • Clear all cookie data > OK
    • Clear location access > OK

Providing Hola with Android logs and screenshots for debugging

Sometimes we will need more information to help troubleshoot a problem you have, and will ask you to send us one or more of the following:

Hola service logs (svc.log):
  • The Hola svc.log is located in: "/storage/sdcard0/Android/data/org.hola/cache/log/svc.log"
  • Open "File Manager" (or other file browser) on your Android, you'll see your current path on the top of the screen (default is /storage/sdcard0)
  • Below that you'll have the list of all folders and files in your current location
  • Select the "Android" folder (your path should be /storage/sdcard0/Android)
  • Select the "data" folder, then the "org.hola" folder, then "cache", then "log" (your file path should now be /storage/sdcard0/Android/data/org.hola/cache/log/)
  • Find the svc.log file and long-press it until a menu pops up
  • From the menu, select "Share" and then choose email and send it to us at help@hola.org

Hola application logs (app.log):
  • Hola app.log is located in: "/data/data/org.hola/cache/log/"
  • Note: While the app.log is only accessible on rooted devices, we try to automatically attach it to Bug report emails
  • Open "File Manager" (or other file browser) on your Android, you'll see your current path on the top of the screen (default is /storage/sdcard0)
  • You will need to have root explorer selected in File manager app settings
  • Click "Up" button several times, until you reach the "/" root directory
  • Select the "data" folder, then the "data" folder, then the "org.hola" folder, then "cache", and then "log" (your file path should be /data/data/org.hola/cache/log/)
  • Find the app.log file and long-press it until a menu pops up
  • From the menu, select "Share" and then choose email and send it to us at help@hola.org

Taking screenshots to help us:
  • Most Android devices let you take screenshots - Try these on your phone or tablet:
  • Volume down + Power at the same time
  • Home + Power button at the same time
  • Press and hold the Back button + Power button
  • Press the Back button + double-tap the Home button
  • Search Web for 'take screenshot (your device name e.g. Samsung Galaxy S2)
  • Then, include these screenshots in your bug report (simply attach to the email using Attach Picture > Gallery)

I can't install the Hola client

Try the following:
  • Your Anti-virus or Firewall may be blocking the Hola installation. You can try to temporarily disable it and try installing again to see if that fixes things.
  • (If you are leaving your Anti-virus enabled, make sure you have updated the antivirus databases recently)
  • On WinXP: Verify that you have service pack 3 installed
  • Make sure your browser is updated

What can I do if I suspect that Hola is causing a problem?

You can turn Hola off via the app: just click the orange smiley guy and click the on/off button to turn it off. When the Hola icon goes gray our service is off, and so everything should be just as if Hola is uninstalled. Now you can check again if Hola was causing the problem or not.

How can I turn Hola off?

Here are your different options for stopping Hola:
  • Turning off the Accelerator:
    • Note: When the Hola Accelerator is turned off:
      • None of your internet traffic passes through Hola
      • You don't send or receive any traffic from the Hola network
      • Local Hola cache is turned off, so nothing is saved locally by Hola
      • Hola DOES continue to manage and accelerate your DNS requests
    • Windows: Turn off Accelerator by pressing the Hola icon, then turn off the Accelerator
    • Android: Turn off Accelerator from inside the app
  • Quitting Hola:
    • You can turn Hola completely off (Note: the Hola drivers on Windows may remain loaded so it may still conflict with other network/antivirus/firewall apps running)
    • Windows: click the Hola icon and select 'Quit Hola' (or turn it to 'off')
    • Android: Quit Hola from inside the app (at the very top)
  • Uninstalling Hola:

How do I uninstall Hola?

You can uninstall Hola as follows:
  • Hola extension for Chrome:
    • Right-click the Hola icon in Chrome
    • Click "Remove from Chrome"
    • Click Remove in the popup
  • Hola extension for Firefox:
    • Ctrl+Shift+A to open Add-ons page in Firefox
    • Click "Extensions" on the left hand side
    • Click Remove on the right hand side of the Hola listing
  • Hola client for Windows:
    • Click Start > Control Panel > Windows XP: select "Add/Remove Programs", Windows Vista/7: "Programs and features" > select Hola from the list > Uninstall
      Note: You may want to reboot if you are having networking problems.
  • Hola client for Android:
    • Open Google Play store market
    • Press menu button then My Apps
    • Press Hola
    • Press uninstall

How do I stop Hola from starting automatically when Windows or Android start up?

  • Hola client for Windows 7:
    • Click on windows Start button
    • Search 'System Configuration' on search field
    • Open a result System Configuration and switch to tab 'Startup'
    • Find Hola program on a list of programs you get and uncheck it
    • After an uncheck 'Apply' a choice and click 'OK'
    • System ask for reboot , for changes take effect
  • Hola client for Windows 8.X:
    • Click on windows Start button
    • Press Control Paneland open System and Security section
    • Choose from a list you get an Administrative Tools and open System Configuration
    • Open a tab 'Startup' and click on link 'Open Task Manager'
    • Choose 'Hola Better internet' and Disable it
  • Hola app for Android:
    • Open Hola, then open the menu by pressing the device's "menu" button
    • Tap 'Settings'
    • Uncheck "Start Hola on boot"

I received my account verification email, but the link is not working.

If your verification link doesn't work, it's possible that it was broken by your email system. If the verification link isn't clickable or part of the link is cut off, please copy and paste the entire URL into your browser's address bar and press Enter.

It's also possible that the verification link has expired. We set the expiration time to be relatively short for your protection. We still have the account information that you entered, however. To request a new verification link, visit https://www.hola.org/my_account and sign in with your email address and the password you selected when you created the account. You'll be given the option to have a new verification email sent.

If you're still unable to verify your email address after 48 hours, please send us an email with a detailed description of the problem, and we'll do our best to resolve it.

Faster internet

How does Hola make the internet faster?

The internet is slowed down by server response times, internet congestion, round trip times, and poorly written communication stacks in operating systems. Hola removes these bottlenecks by securely caching content on peers as they view it, and later serving it up to other nearby peers as they need it. Hola also compresses communication between peers to further speed the net. As more people install and use Hola, the faster and less congested it will be!

Will I consume more mobile data on my Android device because of Hola?

No. Hola actually reduces your mobile data usage through better, smarter data caching. Expect to save between 20-30% of data usage after a few weeks Also, your phone only acts as a Peer on the Hola Network when plugged in to a power supply and when connected to the internet over a Wi-Fi network.

Hola freedom VPN

What is the Hola VPN?

To accelerate your internet, Hola routes some of your internet traffic through other nodes in the Hola network, and thus servers may see the traffic coming from other IPs in the network. This has a very nice side effect -- it makes your IP harder to track, thus allowing you for more anonymity on the web when you want it. You could call this an extension of Google's "Incognito mode". We call this service the "Hola VPN". This is a VPN service similar to many such services that exist on the internet, but is very easy to set up (one click) and is free and ad-free. It is useful for seeing how a web site looks like from a certain geography, for more secure browsing, for overcoming government censorship (e.g. seeing Facebook from a country that blocks it), for overcoming your corporation's internet site blocking, for seeing a site in its native language (e.g. seeing the Spanish news site as it appears to Spanish users), and more.

Hola is free for private use. For commercial use of Hola for a commercial level vpn, please see Luminati service.

How do I use Hola?

Go to a web site, press the Hola extension icon in your browser (or sometimes in your task bar), and choose the country from which you would like to access this site. Now Hola will switch your IP (your internet address) to the country you selected so that you are virtually browsing from that country. Enjoy!

Hola is a 'community VPN' -- it is a generic routing platform provided by Hola, with thousands of 'routing scripts' that are created by the community. These scripts define how information is routed to the selected sites. Better routing rules mean faster browsing, more secure and more open use of web sites. Power users can write Hola scripts that will be automatically available to all Hola users (information on writing scripts is here).

Why do I sometimes get a popup from Hola asking me if I want to access this page?

When Hola identifies a web page that many people in your country are using accessing through Hola, it figures that you may want to access this page via Hola as well. You can press "Yes" to access the page via Hola (this will show you a menu of routing methods people are using to access this page the page - typically best to choose the top one which is the most popular), or press "No" to continue browsing normally (you won't see this message again for this site).

Hola media player

What is the Hola media player?

Hola has created a video player that lets you stream your videos instantly. Just hover over the download link and press 'play' on the Hola player that pops up. Content sites can embed the Hola player into their web site, thus enabling their users a great HD streaming experience without incurring any CDN costs.

Android

How do I use Hola on Android apps that I cannot find on the store?

  • Open the browser on your phone
  • Search on Google for a download of the application's APK, for example if you're looking for the Wikipedia app (which you may not be able to download if blocked by your government), search for "Wikipedia APK download" (this is the application's installation file)
  • Once you finish downloading the APK file, press it to install
  • If you get a message that you can't install non-Market apps, see How to enable non-Play apps)
  • Mark this service in the Hola user interface, open the site or app and enjoy!

Is there any way to hide the notification icon on Android?

Short answer - no. Long answer - Hola uses the VPN feature on Android to provide you with the speed and other capabilities. When an app uses the VPN feature, the Android operating system places the notification icon ('key') in the tray and the app cannot remove it.

Security & privacy

How does Hola make me more secure?

While on the internet you are constantly being tracked, probed and sniffed. You are tracked by the sites that you are looking at (which products are you browsing? which articles are you reading?), and possibly by your government, ISP and coorporation. You are also probed and sniffed, and thus open to identity theft. Change your IP when accessing sites is an extended measure in addition to your browser's "incognito mode", so that others cannot get information from your browser, and cannot track requests coming from your IP as belonging to you. Depending on the proxy rule you choose, Hola will also encrypt some or all of your traffic, making you even more secure from outside sniffing.

Why does Hola need the various permissions for the Chrome extension and the Android app?

We care about your privacy. Hola does not make this information public, and does not disclose or sell it to any third party.
In order to accelerate your data traffic and to route your traffic through other IPs, Hola must act as a proxy for your data thus requiring various data permissions.
We only ask for the permissions we need for the app to be at its best.
More details about the Android permissions needed can be find below.
Device & app history: Hola allows you to launch the apps we can unblock/accelerate which you have installed in your device.
Identity: Hola also needs to create an ID for your Android device which it does from the various hardware readings
Photos/Media/Files: We use the external storage of the device for caching and storing data
Device ID & call information: Hola uses peer to peer technology as a VPN proxy so we need to identify when the device idle, connected the WIFI and power supply so we won't waste your data plan, battery or slowing down your phone.

Could the Hola network be used by criminals to hide their identity?

Like other commercial networks, Hola is a managed and supervised network and thus any illegal activity such as CP, etc. would be reported to the authorities with the real IP of the user. Criminals will typically not use a commercial service since their identities are at the hands of that commercial entity.

What are the risks of a community powered commercial VPN?

Non-commercial VPNs such as TOR are completely anonymous, and nobody has access to the source of the requests on that network. That makes these networks ideal for criminal activity, and running an exit node is most likely helping the wrong people, as well as putting the operator in danger. Hola is a commercial network, run by a commercial company that has its customers and its business in mind. Thus, when sensing any nefarious activity on our network we are able to see the source of the request and help law enforcement get to the cyber criminal. We've never yet heard of a case where a Hola user had any such problems despite having an install base which is thousands of times bigger than any other comparable network such as Tor. If you are still concerned about these risks, you have the option of not installing or un-installing Hola.

Misc.

Is Hola "Open source"?

At the moment we do not have plans to open source the product as a whole, but we do have portions of Hola that accelerate open source projects submitted to them, including: jemalloc (the FireFox mallocer), tcmalloc (Google Chrome's mallocer), Cygwin, sqlite, openssl and other projects.

If I use OpenDNS, does Hola interfere with it?

It might because Hola also implements a patented DNS resolution algorithm and it may/may not use OpenDNS on your computer, depending on various parameters of the configuration of your computer. So the short answer is: try it out and if it works for you - good. If not - send us an email, and we will check if we can help.

Can I use Hola together with another VPN service?

Using two VPN services at once can cause un-expected behavior. If you'd like to use two VPN services, simply quit Hola while using the other VPN service, and when you want to use Hola again close the other VPN service.

Can I use Hola in my modem?

Not right now. At this point Hola only supports Windows, Android, or other platforms through the Chrome or Firefox extensions.