Hotspot Shield was developed by AnchorFree, a company in Silicon Valley.^[1][6] The software was released in April 2008 forWindows and Mac operating systems, and was expanded to include support for iOS and Android in 2011 and 2012, respectively.^[7]

Hotspot Shield establishes a virtual private network connection (VPN) between a device and a web server. This makes the user anonymous and secures data being transferred to and from the computer or mobile device. The software also protects information from being accessed or tracked by third parties.^[4] It has free and paid versions, with the paid version protecting users from malware, phishing, and spam, and providing a choice of accessing content from different countries.