Things are taking an interesting turn around Popcorn Time, one of the most notorious apps in the eyes of the entertainment industry. The app went through a lot of trouble due to the sensitive nature of its operation, as it allowed users to freely access various copyrighted materials without the permission of their owners – and was subsequently taken down. Since then, the app was reincarnated in the form of a website, and now its developers have decided to make the situation even more interesting, by introducing their own VPN service as an addition to the live streaming offered at their website.
The app is based on a torrent system, streaming its content from various torrent websites, pretty much every time using illegal sources for the materials that users want to access. As a result, the original service was taken down earlier in 2014, but various enthusiasts in the community have taken it upon themselves to resurrect it. The most prominent of its new versions, Popcorntime.io, is the one that announced the special VPN service recently as well.
The idea is simple, even for users who aren’t that tech savvy. A VPN is basically a proxy service that reroutes a user’s connection through another location. This is typically used for privacy purposes, as it can completely conceal a user’s identity. It also has other applications, such as allowing users to access region-locked content by masking themselves as if they were visiting the website from an allowed country.
Popcorn Time’s VPN won’t be free though, it’ll be offered for $4.99/month, but it will also have special discounts available for users of Popcorntime.io, who’ll be able to use the service for $1 for the first month, as a sort of a low-risk trial. Opting for an annual subscription brings the price down to $3.99/month instead.
The current state of the VPN service is that it’s still in an alpha version, so it could be a while before it’s fully functional and on the same level as other prominent premium VPN services. According to users who’ve already tried it, however, it’s pretty good in its current state and well worth the monthly price.
There has been some criticism aimed at the idea by some industry experts, and the main point made by most is that a service like Popcorn Time might not be the ideal platform to advertise premium VPN. Most users who enjoy Popcorn Time are drawn to it by one main factor – its price – so bundling it with something that goes against this basic idea may not have ideal results, according to some. On the other hand, pirates in general are among the main customers for paid VPN services, so it’s hard to tell.