It’s hard to find a good free VPN for iOS these days. Many free VPNs either record your data and sell it to third parties or have weak security features, slow down your device and even drain your iPhone’s battery. It may not be easy to find the best VPN app because there are a lot of good reviews out there.
Risks for choosing a free VPN for iPhone and iOS
When looking for the best free VPNs for iPhone, these were some important criteria that you should consider. You can apply them yourself when choosing a free VPN for your iOS device.
Many free VPNs for the iPhone can put your online security at risk. These are some of the risks you should be aware of when considering downloading a free VPN:
Free VPNs can record and sell your data. Free VPNs often sell your online information to advertisers and other third parties to make profits. To protect your online privacy, you should use a VPN with a strict zero-logging policy.
Free VPNs may expose your data due to weak security features. Since free VPNs usually lack the resources to keep their security features up to date, data leaks happen. Be sure to use a VPN with AES 256-bit encryption and IP/DNS leak protection to keep your online data safe.
Free VPNs can infect your device with viruses and malware. Although this is not a major problem since Apple is very strict about which apps are included in the App Store, it has still happened with free VPNs in the past. Since most free VPNs rely on ads to make a profit, you often get cluttered with ads that can increase the risk of your device getting infected with malware.
The best free VPN for iPhone and iOS
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN has a secure iOS app that protects your online information. It offers AES 256-bit encryption, the highest level of encryption available. Plus, I felt extra secure because ExpressVPN uses Perfect Forward Secrecy. This means that even if hackers were to figure out the encryption key, it can’t be used to decrypt data because it changes frequently.
I was able to choose between several protocols in the iOS app, including ExpressVPN’s own Lightway protocol. Lightway UDP was the fastest during my testing. It’s lightweight but very secure, so it’s great for saving your iPhone’s battery life. If you’re not sure which protocol to use, you can always select the “Automatic” option in the iOS app. This way, ExpressVPN will choose the most suitable protocol for your network.
What’s more, ExpressVPN that you can find on https://en.vpnwelt.com/ takes your privacy seriously. It has IP/DNS leak protection and a strict no-logs policy to keep your online data private. The policies have been tested and verified by independent security companies, so you know they’re trustworthy.
For an extra layer of security, ExpressVPN uses RAM-based servers. This means that all data is deleted every time the server is restarted. Also, the company is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, which means that it is not legally required to give out your personal information).
It has a high-speed server network (all P2P-friendly). When I tested 10 of the nearby servers in the UK, Germany, and Spain, my speed averaged 75.6 Mbps – that’s 15 times faster than what you need for smooth HD streams. I was even more impressed when I connected to remote servers in the US and my speed only dropped by 6%. With ExpressVPN’s unlimited data and super-fast speeds, you can surf, torrent, and stream on your iPhone without any delays.
ExpressVPN can easily access any popular streaming platform. With its 3,000 servers in 90 countries worldwide, you can watch more than 15 Netflix libraries on iPhone. I can also unlock Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video with ease.
I liked how easy ExpressVPN’s iOS app is to use. The app has an intuitive settings menu that lets you customize it the way you like. You can’t use ExpressVPN’s kill switch or split tunneling feature in the iOS app, but it has other unique features like the “password generator” and “threat manager”. The VPN is compatible with iOS 12 and above.
ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN’s free iOS app offers unlimited data, so you can surf the web with your iPhone without getting cut off. Most free VPNs only give you a few GBs per month, so unlimited data is rare. In addition, it also offers fast speeds.
The iOS app offers several security features to keep your personal data safe. It has AES 256-bit encryption, IP/DNS leak protection, and multiple security protocols. The kill switch further protects your connection.
ProtonVPN has a strict no-logging policy to protect your data. Also, the iOS app is independently verified and open source, which adds an extra layer of transparency. It is also headquartered in Switzerland, which means that ProtonVPN cannot be forced to share your online data with member countries of this agreement.
The app is compatible with iOS 12 and above, and setup is simple. It offers a small server network with 17 free servers in the US, Japan, and the Netherlands. This means that you may experience slow speeds depending on your location, time of day, or user congestion.
Fortunately, ProtonVPN offers an extensive knowledge base on its website where you can find most of the answers to your questions, but customer support is quite slow.
Avira Phantom VPN
Avira Phantom’s free iOS app is easy to use, making it a good choice for VPN newbies. You can connect to a server with just one click of the big “Connect” button. I also enjoyed using the “Nearest Location” feature during my testing, which automatically connects you to the fastest server nearby. The app is compatible with iOS 11 and above. It also offers unlimited simultaneous connections, so I was able to protect all of my iOS devices.
The VPN protects your iPhone with military-grade 256-bit encryption, a kill switch, and IP/DNS leak protection. I also liked the Auto Connect feature, which automatically connects the VPN when it detects an untrusted WiFi network.
The VPN adheres to a strict no-logging policy, meaning it doesn’t log any personal information from your iOS device. However, one minor drawback is that the company is headquartered in Germany, which is not known as a privacy-friendly country.
The network is large for a free VPN and consists of 30 free server locations worldwide. However, they were unable to unblock any streaming platforms. Pages didn’t load, and when they did, there were proxy errors.
With a data cap of 500 MB per month, Avira Phantom VPN is not a good VPN for streaming anyway. If you sign up with your email address, you can get an extra 500 MB per month.
Although the free version of Avira Phantom VPN offers a knowledge base to find answers to most of your questions, you can’t contact customer support. This was a bit annoying, as I had some specific questions about certain security features that I couldn’t find in the knowledge base.
