Hotspot Shield down? Current outages and solutions
Hotspot Shield seems to be online
How to fix problems with Hotspot Shield
Start with the outage graph above. A VPN failing looks like the whole internet failing, because everything you do goes through it.
- Disconnect Hotspot Shield and check whether the internet works without it
- Switch to a different server or location
- Try another protocol in the settings
- Make sure the Hotspot Shield app and your browser are up to date
- Sign out of Hotspot Shield and sign back in
- Restart your device - it clears more temporary faults than it has any right to
Frequently asked questions about Hotspot Shield
Is my traffic exposed if Hotspot Shield drops?
That depends on the kill switch. With it on, traffic stops rather than leaking. With it off, your connection quietly falls back to your normal one - worth checking now rather than later.
One country will not connect but others do. Is that an outage?
Yes, a partial one. Individual server locations go down on their own regularly, and switching location is usually the whole fix.
How do I know if Hotspot Shield is down for everyone?
Look at the outage graph above. A sudden spike in reports means the problem is on the Hotspot Shield side and there is nothing to fix at your end. A flat graph points at something local - your connection, your device, or your account.
Hotspot Shield is down. What can I actually do?
When the reports are widespread, waiting is the honest answer - the service is being restored by people who already know about it. Before you settle in, it is worth checking your internet connection and reloading Hotspot Shield once, because that rules out the handful of causes that look identical from your side.
Why is Hotspot Shield working for other people but not for me?
Outages are often partial. They can hit one region, one platform, or one group of accounts while everything else carries on. Your own connection, an old app version or a cached login can also produce a problem only you can see.