Hotspot Shield VPN is terrible - why is it so highly rated in the App Store?

[STS Australia]

This screenshot of the top grossing App Store apps says it all:

Why on earth is Hotspot Shield VPN so used by Mac users - and why does it have such a high rating? 4.5/5 stars it is not - it was proven they log user data, and other things, and then I tried it out and personally caught it injecting advertisements into my web traffic. (Ran an hour long capture with Wireshark.) Don't have the files anymore, but I might do the test again just because.

Opinions, experiences?

 

[Ruggy]

Sorry, I have never used it but I've had subscriptions to PIA, Torguard and ExpressVPN if that experience is any help to you?
They all work well but it depends what you want to use them for- Netflix in another country, privacy downloading from torrents etc.
The best interface and most reliable by far is ExpressVPN.
You always take a speed hit with these things and sometimes you get odd quirks like they have to be set up manually or you can't send email but ExpressVPN for a couple of years now has just been easy to set up and just works.

 

[revmacian]

I’m not convinced that positive app reviews can be trusted. I always begin with the negative reviews and weigh them against the positive reviews.

 

[Nigel Goodman]

Generally, with reviews, I look first at those in the 2 to 4 star range. My feeling is that people who post those have given some thought to the review. Only then do I read a few of the 5 star ones. In my experience, the 1 star reviews are from people who haven't properly understood the app and how it works, or how subscriptions or payments will work!

 

[STS Australia]

Some good answers, smart ones.

Myself, I just use a $1/month VPS with SOCKS5, or I use Tor, it's worked for my purposes