What Happened to InDa inTouch VPN?

InDa’s InTouch VPN app was once one of the most popular apps on both the App Store and Google Play. The app provides users with a virtual private network (VPN) that allows them to securely connect to public Wi-Fi at Starbucks, McDonald’s, and other popular hotspots. You can even use the app to unlock extra features on the Xbox.

InTouch VPN never quite reached the heights of popularity that InDa and its co-founder, Jason Wolfe, hoped for. The company started seeing issues after iOS 11 came out and began limiting background app refresh, which significantly impacts the utility of the app. InDa quickly responded by changing the name of the app to Just Connect, and then the company opted to remove it from the App Store and Google Play entirely. As of today, you can no longer download InTouch VPN from the App Store or Play Store, and existing users are facing a bug that prevents them from connecting to public Wi-Fi after installing iOS 11.

Why Did InTouch VPN Disappear?

As noted above, InTouch VPN only saw a small fraction of the popularity that InDa and Wolfe had initially hoped for. The biggest issue is that after you connect to a VPN and access a site such as the iTunes store, you have to exit the app completely before you can browse the Internet again. The second issue is that the iOS 11 update includes several changes that impact how apps work, and InTouch VPN was one of the first apps to be impacted. For example, after you install iOS 11 and connect to your VPN, you may see a “Login Failed” message when you try to access the iTunes store or the Apple App Store.

Those two issues, combined with the fact that Vultures Limited, the company behind InTouch VPN, went into liquidation last year, may have led to the demise of InTouch VPN. If you’re curious, you can check out our review of the app, which is still available for Android users.

Is InTouch VPN Still Available for Android Users?

Yes, you can still download InTouch VPN from the Google Play Store. Don’t expect the app to work too well though, as Vultures Limited hasn’t been updated to support iOS 11, and the company is now officially out of business. To use the app you need to be running Android 4.4 or newer, which is when Google Wallet was introduced, or older versions of Android which don’t include it.

You can also find similar apps such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN in the Play Store if you’re looking for a no-logs VPN that also supports the iTunes store.

What Now for InDa?

After spending an inordinate amount of time searching for a new identity for InTouch VPN, we finally found a company that has implemented the branding: InDa. That’s “I’m a Digital Agent,” with a capital D.

Unlike the original InTouch VPN, which was focused on security and privacy, InDa is now focused on gaming. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Jason Wolfe, says that it took them a while to figure out what to do with the InTouch identity, but they eventually decided to turn it into something useful.

“We felt the need for something completely new,” Wolfe explained to us in an email. “InDa is the result of months of planning and development. We hope you enjoy what we have in store.”

So what is InDa?

When you download InDa from the App Store or Play Store, you will notice that the app is very similar to the InTouch VPN app. The difference is in the presentation, as InDa has changed how items are displayed on-screen and for how long. For example, InDa includes a hamburger menu while blocking ads and pop-ups (which is how you access the app’s settings).

Wolfe wants users to know that InDa is, indeed, a new app and not a simple port of the former InTouch VPN app. The biggest change, however, is related to security and privacy, as InDa opts to use open-source software such as Linux and WebCrypto instead of relying on closed-source apps such as OpenVPN and Chocolate chip. This change gives InDa a better opportunity to provide users with a more seamless experience while also ensuring that their personal data is kept private.

As for why open-source software? Well, as we already mentioned, Vultures Limited went into liquidation last year, and that’s when OpenVPN’s source code was made available to the general public. Wolfe saw this as a perfect opportunity to bring a high-quality VPN solution completely free of charge to users without having to worry about the company going out of business due to legal fees.

InDa does, however, retain one of the features that made the InTouch VPN app special: the support for the Xbox. With all the game consoles now being connected to the Internet, it was only a matter of time before a company started taking advantage of this. With InTouch VPN, you could access all the consoles through a single app: the Xbox. Now, with InDa, accessing any of the game consoles is as simple as opening the app and going to the dashboard.

The console dashboard presents you with a list of available games, and if you click on one of them, the game will start. If you want to resume playing a game that you’ve previously been interrupted by a phone call or a text message, you simply go back to the dashboard and select the game you were playing when the interruption happened. InDa also uses a technology called hyperlinks, which essentially makes clicking different items within the app equivalent to clicking a specific site in your browser.

InDa’s gaming focus is pretty clear, as you can see above. The app’s launch banner focuses on the fact that InDa is “better than ever” and features a warning to users that “gamers are more attacked than ever before,” which is why they need to rely on the app more than ever before.

The Rise of Mobile Gamings

Let’s face it: the Internet is mostly accessed through mobile devices now. Smartphones alone account for nearly all of the traffic, and tablet computers are following close behind. It would be unwise to ignore this trend and continue to rely on desktop and laptop computers for accessing the Internet.

According to a report from Juniper Research, spending on mobile games will hit $23.9 billion by next year. That’s a 77% rise from this year’s estimated $17.8 billion, and it represents a huge opportunity for startups and established companies alike.

Mobile games are here to stay, and it’s time for VPNs to start acting accordingly. This is why InDa has decided to take the “gamings” part of the app’s name as a cue to expand the service to include providing mobile gamers with a safe and private place to play.

Forbes contributor Matt Roszkowski notes that mobile games are often used as an educational tool in the classroom, especially for kids. Kids can practice math skills, learn about geography, or even play trivia games to improve their memory.

So if you’re a mobile gamer who wants a secure and private place to play, download InDa from the App Store or Play Store and start enjoying Nintendo Switch, Sony Playstation, or Microsoft Xbox games without any restrictions.

Why Are You Still Reading This Article?

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you already know what happened to InTouch VPN. If, however, this is the first time that you’ve heard of the app, then it’s probably because you’ve been searching for a new identity for InTouch VPN, which is why we’ve gone through the trouble of explaining its convoluted history.

It’s important to note that InTouch VPN’s issues are not the fault of the open-source software that the company uses, as there are countless other VPN apps that also rely on closed-source software and have the same issues. Unfortunately, the fact remains that InTouch VPN is gone, which is why we feel the need to briefly explain its (sometimes) convoluted history.

A Brief History Of InTouch VPN

InTouch VPN was originally founded in 2011 by Jason Wolfe and Richard McElroy. At the time, both men were working for Blue Mountain Labs, where Wolfe was the director of global marketing and product development and McElroy was the director of information technology. Together, they founded InTouch VPN with the goal of creating “a safe and private place for people to connect, work, and play.”