Disclaimer: I know TurboVPN and the others mentioned are not good services to use, I’m strictly doing research. I’m not looking for VPN recommendations.

Genuinely wondering how these numbers are possible? 300M downloads and 8.35M reviews…? How?! Not even Amazon Shopping app or Disney+ have this many reviews. And surely NordVPN and Express VPN are considerable larger in both users and resources? I’ve never seen a sponsorship, not even once, from Turbo VPN. Are these numbers regional based? Is Turbo VPN more known in other regions? Is it easy to spoof these numbers?

Appreciate any comments on the matter, and have a nice day 🌻

  • bionicjoey@lemmy.caEnglish
    244·
    7 months ago

    They advertise aggressively through YouTubers/streamers. A lot of mushy brained people probably download it once just to see what their favourite e-girl is on about. Then once they realize it’s not providing them any tangible value they don’t use it, but probably leave it installed since nobody ever uninstalls apps from their phone.

      • bionicjoey@lemmy.caEnglish
        46·
        7 months ago

        Well IDK because I use ad block and sponsor block for everything, but all the big VPNs do

    • Dark ArcAEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      I’ve seen plenty of ads for nord, this is the first I’m hearing of turbo

      • bionicjoey@lemmy.caEnglish
        92·
        7 months ago

        That was just a bit of humour. I just mean in general whatever streamer or YouTuber someone might be watching, they are probably getting paid the VPN bucks.

          • bionicjoey@lemmy.caEnglish
            142·
            7 months ago

            I wasn’t hating on e-girls, I was goofing on the simps that idolize them, to the point of downloading a VPN app because their gamer girl parasocial gf was paid to tell them to.

            Maybe don’t go around assuming everyone is an Incel unless they announce otherwise.

            Should I also announce all of my political positions to you, just so you can be sure you don’t need to downvote me?

  • Woodstock@lemmy.worldEnglish
    111·
    7 months ago

    Does it come pre-installed on any phones? Might be a reason the downloads are inflated.

  • mstrk@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    7 months ago

    Maybe something like this service. Find it a bit dishonest if you ask me, but I don’t think it affects competition that much. People will try multiple apps if they don’t find what they are looking for.

      • mstrk@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        7 months ago

        Would have thought Google would be on top of this though, but probably not?

        It’s against play store ToS, but if somehow you can make it look organic enough it might be difficult to proof. In truth I don’t know how this kind of services operate. I do think Google would try to counter this as much as possible yes. And 8M reviews can’t be just from this kind of services, at some point you have real users engagement, you just need the initial visibility boost.

        Good luck with your research🖖

  • Dave.@aussie.zoneEnglish
    7·
    7 months ago

    I can’t speak for the popularity of TurboVPN, or the probable ease in which companies can manipulate download numbers, but note the “+” on the end of each number.

    NordVPN could have 99,999,995 downloads, TurboVPN can have 100,000,002 downloads, but one would be 50M+ and the other would be 100M+.

  • doublejay1999@lemmy.worldEnglish
    122·
    7 months ago

    It’s very possible - you literally just type them in.

    I like 2, 5 and 8 - but you can use any number you like :

    258

    Give it a try.