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About Privacy.com
Purchasing online is scary when you think about it. You’re linking all your financial information to a company under the assumption that their security won’t get breached. That thin line of hope is easily shattered by hackers, which is why it’s important to look into services like Privacy.com.
They create virtual burner debit cards that you can use to protect your payment information and money from hackers. Their simple-to-use and affordable service has been downloaded over 100k times on the Google Play Store.
So if you’re looking to better prepare yourself against the wild west of the internet then keep reading this Privacy.com review. In it, you’ll learn about how the service works, how much it costs, and what customers think about it.
Overview of Privacy.com
Privacy.com works under a simple premise – why must we compromise our safety for convenience? It’s not just that they make the VPN equivalent to a debit card. It’s that they make it easy to set up and use as well.
To keep your information safe, Privacy.com complies with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) just like banks do. They also hash your passwords with PBKDF2 (Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2), implement TLS and HSTS when signing onto a website, and their internal communications rely on IPsec with AES-256 encryption.
That’s a lot of jargon for this Privacy.com review, but it all means that the company is serious about keeping you safe. Let’s see what else they can do for you in the highlights section.
Highlights
- Browser extensions available
- Free accounts
- 1% cashback with Pro accounts
- Simple card-creation process
- PCI-DSS compliant
There are three account types that you can create. I’ll go through the differences between them later in this Privacy.com review. Before then, allow me to tell you about the service’s basic features and functions.
Privacy.com Debit Card Review
The easiest way to envision Privacy.com is that it creates burner debit cards. The system works by protecting both your identity and your money.
You can mask your identity – and the sensitive information stored on your card – by creating fake debit cards. These can either be cards you use for a particular service or single-use cards. Either way, they should keep your info out of the wrong hands if something were to happen.
For instance, using a Privacy.com debit card should keep your info safe if a website you’re shopping from ever falls victim to a database hack. Your actual debit card won’t get targeted in the hack, it’ll be your fake card that takes the fall. As such, your personal information should remain safe.
The latter end of that equation (the money protection) involves setting account limits. You can set a limit on a card per transaction (for example, your card can only spend $50 at a time on Uber Eats) or you can give them time-sensitive limits. This means you can place an upper limit on how much a card can spend within a month or even a year.
These spending limits can also protect your money if a service is hacked because it means that hackers can only withdraw your upper limit.
Once you know that a card has been breached, you can delete it and make another without any expenses to your wallet or your personal info.
Privacy.com App Review
While plenty of folks reading this Privacy.com review will likely use the service on their browsers (it works with Google Chrome and Firefox), the company also makes an app for Apple and Android devices.
Privacy.com ported over all the functions of their browser service onto mobile phones which, let’s be honest, is what most people use in transactions these days.
How Does Privacy.com Work?
This section of my Privacy.com review will go through how to sign up for an account. The first step is to create an account on the website which you can conduct by clicking the “Get Started” button.
After that, you’ll come to a page asking you to register an email address and password. You’ll also have to agree to their terms and conditions (which you can read in full) and confirm that you’re a US resident.
After you confirm your email address you’ll gain access to your profile. Before you can freely use your Privacy.com account, you’ll have to complete a couple of tasks.
- Create a Privacy.com virtual card
- Fill out your profile in full
- Connect a source of funds
- Agree to Privacy.com’s terms and services
- Complete your first purchase using a Privacy.com card
Once you finish your set of Privacy.com-generated side-quests then you’re all set to engage with the main story, i.e., spending with security generated by your Privacy account.
To return to what I said at the start of this Privacy.com review, the card works just like a debit card. When you use it, you’ll fill out the information like you would any other debit card you’re using in an online purchase. You’ll enter the card number, CVV, expiration date, and home address associated with the card.
Privacy.com’s browser extension has an autofill function that can automatically enter the details of your created cards so that you don’t have to toggle between multiple tabs.
Privacy.com Fees
As I mentioned earlier in this Privacy.com review, there are three options you can choose from when selecting how robust of a service you’d like.
- Privacy.com Personal Account – Free
- Privacy.com Pro Account – $10 per month
- Privacy.com Teams Account – $25 per month
All of the services included in the Privacy.com Personal Account are offered by the other two options. The Pro Account comes with advantages like priority customer support, the opportunity to earn 1% cashback with some purchases, the ability to create up to 36 cards per month, and discrete merchant options.
The Privacy.com Teams Account, meanwhile, includes everything the Privacy.com Pro Account provides but with a large card allowance (up to 60 cards per month) and a dedicated account manager.
Who Is Privacy.com For?
The services outlined in this Privacy.com review are for folks who distrust internet security (I don’t blame them) or those who want to set hard limits on their spending.
Privacy.com Reviews: What Do Customers Think?
To give you an idea of what customers thought about Privacy.com, I’ve collected a list of aggregate scores from multiple websites.
- Trust Pilot: 4.8/5 stars based on more than 2,500 pieces of customer feedback
- iOS App Store: 4.6/5 stars based on more than 5,000 pieces of customer feedback
- Google Play Store: 4.2/5 stars based on more than 2,400 pieces of customer feedback
While the majority of the brand’s marketing is based around security, that wasn’t what most people enjoyed about the service. Sure, they appreciated it, but what many Privacy.com reviews included was the ability to rid themselves of recurring bills they couldn’t cancel.
“This is also great because so many subscriptions aren’t good at actually listening to you when you try to cancel. I had a gym keep billing me after I wrote them to cancel my subscription. Wish I had known about this. Now I have a new card for every “free” trial, subscription, and membership. And it’s so easy!” wrote one user.
Another customer added to that sentiment, writing “I love Privacy.com. I never buy anything online with my actual debit card. It’s awesome having all of my recurring payments in one place that can be flipped off with one click. I highly recommend everyone use this site.”
Some Privacy.com reviews complained about the mobile app because it had some issues updating cards. Apps are notoriously finicky, so these kinks will likely be ironed out in future updates.
That being said, most Privacy.com reviews read like the following:
“Privacy is an absolutely fantastic service that I use religiously to manage my service subscriptions and send anonymous donations. I use its burner card feature to ensure I don’t get charged for forgetting about my free trials. Everyone should use it, it’s a no-brainer.”
Is Privacy.com Legit?
The multiple encryption services Privacy.com uses ensure that they’re legit and safe.
Is Privacy.com Worth It?
A free Privacy.com account gives you more than enough bang for your buck. Honestly, the service would be worth it even if you had to pay the $10 fee for the pro version, but the fact that it’s free sends it over the moon.
Privacy.com Promotions & Discounts
I couldn’t find any Privacy.com promo codes, but that’s not an issue since the service is free.
How To Get Started On Privacy.com
You can download the browser software on www.privacy.com or get the app on the iOS or Google Play Store.
FAQ
Who owns Privacy.com?
Boling Jiang is the owner of Privacy.com.
What is Privacy.com’s Privacy Policy?
This is an ironic piece of this Privacy.com review, but they describe that they only use personal information, “To providing, maintaining and improving our Services; To communicating with you about new and existing Services; To protect the legal rights, property and safety of our Services and users.”
How is Privacy.com’s Customer Service?
There weren’t many complaints regarding Privacy.com’s customer service, though it’s disappointing that there weren’t many ways to contact them besides email.
How to Contact Privacy.com
I hope you found this Privacy.com review useful! For any other questions, you can email [email protected] to contact the company.
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