I have been using the BitDefender VPN. Works fine on the IPTV box that I'm using. At one time some channels were being blocked without the VPN, and that's why I started using the VPN.
But a quick question to those who have the App installed on their Smart Phones. Has your Confidential Data etc stayed secure and not been compromised in anyway, in spite of using some of these third party Apps?
There's no way to know if your data is secure until you're either notified of a breach, search one of the beach lists for your data and find it, or end up the victim of fraud using your personal data. Even the absence of those doesn't prove you're safe.
There used to be 3-4 good VPN services at any time with a canary notification system in case of warrants that had been tested in court and proven to not keep logs, but none currently exist (they've all been bought out by companies that are not trustworthy). None currently have a canary notification, and many claim to keep no logs but only a few haven't been shown to be liars in court yet. The ones that haven't been simply haven't been tested in court so we don't know.
AFAIK, the best one right now if you really want to be as anymore as possible is Mullvad, provided you pay anonymously with Bitcoin. They don't have a warrant canary, but claim there's no need for one as they have no data. There's no email address or billing information back to you, there isn't even a username: you just get assigned a password and the username for everybody is "m". Of course they've never been tested in court, so whether they have your IP or browser fingerprint from when you ordered it, we don't really know but they claim not to. They also claim not to track or log your logins, but without court cases it's not proven. They've also got a fully encrypted browser with all tracking disabled (if you trust/believe them) and encrypted DNS. But it's the same problem: you have to trust them to both have everything configured right and have no leaks, and trust them not to be tracking. Even then, there's still browser fingerprinting and if the authorities suspect you and can get a warrant for your device, they can get your browser fingerprint off of it and use it to tie you to your online activity.
It's worth pointing out that we know Mullvad was raided in 2023 and we have no evidence of any trial related to data having recovered. None that has been made public at least. Mullvad claims nothing was taken and no data retrieved. But that's really the same as being taken to court, ordered to turn data over, turning over all their systems and the government cases collapsing because there's nothing. So you're still stuck just trusting them.
https://mullvad.net/en/blog/update-the-swedish-authorities-answered-our-protocol-request
If your concern is the technology and not the policies, there are multiple tests you can run to check if your configuration has leaks. The most common problem is a DNS leak, and there are ways to investigate that. But you're largely relying on the provider's configuration and in many cases there's no way to know how good they are.
Then there's the bigger problem: browser fingerprinting. If you log into anything tied to your identity, your browser knows who you are and might share that identity with other sites. Even if it doesn't, your browsing history can be tracked using your browser's fingerprint. A VPN is likely doing very little to actually keep you anonymous. If the authorities really want to find out who you are, a VPN alone isn't going to protect you.
If you use different browsers when connected to the VPN vs when you're not and never login to anything with the browser you use on the VPN, there's a chance you might be able to stay anonymous. But if you make one mistake and use the wrong browser at the wrong time or login with the one you're not supposed to, you're likely compromised.
On the modern Internet it's impossible to stay anonymous. You can stay as secure as possible and ensure one breach doesn't lead to a cascade by never using a password in more than one place, never using the same username in more than one place, using disposable emails to limit who has your real address, never use Wi-Fi and definitely not public WiFi, never connect to a site using HTTP instead of HTTPS, etc. So security is relatively achievable if you're paranoid and disciplined, but anonymity is an illusion that a committed hacker or law enforcement can dispel if they really want to.