There are numerous reasons why you should use a VPN service on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. When a VPN service gets between your Apple device and your internet provider by creating a proxy, it can encrypt all data, mask all your private information, spoof some of the information, unblock websites and a lot more. No matter if you want to protect your data as you’re browsing on public Wi-Fi or you want to access regional services or content that’s not available at your physical location, a VPN service can always come in handy.
What Is a VPN and How Does It Help Me?
To put it simply, a VPN connects your iPhone, iPad or, Mac to another computer (called a server) somewhere on the internet, and allows you to browse the internet using that computer’s internet connection. So if that server is in a different country, it will appear as if you are coming from that country, and you can potentially access things that you couldn’t normally.
So how does this help you? Good question! You can use a VPN on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to:
- Access regional services or content that’s not available at your physical location on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. For example, you may use a VPN to access Netflix content that isn’t available in your home country. In such a situation, you would use one of the many VPN services available around the world. Any of these would also require installing an app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
- Protect yourself from snooping on public Wi-Fi network.
- Gain at least some anonymity on web by hiding your real location.
- Protect yourself from being logged while torrenting.
Most iPhone, iPad and Mac users these days are using a VPN for torrenting or bypassing geographic restrictions to watch content in a different country. They are still very useful for protecting yourself while working at a coffee shop, but that’s hardly the only use anymore.
How Does a VPN Work?
When you connect your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to a VPN, the device acts as if it’s on the same local network as the VPN. All your network traffic is sent over a secure connection to the VPN. Because your device behaves as if it’s on the network, this allows you to securely access local network resources even when you’re on the other side of the world. You’ll also be able to use the Internet as if you were present at the VPN’s location, which has some benefits if you’re using pubic Wi-Fi or want to access geo-blocked websites.
When you browse the web while connected to a VPN, your iPhone, iPad, or Mac contacts the website through the encrypted VPN connection. The VPN forwards the request for you and forwards the response from the website back through the secure connection. If you’re using a USA-based VPN to access Netflix, Netflix will see your connection as coming from within the USA.
How Do You Get a VPN, and Which One Should You Choose?
Depending on your needs, you can either use a VPN from your workplace, create a VPN server yourself, or sometimes host one out of your house — but realistically most iPhone, iPad and Mac users are just looking for something to protect them while torrenting or help them watch some media online that they can’t seem to access from their country.
The easiest thing to do is simply head into a VPN service provider sites, sign up, and download the VPN client for your iPhone, ipad, or Mac. It’s as easy as that.
Other Example Uses for VPN
VPNs are a fairly simple tool, but they can be used to accomplish a wide range of things on iPhone, iPad, or Mac:
- Access a Business Network While Traveling: VPNs are frequently used by business travelers to access their business’ network, including all its local network resources, while on the road. The local resources don’t have to be exposed directly to the Internet, which increases security.
- Access Your Home Network While Travelling: You can also set up your own VPN to access your own network while travelling. This will allow you to access a Windows Remote Desktop over the Internet, use local file shares, and play games over the Internet as if you were on the same LAN (local area network).
- Hide Your Browsing Activity From Your Local Network and ISP: If you’re using a public Wi-Fi connection, your browsing activity on non-HTTPS websites is visible to everyone neraby, if they know how to look. If you want to hide your browsing activity for a bit more privacy, you can connect to a VPN. The local network will only see a single, secure VPN connection. All the other traffic will travel over the VPN connection. While this can be used to bypass connection-monitoring by your Internet service provider, bear in mind that VPN providers may opt to log the traffic on their ends.
- Access Geo-Blocked Websites: Whether you’re an American trying to access your Netflix account while travelling out of the country or you wish you could use American media sites like Netflix, Pandora, and Hulu, you’ll be able to access these region-restricted services if you connect to a VPN located in the USA.
- Bypass Internet Censorship: Many Chinese people use VPNs to get around the Great Firewall of China and gain access to the entire Internet. (However, the Great Firewall has apparently started interfering with VPNs recently.)
- Downloading Files: Yes, let’s be honest — many people use VPN connections to download files via BitTorrent. This can actually be useful even if you’re downloading completely legal torrents — if your ISP is throttling BitTorrent and making it extremely slow, you can use BitTorrent on a VPN to get faster speeds. The same is true for other types of traffic your ISP might interfere with (unless they interfere with VPN traffic itself.)
Should You Use a Free VPN?
Running a VPN server, and running it well, costs money. It’s not just about the server space, but it’s about the encryption and privacy policy as well. When you’re paying a company to encrypt your traffic, you know that they have an incentive to provide a good service. But that’s not true for free VPN services.
In fact, free VPN services can themselves me collecting and sharing your data. This is why we usually don’t recommend you use a free VPN service unless you’re absolutely sure about the business model.
Your reasons to use a VPN?
So these are our top reasons to use a VPN on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. What do you use a VPN for? What is your favorite VPN service? Which company do you trust the most? Which company offers both the best features and the most peace of mind? Drop us a comment and let us know.