- Saily’s ad blocker saves almost 30% of mobile data by blocking intrusive, irrelevant ads, independent audit confirms
- Built by Nord Security, Saily offers affordable and secure eSIM plans in 200+ destinations
- The app leverages NordVPN’s technology to ensure privacy, speed, and user-friendly global connectivity
Saily, Lithuanian-born Nord Security’s travel eSIM app, has completed third-party testing of its ad blocker by West Coast Labs. It revealed that the ad blocker effectively reduces mobile data usage by 28.6% by blocking irrelevant ads during travel, helping users save both data and money, making Saily a smart choice for efficient, cost-effective connectivity during international travels.
Cybersecurity Roots Meet Global Connectivity
Launched in spring 2024 by NordVPN’s parent company, Saily offers affordable data for international travel across 200+ destinations. With a wide range of reasonably-priced plans, fast setup, robust security features, and 24/7 chat support, Saily makes staying connected during travels simple and secure.
Venturing into the travel eSim space may seem like a less-than-obvious choice for a company renowned for its cybersecurity solutions. According to Saily’s CEO Vykintas Maknickas, Nord Security’s team takes on the grand mission of shaping a more trusted and peaceful online future for people everywhere. In this approach, other Nord Security’s products safeguard the internet connection, and Saily is here to provide the connection itself, wherever you are.
Moreover, the travel eSIM market is in its early stages, and what is happening is very familiar to the team behind NordVPN. Back then, they managed to take their notable place among those who transformed the VPN technology, primarily used by tech enthusiasts, into a high-demand product. This experience and the lessons learned from it naturally are exceptionally useful for helping Saily succeed in this emerging and aspiring market.
‘Implementing security features like virtual location in more than 100 countries was tricky, however, we’re very fortunate to have gone through a similar process when we were building NordVPN. This time, we were able to leverage our network of partners, anticipate the trickiest locations, and prepare for regulatory nuances. Most probably, we would not have been able to implement it in so many countries over such a short time without having done it before,’ Mr Maknickas shares.
‘Travelers are especially vulnerable to cyberthreats while on the go — distracted in an unfamiliar environment, navigating situations in a foreign language. We aim to provide a secure mobile connection for such people, and make their journeys more enjoyable and stress free,’ the CEO continues.
How the Ad Blocker Works
Saily’s ad blocker is built on NordVPN’s Threat Protection technology. It uses network-level DNS filtering to block ads and malicious domains. By stopping intrusive ads from loading, it enhances browsing speed, boosts security, and helps users save mobile data while traveling—ensuring a smoother, safer online experience. Powered by NordVPN’s Threat Protection, the ad blocker uses the same DNS filtering settings, ensuring consistent service quality among Nord Security’s product portfolio. This means that Saily’s ad blocker provides a uniform one-fit-all solution to all users.
‘The current solution is just the beginning of what’s to come. Saily’s vision is to keep innovating and upgrading our features, including customization of DNS filters for users to really make them their own,’ Mr Macknickas promises.
Balancing Efficiency, Privacy, and Access
A concern may arise about balancing data efficiency with user privacy, given the network-level DNS filtering. The Saily team assures that when introducing security features, the main goal was to improve the users’ privacy and security and help them save data at the same time. Remaining committed to this goal, Saily collects minimal information.
Vykintas Maknickas, CEO at Saily
‘We share Nord Security’s philosophy of prioritizing privacy and security. But having our own requirements, we only collect what’s needed for providing the best service possible and following all regulations,’ Mr Macknickas assures.
Another concern may be about the possibility of situations where DNS filtering may accidentally block legitimate content or services users might need during travels. The Saily team reassures that there weren’t any complaints about legitimate content getting blocked so far. Apparently, this is thanks to all the time and effort NordVPN invested into maintaining the high quality of its Threat Protection functionality.
Naturally, users are welcome to turn off the security features temporarily to reach the content if it’s blocked. And if an actual mistake were to happen, the customer support team should help the user to navigate the issue and report the incident internally for Saily to check whether it’s really a mistake and unblock the content if so,’ Mr Maknickas adds.
Commitment to Transparency and Continuous Improvement
West Coast Labs tested Saily’s ad blocker by visiting 22 popular websites across categories like shopping, gaming, travel, and entertainment—commonly featured among the world’s most visited sites. The testings measured data usage from initial load until network traffic stabilized. If without the ad blocker, 276.3MB of data was used, with it enabled, only 184.1MB—showing a 28.6% reduction. Researchers also compared this to four other travel eSIM providers and found that Saily, with the ad blocker on, consistently used less data across all sites tested, highlighting its efficiency in saving mobile data during travel.
Saily commissioned the audit to have an independent and unbiased review of our product to maintain our transparency standards. The Saily team notes that the outcomes of the audit were quite similar to what was expected. The increase in the data saved was a pleasant surprise because Saily’s internal tests, conducted somewhat earlier, showed slightly lower data saving capabilities.
‘We haven’t observed significant regional differences in how users engage with security features overall. However, there are some minor trends—users in Europe tend to use web protection and ad-blocking features slightly more, while the virtual location feature sees higher adoption among users in North America,’ Saily tells ITKeyMedia.
Additionally, Saily recently introduced unlimited data plans—a feature that was often requested by users— and auto top-ups so travelers never run out of data.
With the growing demand for secure and seamless global connectivity, Saily’s strong foundation in cybersecurity, user-focused design, and proven data-saving capabilities empower the travel eSIM app to become a major player in this emerging market. Backed by Nord Security’s expertise and commitment to privacy and transparency, it offers travelers both convenience and peace of mind.
Kostiantyn is a freelance writer from Crimea but based in Lviv. He loves writing about IT and high tech because those topics are always upbeat and he’s an inherent optimist!
