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Don’t Watch Any Porn Until You Read This (5 Good Reasons You Need a VPN for Porn)

Don’t Watch Any Porn Until You Read This (5 Good Reasons You Need a VPN for Porn)

By Septimiu-Vlad Mocan

posted on

VPNs are awesome tools. You can do so many cool things with them that you can’t even count them all on both hands. But let’s be real for a moment – at one some point, you probably asked yourself: can I and should I use a VPN for porn?

Hey, it’s a completely normal question. So you don’t have to be shy about it. It’s exactly like the highly popular Avenue Q musical said back in 2003 – the Internet is for porn.

And since a VPN is a must-have when going online, you should use it when watching porn, too, right?

tl;dr yes, you definitely should. If you want to know why, then keep reading.

Here’s Why You Should Start Using a VPN for Porn ASAP

Based on our experience, what our readers have told us, and what other people are saying on Reddit and Quora, this is exactly why you need a VPN for porn:

1. Get Around Unfair Censorship (Without Getting Caught)

Internet porn might be completely normal, but not all countries see it that way. Some of them even force ISPs to block porn sites, while others make browsing porn inconvenient for the average Joe.

Here’s an article where Saudi Arabia’s CITC (Communications and Information Technology Commission) boasted about blocking 600,000 pornographic sites.

And here’s a piece discussing how the Chinese government (on top of blocking porn sites) encourages its citizens to report porn by rewarding them with 600,000 CNY (roughly $86,000).

It might seem like it’s just countries with oppressive regimes banning porn, but “less” extreme versions of that happen in democracies too.

Take South Korea, for example. In 2019, the KCC (Korea Communications Commission) blocked 895 porn sites. In fact, producing, distributing, and consuming porn in South Korea is illegal – and has been for a long time.

And there’s also the UK. The government previously wanted to regulate online porn access. Basically, they wanted porn websites to redirect people with a UK IP address to a landing page without any adult content. There, the user would have had to undergo age verification to prove they are over 18 years old.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About IP Addresses

Luckily, the porn block eventually died. But it was still a pretty big scare for anyone living in the UK. And you can’t help but wonder – what if the ban would have passed? Or what if the UK government (or any other government, really) tries to do that again?

The good news is that even if they do, VPNs will be there to help you out of that mess. Just like they’re helping the millions of people in countries where online porn is illegal and blocked.

To keep it simple, the VPN hides your IP address and “replaces” it with a brand new one. So the firewall restrictions that block porn sites and are linked to your original IP address no longer apply to you. It also encrypts your traffic, so nobody will know you’re unblocking porn sites.

Read More: At Close Range: Hiding Your IP Address with VPN and Other Methods

But Wait – Won’t My ISP Know I’m Using a VPN?

Yes, they will. And anyone who says they can’t see your VPN connection is lying. Sure, your ISP won’t see a huge VPN tag that gives you away, but they have ways of spotting VPN traffic:

  • They see a connection to an IP address with no DNS resolution (so no website name). Instead of Your Device –> IP Address | Website Name, they’ll only see Your Device –> IP Address.
  • Your ISP looks up the VPN server IP address and sees it belongs to a data center, not an ISP.
  • Your ISP doesn’t see unencrypted traffic at all.
  • They see which port you use. Port 443 is often used by OpenVPN, SoftEther, and SSTP. IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec, and WireGuard also use specific ports that give them away.

So yes, your ISP and government will know you’re using a VPN. But they won’t know you use it to unblock porn sites. They can only see your connection to the VPN server IP address. They won’t know what websites you browse.

So unless using a VPN is illegal in your country, you shouldn’t get in trouble.

2. Unblock Porn Sites on Hotel WiFi

Sometimes, it’s not the government you need to worry about, but hotels. If you’re visiting a country that blocks online porn, your accommodation will obviously do that too.

However, you might deal with porn blocks even if you’re in a country that doesn’t censor Internet porn sites. We have seen people talking about this issue on numerous forums (link1, link2, and link3), and we have even experienced this ourselves.

Basically, management tells the network admins to blacklist popular porn sites. They might also use web filtering services to block access to hundreds or thousands of unknown sites too.

Why would a hotel block porn sites? Here’s what we think:

  • Management is afraid some guests might be offended. For example, a parent might be outraged if their child successfully googled porn, or a very religious person might feel insulted that online porn is available.
  • Network admins worry guests will browse shady porn sites that have malicious ads and malware-infected downloads. In that scenario, people will end up infecting their devices with malware and putting the whole hotel network at risk.
  • If the hotel has very limited bandwidth and average speeds (which is usually the case), management might worry that letting everyone watch porn would cause huge slowdowns.
  • The hotel might lose pay-per-view money if they allow online porn (which is usually free).

It makes sense, but let’s face it – you’re not going to be in an understanding mood when you can’t enjoy a bit of “personal time” after a long day of sightseeing, conferences, or meetings with clients. You paid for the room and the WiFi, after all, so you have a right to enjoy the web without feeling like you’re living with your parents again.

Well, that’s where a VPN for porn comes into play. It hides your IP address, helping you bypass the hotel’s annoying firewalls. In our experience, we had no problem unblocking porn sites on hotel WiFi with VPNs.

3. Bypass Geo-Blocks

Wait – when did porn sites start geo-blocking their content?

The sites themselves don’t really do that. It would go against their business model. The more traffic you get from all over the world, the better the income.

However, porn websites allow their content creators to geo-block their videos. So a model could make sure their videos aren’t displayed in their country, for example. Here’s a tutorial from Pornhub showing how easy it is for content creators to blacklist countries.

So if you ever saw a message like this when you try to view a video, geo-blocking is the reason why:

Geo-blocking error on Pornhub

Other times, you might miss out on unique opportunities due to geo-blocks. Like when Pornhub made its premium service free in Italy at the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Yeah, they made it free worldwide eventually (until April 23rd), but with an Italian VPN server, you would have gotten early access.

And sometimes, politics-driven geo-blocking can get in the way of your fun – like when xHamster blocked anyone with a North Carolina IP address. They might have done it for a good reason (to protest an anti-LGBT law), but many of the affected users probably weren’t too happy about that.

Anyway, in a situation like that, a VPN for porn is the solution. You’ll use a VPN server to route your connection requests to porn sites, so they won’t see your real IP address. They’ll only see the address of the server.

Don’t forget – your IP address tells porn sites the following:

  • What country and city you are from.
  • Who your ISP is.
  • And sometimes even what your ZIP code is.

So you just need to use a VPN server in an area where the videos you want to enjoy are available to fix the issue. In our experience, that was enough to bypass these restrictions. If it doesn’t work for you, try clearing your cookies too.

4. Enjoy More Privacy

Most people don’t really think of privacy when browsing porn sites. After all, you don’t need to make an account to watch videos. And even when you do get a subscription, you can pay with crypto sometimes.

So what’s the problem then? Well, there actually are a few issues:

There’s a Lot More Tracking on Porn Sites Than You’d Think

At most, you’d think porn websites only use analytics to track your behavior and deliver better content. But that’s just a drop in the ocean compared to how these platforms handle your data.

Let’s start with what data they log. In short, it’s a lot. Ever set aside some time to read their Privacy Policies? You really should cause it’s eye-opening. Granted, it’s not easy cause not all porn sites have easy-to-read policies.

Pornhub, for example, uses small fonts, a lot of lawyer language (complicated terms), and a white text on a black background (hard to read).

Pornhub’s Privacy Policy – not very reader-friendly

Other sites have policies that are easier on the eyes – like xHamster, for instance. They still take a long time to read, though.

If you power through them, though, you’ll eventually find out that porn sites log data like:

  • Your IP address (reveals your geo-location and identifies you on the web).
  • What browser you use + what version it is.
  • What plugins you use + their versions.
  • Your timezone settings.
  • Usernames, passwords, and email addresses.
  • Any information you type in the site (preferences, feedback, forum comments, photos, videos, etc.).

Besides that, they also use cookies to monitor how you interact with the website. And they then cross-reference all that data against information gathered through analytics to create a unique customer profile.

“That’s not so bad, though. They need that information to offer me a better experience.”

That’s true. And it might not be a huge problem if they’d stop at that. But porn sites don’t keep the data to themselves. According to research, 93% of them leak it to third parties. That happens because there are tons of third-party tracking scripts on porn sites (Google, exoClick, Oracle, Facebook, and JuicyAds scripts).

Yes, you read that right – Facebook tracks your porn preferences.

It kind of seems like porn sites are sharing your preferences and personal data with third parties for advertising purposes.

Actually, scratch that – it’s exactly what they’re doing. This isn’t the kind of thing you see mentioned on porn sites, but many of them are owned by one company – MindGeek.

They own RedTube, Pornhub, YouPorn, and production companies like Brazzers and Reality Kings. Coincidentally, the company also happens to offer marketing services – an ad platform, search engine marketing, social media services, ad-buying, etc.

MindGeek doesn’t own all porn sites, but it still has a huge chunk of the market. It goes without saying that other similar industry giants or ghost companies own the sites MindGeek doesn’t.

And the Privacy Policies we mentioned before usually make it clear porn sites will share all the data they collect about you with “members of their corporate group.” So basically, the advertising giants that own them. There’s much more that needs to be discussed here, so we highly recommend reading this article from VICE too.

What does that all mean for you?

That whenever you browse porn sites, advertisers know what you’re looking at. They have your IP address, device information, preferences – pretty much all they need to target you with personalized ads.

And let’s face it – the last thing you want is a porn ad popping up on your screen when someone is around.

Your ISP Knows Your Porn Preferences Pretty Well

Every time you visit a porn site, your connection goes through your ISP’s network. They see all your connection requests, so they know what IP address and website name you’re connecting to.

So you might think that what you watch at night is just between you and your screen, but, in reality, it’s more like a threesome – except it’s not the hot kind because your ISP is involved.

You can limit the damage by only browsing HTTPS sites. That way, your ISP should only be able to see what sites you visit, not what web pages you browse.

Unfortunately, that solution doesn’t work all the time. If your ISP really wants to collect data about their customers’ porn preferences, they can use information like the destination, size, and timing of your data packets to get an idea of what web pages you’re browsing.

Also, most of the time, your DNS requests aren’t encrypted. And because the requests go through your ISP’s DNS server, they can log them. That makes it even easier for them to spy on your traffic.

If that’s not creepy enough, consider how bad it’d be for your privacy if your ISP would start selling that data to advertisers.

It’s the kind of thing that could happen in the US, and anywhere else in the world really. It’s not like you’ll find out about all the backroom deals ISPs make with advertisers – especially if they bribe politicians to turn a blind eye to it.

Surveillance Agencies Keep a Close Eye on Your Taste in Porn

It’s no secret they spy on your Internet traffic, but did you know they also monitor what porn you browse?

For example, the NSA spied on porn habits back in 2013 to “target radicalizers” – people who try to radicalize others through incendiary speeches. And in 2015, it came to light that the GCHQ (UK spy agency) spied on everything people did online (including what porn they watched).

And that’s just the spying we know about. Who knows how many other surveillance agencies are monitoring porn traffic worldwide.

Sure, spy agencies might offer some reasons for doing that, but they’re hardly believable. And even if they make a little sense, it doesn’t mean it’s okay for Joe from the NSA or Nigel from the GCHQ to invade the little privacy you have left.

Alright, So How Does a VPN for Porn Help?

Let’s get this out of the way first – it won’t offer you complete anonymity. VPNs can’t do stop porn sites from using cookies, and they can’t block tracking scripts.

However, they can do a lot of things to offer you more privacy when you browse porn:

  • VPNs hide your IP address. Basically, porn sites will only see the address of the VPN server. That will stop them from associating your preferences with your IP address.
  • Advertisers will also have a slightly harder time targeting you with porn ads. Without your IP address, they can’t track your digital footprints all the time.
  • VPNs stop ISPs from seeing what sites you connect to. They also encrypt your DNS requests, preventing any spying on that end too.
  • VPNs encrypt your Internet traffic. That makes it much harder (or near impossible) for ISPs and surveillance agencies to monitor your web browsing.

5. Stop Bandwidth Throttling

How much porn you watch doesn’t concern anyone. Or at least it shouldn’t.

We already said your ISP can see what porn sites you browse, but did you know they can also throttle your speeds for them? If you’re not familiar with that term, it just means they’re lowering your online speeds when you watch porn.

So you might be able to binge normal YouTube videos in 1080p with no problem, but when you switch to porn sites, videos will start playing in 480p and buffer like crazy.

Why would your ISP do that? It’s hard to say, but here’s what we suspect:

  • They notice a lot of bandwidth usage across customers at midnight when most people seem to watch porn, according to Pornhub. So they throttle connections to reduce network congestion during those hours.
  • They might also use bandwidth throttling as an excuse to postpone or avoid buying more expensive storage equipment.
  • Some ISPs might throttle bandwidths to try and pressure their customers in a not-so-subtle manner to buy a pricier subscription or data plan.
  • Maybe they have a deal with MindGeek (or any other company) to prioritize connections to the sites they own and throttle speeds for competing websites.
  • Their core values go against porn, and maybe they want to appeal to a more conservative audience. So they throttle connections to porn sites to discourage customers from browsing them. They could also block porn websites in that scenario.

If you know other reasons why ISPs might throttle porn traffic, let us know in the comments.

So how does a VPN help in this case?

Pretty simple – it encrypts your traffic, preventing your ISP from analyzing your data packets and seeing what videos you spend the most time on.

In fact, they won’t even see what porn websites you browse. Instead of seeing their IP addresses, they’ll only see the IP address of the VPN server you use.

So instead of this:

Your Device –> ISP Network –> Porn Site

They’ll see this:

Your Device –> ISP Network –> VPN Server

Keep in mind that they’ll still be able to see how much data you exchange with the VPN server. If they want, they can throttle your VPN traffic. If that happens, just use obfuscation to hide the traffic. That should help.

Related: What is VPN Obfuscation? How to Avoid VPN Blocks with Stealth VPNs

What Are the Best VPNs for Porn?

In our opinion, to have a great time with a VPN, it needs to meet the following requirements:

  • It should have smooth speeds. That’s usually accomplished with a large network of servers that are optimized for speed, multiple VPN protocols, and no bandwidth caps.
  • It should also have cross-platform compatible apps. Not everyone watches porn on their desktop computer.
  • A user-friendly interface is a must. The last thing you want is having to figure out how to connect to a server when the mood hits you.
  • The VPN needs to pass leak tests with flying colors. Having leak protection build into the client also helps.
  • It definitely needs simultaneous connections. Maybe you want to start watching porn on your computer and then switch to mobile in bed. Having to disconnect and log off your computer, and then sign in and log in on your mobile can really kill the mood.
  • A Kill Switch is always nice for extra privacy. Basically, it shuts off your web access if your VPN connection goes down.
  • It shouldn’t keep any logs. It’s not the provider’s business what kinds of porn you enjoy.

Many providers meet those requirements, so we tested the top VPNs on the market to see which offer the best porn-viewing experience. Our results show that ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and Surfshark are solid picks.

If you’d like to read more about those services or see some decent alternatives, check out our ultimate guide to the best VPNs on the market.

What About VPNHub?

We can’t really write an article about using a VPN for porn and not mention VPNHub. It’s Pornhub’s own VPN, after all.

Is it any good, though?

Well, it meets most of the requirements we mentioned above – more than one protocol, decent speeds, unlimited bandwidth, apps on the most platforms, no leaks. So it’s all good, right?

Not exactly.

Here’s what we don’t like about VPNHub:

  • They have a free trial, but it’s only for the monthly plan. Also, they ask for your credit card details and don’t have a money-back guarantee.
  • It has trouble unblocking Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. Sure, you’ll mostly use it for porn, but you’re paying for a VPN in the end. Maybe you’ll want to unblock streaming platforms too.
  • VPNHub doesn’t belong to Pornhub, but to MindGeek. Its ToS page says it belongs to Appatomic, but Appatomic Limited is owned by MindGeek. So not a very transparent service.
  • VPNHub says they keep no logs, but its Privacy Policy says their app actually collects your IP address. Apparently, they “pseudonymize” it by encrypting it, and they only store it for the duration of your session. But that means trusting MindGeek is true to their word.
  • The Privacy Policy also says that certain employees have access to your data, and actually says VPNHub doesn’t “promise and cannot guarantee that your Personal Information can never be viewed and/or used by others.”
  • And again, according to their Privacy Policy, advertisers can gather data (your device’s MAC address, advertising ID, wireless carrier) when they serve ads through VPNHub. What’s more, VPNHub discloses your data to members of the corporate group (MindGeek).

Pretty sad stuff, so let’s finish up with a pretty funny contradiction from VPNHub:

… right

Ultimately, it depends on whether or not your trust Pornh MindGeek with your privacy. We personally don’t, which is why we recommended other VPNs (that don’t log your IP address at all, by the way) instead of this one.

How to Use a VPN for Porn

It’s really simple. Just pick a service, download the app, and install it on your device.

Then run the VPN and connect to a server before you start watching porn.

It’s as simple as that.

Alternatively, if you have the patience, you could also set up the VPN on your router. That way, you won’t need to run the VPN before visiting porn sites. The connection will always be on since your requests will go to the web through the router.

Quick Tips for Slow VPN Speeds

Most of the VPNs we recommended offer smooth and stable speeds. Still, you might experience slowdowns anyway. VPNs run on top of your original speeds, so it’s inevitable. And nobody wants to settle for a porn video in 144p or 240p.

So we’re going to offer you three actionable tips you can try to improve your VPN speeds. We tested all of them and were able to watch videos in higher quality at better speeds. We also didn’t get any random buffering (a real mood-killer) and long load times.

So here’s what you should do:

Use a Lightweight Protocol

The VPN protocol you use has a huge impact on the speeds you’ll get. If you’re like most VPN users, you probably use OpenVPN. Don’t get us wrong – it’s an excellent protocol, but its speeds aren’t exactly attractive.

Unfortunately, it’s very resource-intensive and can often slow down your speeds by over 100+ Mbps. So try using these protocols instead:

  • WireGuard
  • IKEv2
  • SoftEther

They offer decent security too. Also, IKEv2 is perfect for mobile phones, so definitely give it a try if you like watching porn on your phone. L2TP/IPSec has good speeds as well, but we wouldn’t advise using it if you want privacy. The general consensus is that it’s not as secure as the other protocols we mentioned.

Some people might also recommend PPTP. It has high speeds, true, but surveillance agencies have a really easy time cracking its encryption. So it’s not worth it in our opinion.

If you insist on using OpenVPN or are stuck with it because the provider doesn’t offer other options, check out our guide on how to optimize OpenVPN speeds.

Use a Server That’s Close to You

The distance between you and the VPN server is just as important as the protocol you’re using. If it’s too big, it takes longer for data packets to travel between the VPN app and the server. So you get lower speeds.

Sometimes, data packets might even get lost in transit, causing your VPN connection to drop.

So try using a VPN server in a nearby country or your own country, if possible. You’ll get much better speeds.

Need to unblock a video that doesn’t work in your country? Try learning what countries it’s available in, and use a server in the nearest country. It’s usually enough to ask on Reddit or the porn site forums. A bit of a hassle, but ultimately worth it.

Don’t Use WiFi

Stick to wired connections if you can. While WiFi is extremely convenient for watching porn (nothing like a five-finger fiesta in the comfort of your bed or La-Z-Boy), it can also tank your VPN speeds.

Why?

Because if you have a low WiFi signal, you’ll automatically have low online speeds. In turn, that translates to slow VPN speeds.

And even being in a different room than the one the router is in can weaken your WiFi signal. In fact, even having stuff lying around your router (like bottles, cups, or clothes) can lower your signal.

So these are your options:

  • Watch porn on your computer.
  • Hook up your mobile phone, tablet, or laptop directly top the router if possible. Maybe get a long cable too.

Alternatively, use mobile data instead of WiFi. The phone’s signal can still slow down your speeds if it’s low, but you should normally be able to get a decent signal everywhere in your house. In our tests, we had no problems with that.

Other Things to Try

If those tips didn’t work for you, or you’d just like to try other ways to increase your VPN speeds, here’s a quick list of ideas:

  • Use split tunneling – a feature that lets you choose which traffic gets encrypted. Set the VPN to only encrypt the browser that you use to watch porn. If it doesn’t encrypt the traffic from other browsers and apps, you should get better speeds.
  • Restart your router/modem since memory leaks might be lowering your VPN speeds.
  • Don’t use free VPNs. Not only are they risky, but they often have data caps, and their servers are overcrowded. So you’ll always get slow speeds. If you really want to use one, though, make sure it has a legit business model.
  • Configure your antivirus and firewall to whitelist the VPN app. Otherwise, they could interfere with the connection, slowing it down in the process.
  • If you can afford it, get a VPN router. Just make sure it has a powerful processor and fast speeds. Besides that, you’ll always browse the web with a VPN since it’s always on. So you don’t need to keep remembering to turn on the VPN before surfing porn.

If you’d like to read about those pointers more in-depth, check out this guide.

And if none of our tips worked, the problem might be with your ISP speeds. If they’re very slow, your VPN speeds will be even slower. In that case, the only way to improve your speeds is to get a better subscription or switch to an ISP with faster speeds.

Bonus Tip – Use Antivirus and Script Blockers with Your VPN

You should never visit a porn site without antivirus protection, really. They don’t intentionally expose you to malware, of course. It wouldn’t make sense since they make much more money by having you as an audience, not a hacking victim.

But that doesn’t mean cybercriminals don’t exploit people’s love for porn websites. Here’s what they’re up to in fact:

So you definitely need antivirus software when you watch porn. It’s the only way to protect your device against malware. VPNs can’t do that, so you can’t rely on them this time. At most, they can offer a blocklist that stops connections to malicious domains, but that’s it.

If you’re not sure which antivirus service to use, we recommend checking this guide.

Besides that, you should also install uMatrix and uBlock Origin. They’re script blockers that prevent website scripts from starting up without your permission. It’s a good way to avoid some tracking scripts and annoying ads (that can be potentially malicious). They’re free to use and open-source too.

Yes, they can interfere with how porn sites run, but you can tweak them to whitelist videos and any features you want. It’s a bit of a hassle, but it’s definitely worth it.

Also, avoid lesser-known or shady-looking porn sites – especially if they’re very new. There’s a good chance some hackers set them up to infect your device with malware when you interact with them. Or they might use them as phishing sites.

Should You Use Incognito Mode for Porn?

Yes, it’s a good idea to do that. Incognito mode (also called private browsing) clears your browsing history and cookies when you close a tab or the browser. So if you share the device with anyone, they won’t know you surfed porn.

Overall, using incognito mode for porn is a great idea if you have no option but to watch it on the family computer. Or if you don’t want any of your friends seeing what porn you browsed when they borrow your phone to quickly google something.

Just don’t use it to watch porn at work. We can’t believe we need to say this, but it won’t hide your “extra-curricular activities” from your employer. They don’t need to check your browsing history when they might have spyware or keyloggers installed on your work computer.

Also, please remember – incognito mode doesn’t replace a VPN. They work differently but are equally important for protecting your privacy. But incognito mode will never hide your porn preferences from your ISP, advertisers, or government surveillance agencies.

Should You Use Tor for Porn?

Just like a VPN, Tor also hides your IP address from porn sites and encrypts your traffic. But does it work as well when surfing porn sites?

Well, here’s what it can do:

  • Help you unblock censored sites and geo-restricted videos.
  • Hide your browsing from ISPs and surveillance agencies.
  • Make it harder for advertisers to keep track of your porn preferences.

So pretty much what a VPN does.

But here’s the problem – you’ll get really bad speeds. Tor encrypts and decrypts your traffic at least three times, which takes its toll on your connection.

Also, Tor’s servers can’t keep up with its users. According to metrics, there are roughly 6,000 servers for nearly three million users (at the moment of writing this article; usually, it’s around two million).

Videos will take much longer to load, the quality will drop all of a sudden, and you’ll get tons of buffering. To be honest, by the time the video finishes loading fully, you won’t be in the mood anymore.

That was our experience, at least. We used ExpressVPN and Tor and had a much smoother viewing experience with the VPN.

Related: VPN vs. Tor: Which Is Better for Private Browsing, Streaming, Torrenting?

How Do You Feel About Using a VPN for Porn?

Does it make the whole experience better, or does it just get in the way of your fun?

If you do use a VPN for porn, could you tell us which provider you use? And do you take any other measures to protect your privacy when surfing porn?

Go ahead and share your thoughts with us in the comments or on social media.

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