We need to talk about Kodi.
No, not the younger member of the mischievous twin duo that lived a Suite life in the Tipton Hotel. (That's Cody Martin.) Not the wide-eyed, goateed patriarch of the polygamist family on TLC's Sister Wives, either. (That's Kody Brown.) Not even the 19th-century cowpoke-slash-bison hunter who became an icon of the American West under the moniker "Buffalo Bill." (That's William Frederick Cody.)
Nope — the Kodi in question isn't a person at all, but a free, open-source media player that lets you manage and stream your locally stored music and videos on almost any device (no separate streaming subscription required). And if you're not using it with a virtual private network, or VPN... well, you probably should be.
Kodi 101: Your one-stop entertainment shop
Formerly known as the Xbox Media Center (XBMC), Kodi was introduced in 2002 as a media player for the very first Xbox console and renamed in 2014 when a nonprofit called the XBMC Foundation took over its operations. It's since been made available as a cross-platform app for macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, Linux, and even Raspberry Pi, serving an all-in-one entertainment hub that makes all of the files in one's existing media collection available on different devices.
One of the reasons why Kodi has enjoyed such longevity is because its volunteer developers ("Team Kodi") have created a huge repository of add-ons ("repo") with which users can customize their Kodi experiences. It describes this catalog as being "like an 'App Store' for Kodi" where you can download all sorts of different plugins, scripts, and themes to tweak the way your Kodi interface looks and works — and best of all, everything is free. Cool, right?
Kodi's long-term popularity can also be credited to the fact that it supports third-party add-ons in addition to Team Kodi's official repo. In other words, anyone with a little coding experience can use the Kodi framework to write and publish their own add-ons for other users to install and use.
Kodi itself is totally legal to use, FYI, but it's often associated with piracy due to the fact that some of these unsanctioned, unofficial add-ons let users illegally stream movies, music, TV shows, and other copyrighted content. As a result, platforms like Amazon, ebay, and Facebook have banned the sale of "Kodi boxes," which are modified devices (often Fire TV Sticks) that come pre-installed with the Kodi app. (Note: Team Kodi itself doesn't condone piracy — and neither do we, for that matter.)
Why should you use a VPN with Kodi?
For the uninitiated, a VPN is a service that redirects your internet connection through its own private servers to create a secure network over a public one — a technology that both masks your internet protocol (IP) address, which hides your IRL location, and encrypts your data to keep you anonymous online. (Here's a more detailed explainer, if you're interested.)
Kodi itself is totally legal to use, but it's often associated with piracy.
Using a VPN is crucial if you frequently use public WiFi, dabble in torrenting, need access geo-blocked content in countries like China (where the internet is heavily censored), or simply want protection from the prying eyes of your Internet Service Provider (ISP).
As far as Kodi is concerned, you probably don't need to run a VPN if you're using the software for its intended purpose (i.e., as a media management tool) and steering clear of unofficial add-ons that use your network connection. But let's face it: Some of the best add-ons for Kodi have been made by third-party developers, and Kodi's official repo is rather limited, so you're bound to use one at some point. When that time comes, a VPN can hide your traffic from your ISP — many will throttle your bandwidth if they catch you using Kodi — and help you overcome geo-restrictions on add-ons that are unavailable (or censored) in certain areas.
It's worth mentioning that while a VPN will protect you from snoopers and spies, it won't flag phishing sites or malware that's disguised as a third-party Kodi add-on. To protect yourself against those kinds of threats, you should avoid add-ons with poor reviews, stay away from Kodi boxes (especially "fully loaded" ones), and consider either running an antivirus on Kodi-equipped devices or sandboxing the app away from other programs.
Is there a VPN add-on for Kodi?
Kodi's official repo does not include any VPN add-ons, so you need to boot up a separate VPN on any device that runs the app — ideally, one that doesn't do a number on your connection speed while still offering enough security features to keep you protected. (One provider has made its own third-party add-on for Kodi, but we'll get to that later.)
We're partial to VPNs in privacy-friendly countries that maintain verified no-logs policies; decent-sized server networks to avoid geo-blocking; and intuitive, easy-to-use apps — Kodi's learning curve is pretty steep as it is, so it's best to avoid mucking around with a clunky VPN interface.
What's the best VPN for Kodi?
After poring over expert and customer reviews, here are the six VPN providers we think you'll like best for your Kodi devices:
Editor’s Note: IPVanish is owned by J2 Global, the parent company of Ziff Davis, Mashable’s publisher. Any J2 products featured on Mashable are covered independently by our content team.
