Why You Need an iPhone VPN

I confess, I sometimes feel a bit smug about the security of my iPhone. Apple built iOS from the ground up with security in mind, and each new version makes it even more resistant to malware and hacking. I'm just not worried about a malware attack on the iPhone, not like I am for my Windows, Android, or even macOS devices. The latest update, iOS 11, adds a boatload of privacy and security features, including a simple password manager and true two-factor authentication for iCloud. But all of that security can't do a thing to protect your data as it travels through a Wi-Fi or cellular network. A virtual private network, or VPN is what you need to protect your data in transit. Yes, you need one for your iPhone, too.

It's true that modern cellular communication is thoroughly encrypted, not easily tapped unless you have access to police-level tools like the Stingray device, or data dumps from cell towers. Oh, it's possible for bad actors to jam the secure 4G and 3G channels, forcing nearby phones to connect via insecure 2G to a briefcase-sized cell tower called a femtocell. In that scenario, the attacker has full access to all communication. But the likelihood you'll suffer such an attack is vanishingly small.

KeepSolid VPN main

The real problem is Wi-Fi. When you connect to the free Wi-Fi at the public library, airport, coffee shop, grocery, or wherever, your security is in the hands of the hotspot owner. A crooked network owner can sift through all your communications, hoovering up credit card numbers, passwords, and more. Other users of a nonsecured network can also find ways to track your network traffic, if they're clever. Even your own ISP can now aggregate and sell nonpersonal information, thanks to the current administration's steady dismantling of online security. It's a jungle out there!

It gets worse. Once you've connected with a hotspot, your iPhone's default behavior is to connect with that same hotspot automatically next time it comes in range. However, there's no verification other than the SSID (network name) of the hotspot, and your iPhone broadcasts the names it's looking for. It's easy for bad guys to obtain a portable hotspot that listens for those broadcast queries and mimics every network name requested by nearby devices. At last year's Black Hat conference, we saw more than 35,000 devices connected to such a chameleon hotspot—and that's a gathering of security experts.

The same dangers apply to that lightweight MacBook you're carrying around. When you're connected to Wi-Fi, you're vulnerable. Be sure to install a Mac VPN before you head for the coffee shop.
VPN Protection, To Go

When your VPN is active, all your network traffic, whether from browsers, apps, or iOS itself, gets encrypted before it leaves your phone. This encrypted data stream travels to a server owned by the VPN company, where it's decrypted and sent on its way.

Watch: How a VPN Works
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Encrypted web traffic isn't the only reason you need a VPN. With a direct, no-VPN connection to a website, your IP address not only identifies you to that site, but it also identifies your geographic location. Ad-trackers, snoops, and government agencies can use that IP address to track what you do online. When you're using a VPN, however, the IP address that others see is that of the VPN company, not your own.

The best VPN companies maintain servers all over the world. On one hand, that means that when you're traveling you can find a nearby server, and nearby typically means faster. On the other hand, you can spoof your location by choosing a server in a faraway country. Try doing that and visiting the Google website; you'll find that it comes up in the language of your apparent location. Journalists embedded in repressive countries and political activists working against those repressive regimes have long relied on VPNs to communicate safely with the outside world. Of course, you may be breaking local laws just by using a VPN. For example, Russia recently banned the use of VPNs, claiming a need to block terrorist activities,

NordVPN Map

It's not uncommon for online streaming services to offer content in one region, but not another. Offerings from Netflix and Hulu differ by country. Brits can watch BBC shows for free, while the same shows require a subscription in the US. Spoofing your location with a VPN can get you access to shows not normally available to you. But take care: Location spoofing may violate your terms of service. In addition, companies like Netflix are cracking down on VPN users. More often than not, streaming isn't an option when your VPN is running.
What a VPN Can't Do

The connection from your device to a VPN server is totally secure, but the same can't always be said of the connection from the VPN server to the website you're visiting. If it's a plain old HTTP website, the back-and-forth between the site and the VPN server isn't protected, and might conceivably be intercepted. If the site uses secure HTTPS, on the other hand, your interaction is encrypted from end to end.

Even with no VPN, your connection to a site that uses HTTPS, as Google wants every site to do, is encrypted. Of course, that HTTPS connection does nothing to hide your IP address. For the best security, use your VPN and also connect using HTTPS whenever it's available.

While the data going to and from your VPN server is encrypted, using a VPN doesn't get you the level of anonymity obtained by connecting through the TOR network, nor the concomitant ability to dive into the scary depths of the Dark Web. On the plus side, some VPN services include TOR-specific servers as an option.

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It's true that iPhone users have less to worry about when it comes to malware (but don't get too complacent). However, you can still be duped by a phishing website into giving up your security credentials. A few iPhone VPNs promise to strip out fraudulent sites, malicious sites, and (in some cases) advertising from the data stream that pours into your iPhone. Just don't rely too strongly on these, as in most cases they do the job using a simple blacklist. Phishing websites come and go ephemerally, and often vanish before they ever get blacklisted.

Testing VPN Performance

Suppose your business involves shipping goods back and forth between City A and City B. If you add a requirement that they go off to City C for a security check in the middle of each run, the trip will naturally take longer. The same is true when you stick a VPN server in the middle of your connection to a website. Things almost always take longer. My colleague Max Eddy and I have observed a few exceptions, however. The fastest VPNs running on Windows make downloads faster, by a long shot, probably due to their own high-speed connections. It's as if the goods shipped from City C went via bullet train instead of slow freight. In iPhone-based testing, a few products seemed to speed up the connection, but not by remotely as much as with Windows products.

Before starting our VPN speed tests, I disable the cellular data network by putting the phone in airplane mode and then enabling Wi-Fi. The cellular connection isn't as stable, and it's also much more difficult to attack than Wi-Fi, as mentioned earlier. I test all of the products on the same Apple iPhone 7, running the latest version of iOS.

For testing purposes, I use the Ookla speed test website. (Note that PCMag's publisher, Ziff Davis, also owns Ookla). I average a series of tests, discarding the lowest and highest results. Then I immediately enable the VPN, connecting to whatever it recommended as the fastest server, and repeat that test. By comparing averages with and without the VPN active, I derive a score based on the percent change.

Ping latency is the time it takes for your device to query a server and receive a response. If that query must go through the VPN, latency typically increases, sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot. However, we measure latency in milliseconds. Unless you're playing a fast-paced online game where extra milliseconds of lag can get you fragged, you won't notice a modest increase in latency.

TunnelBear connected

A drag on download speed, on the other hand, will probably draw your attention. If downloading a new app takes twice as long, that's not good. And slow download speeds can cause streaming videos to pause or stutter. Fortunately, few of the iPhone VPNs I've tested had a big impact on download speed. In fact, several of them actually sped up downloads in testing.

When's the last time you uploaded a big file from your smartphone? Right, it's not a common activity. A drag on upload speed due to the VPN isn't likely to bother anybody. In truth, while all the iPhone VPNs I tested had some effect on upload speed, even the worst of them wasn't bad.

Now for a couple of caveats. For this initial batch of reviews, I performed all the iPhone speed tests on exactly the same device and network, over the course of just two days, but that doesn't mean I'd get precisely the same results on a different day, nor that you would get the same results on another network. The extremes would probably remain extreme, but other results could well vary. In addition, for most people, speed shouldn't be the only factor in choosing a VPN. A convenient interface, a wide selection of servers, useful advanced features—these are also important considerations.
VPN Features and Extras

The features to look for in a VPN depend on the way you intend to use it. If you never travel abroad and don't feel the need to pretend you're surfing from Amsterdam, the most important features for you are a convenient interface and a big selection of servers in the US. Conversely, if you're a globetrotter with a need for a secure connection from just about anywhere, you'll look for a VPN provider whose server locations cover all the continents.

As noted, your VPN can also serve to disguise your actual location and identity. How embarrassing, though, if the VPN service itself breached your privacy! If keeping your connections anonymous is important, look for a service that's based in a country with no required data retention policy, and check the company's privacy policy to ensure it doesn't collect any data about your use, other than practical things like the number of devices you're using and (if applicable) bandwidth used. Many VPN services allow payment in untraceable currency, such as Bitcoins, or even gift cards from unrelated merchants. A few also separate the credentials you use to manage your account from the credentials to log into the VPN service itself.

Hide My Ass Connected

For those protecting their Windows or macOS desktops with a VPN, the availability of specialized servers for BitTorrent and P2P file sharing may be a deciding factor. However, in my experience, using BitTorrent or P2P on a mobile device is much less common.

Here's a distinction that may matter more to me than to the average user. There are many protocols available to protect a VPN connection, and our favorite at PCMag is OpenVPN. It's open-source, so many experts have vetted its security. It's also fast and effective. And…hardly any iPhone VPNs use it. Why? Because Apple would prefer developers use the default IPSec or IKEv2 protocol, so any app that uses OpenVPN must go through even more vetting than usual.

Finally, there's the bang-for-your-buck factor. While it's possible to get a VPN for free, most free services either put a draconian cap on bandwidth or serve up ads. Prices for the iPhone VPNs we've examined range from less than $7 to more than $12 per month, typically with a discount if you pay for several months or a full year. That subscription lets you install protection on anywhere from two to six devices. And no, the price and number of devices don't necessarily correlate. One of the most expensive VPNs that I've examined covers just two devices.
Get the Right iPhone VPN

There's little need to go searching the Apple store for an iPhone antivirus utility to go with iOS 11. Malware coders focus on the low-hanging fruit, meaning the relatively insecure Windows and Android operating systems. But using a VPN isn't about protecting your device; it's about protecting your information, and your network connections. You need a VPN no matter what type of device you use. Read our reviews, check our ratings, and select the VPN that's best for you.

Featured iPhone VPN App Reviews:

    KeepSolid VPN Unlimited (for iPhone)
    KeepSolid VPN Unlimited (for iPhone) Review
    Editors' Choice

    £2.84 at

    Bottom Line: With affordable and flexible pricing, an attractive app, solid speed test performance, and advanced features, KeepSolid VPN Unlimited for iPhone has it all.
     Read Review
    NordVPN (for iPhone)
    NordVPN (for iPhone) Review
    Editors' Choice

    £2.10 at

    Bottom Line: NordVPN packs an excellent VPN service and unique features into a reliable and friendly app, making it a clear Editors' Choice.
     Read Review
    PureVPN (for iPhone)
    PureVPN (for iPhone) Review


    £2.06 at

    Bottom Line: PureVPN has an attractive, easy-to-use interface, and offers servers all over the world. The iPhone app helps you choose servers based on your purpose, and it scores well in our speed tests.
     Read Review
    Golden Frog VyprVPN (for iPhone)
    Golden Frog VyprVPN (for iPhone) Review


    £5.25 at

    Bottom Line: Golden Frog VyprVPN offers advanced features, a robust service, and a friendly interface, but it doesn't cover as many devices as the competition.
     Read Review
    IPVanish VPN (for iPhone)
    IPVanish VPN (for iPhone) Review


    £3.99 at

    Bottom Line: VPN service IPVanish secures your iPhone's web traffic from prying eyes. It's not for newbies, nor is it cheap, but it does pack some powerful features for experienced VPN users.
     Read Review
    Private Internet Access VPN (for iPhone)
    Private Internet Access VPN (for iPhone) Review


    £1.90 at

    Bottom Line: The Private Internet Access iPhone app gives you access to a top VPN service, but it's best suited for advanced users.
     Read Review
    TorGuard VPN (for iPhone)
    TorGuard VPN (for iPhone) Review


    £6.43 at

    Bottom Line: TorGuard's VPN service is among the most comprehensive available, and it earns decent scores in our speed tests. Its user interface could use an update, however.
     Read Review
    TunnelBear VPN (for iPhone)
    TunnelBear VPN (for iPhone) Review


    £3.92 at

    Bottom Line: TunnelBear is not only capable, but funny and friendly. And it won't get in your way. It's a good mobile VPN choice for those without much tech knowledge.
     Read Review
    AnchorFree Hotspot Shield Elite (for iPhone)
    AnchorFree Hotspot Shield Elite (for iPhone) Review


    Bottom Line: AnchorFree Hotspot Shield Elite is a capable VPN with the unusual ability to block dangerous websites. But it's still pricey for what you get.
     Read Review
    Hide My Ass VPN (for iPhone)
    Hide My Ass VPN (for iPhone) Review


    £8.70 at

    Bottom Line: Hide My Ass VPN has a cheeky name, but its web-traffic protection is no joke. However, its friendly, simple interface can't make up for its high per-device price.
     Read Review