Is Avira Phantom VPN safe? Logging policy, audits and jurisdiction

Privacy and jurisdiction 0.0/10 and security 2.5/10 (segment medians 1.3 and 2.5). Red flag: Stores connection IP addresses. Independent no-logs audit: ✕ No.

In 10 seconds

Kill switch
Stores connection IP
Stores session times
Jurisdiction in 14 Eyes

Privacy

Jurisdiction: Germany, 14 Eyes
Legal entity: Avira Holding GmbH (Gen Digital Inc.)
No-logs policy: Yes log policy

What the privacy policy says is collected

Red ✕: collected. Green ✓: not collected. Grey: the policy does not say.

EmailNot stated
IP at sign-upNot stated
Connection IP✕ Yes
Session times✕ Yes
Bandwidth✕ Yes
Device info✕ Yes
App analytics✕ Yes
Crash reports✕ Yes

Security

Kill switch: Yes (yes (Pro/Windows))
DNS leak protection: Yes
Encryption: AES-256
Open-source apps: No
Two-factor sign-in: Not stated

The "no-log" policy and what it lists

Avira calls its policy "no-log", yet the privacy policy of its products lists the connection IP address, session times, traffic volume in bytes, device details down to the device identifier, app usage data for debugging, and crash reports that can be disabled. Storing the connection IP earns the service a red flag and 0 out of 10 for privacy, against a segment median of 1.3. When police requests come in, Avira has a ready phrase: the company cannot hand over data it does not store. With IPs and session times in the logs, that means little.

No external audit

Avira Phantom VPN has no independent audit of its no-logs policy, and the service says nothing about a security audit. The apps are closed source, and the service does not publish a transparency report or a warrant canary. There are no public leak incidents in our records. Services that have passed such an audit are collected in the list VPNs with a no-logs audit.

Germany and the 14 Eyes

Avira Holding GmbH is registered in Germany, a member of the 14 Eyes alliance. Under the GDPR, the company has a data protection officer, and you can ask this officer what data about you is stored. The flip side: judging by the policy, connection data does exist, and German authorities can request it through legal channels. Similar services are collected on the page VPNs based in Germany.

Connection protection

Encryption is AES-256, with OpenVPN on Windows, macOS and Android and IKEv2 on iOS; there is no WireGuard. DNS leak protection is present. According to the service, the kill switch works only in the paid Pro plan on Windows; the free version lacks it, and Avira does not state whether it exists for macOS or mobile devices. If the tunnel drops there, traffic may travel outside the VPN.