Apple has built a solid reputation throughout the years for providing outstanding mobile devices (iPhones and iPads) which look great, run smoothly, and have exceptional security. But along with the new iPhone 14 and the iOS 16 release, an iPhone VPN could appear to be pivotal in protecting your online privacy and anonymity.

Given that iPhones are mostly used when outside, it makes total sense to use VPNs since the latter can protect you against your mobile carrier, advertisers, and hackers.

But let’s see some of the biggest advantages of using a VPN on an iPhone or an iPad.

What to consider when picking an iPhone VPN?

There’s a lot of fish in the iOS VPN market. However, not all apps are created equal. You need to monitor several factors which we have to take into account:

#1 PrivateVPN – The Ultimate VPN Package For Unrivaled Price

PrivateVPN is Time4VPN’s editor choice for many reasons, but the biggest of all is that it works great in real life, and it doesn’t break the bank. In fact, it’s surprisingly cheap.

Security: Let’s start with the security features. PrivateVPN comes with a standard 256-bit AES encryption, but you can also use 128-bit if you want to optimize your speeds. It successfully passes many DNS leak tests, and it protects your IP.

Speed: We can’t expect 200 servers, can we? Our real-life experience proved the opposite. While it cannot compete with NordVPN and Surfshark, it’s on par with ExpressVPN and ProtonVPN. That says quality.

User Interface: PrivateVPN’s designers seem to work a lot in the user experience department because the interface and all processes are so intuitive. The iOS app is an absolute pleasure to work with.

Streaming: We have tested multiple VPNs, but no one comes even close to PrivateVPN’s streaming capabilities. It successfully opens Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and a lot of other international libraries. And that applies to iOS, too!

Value for money: The best deal starts at $2.00 per month or $72 for three years. Provided that you have a generous 10 connections at the same time, you get an outstanding deal, which makes PrivateVPN a top choice if you’re on a budget.

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#2 NordVPN – The Fastest iPhone VPN

NordVPN has many strong sides – it has good security features and provides insane speeds. But it should be a bit better to claim the first spot.

Security: Security-wise, NordVPN is amazing. It uses RAM-based servers and owns them all. The AES-256-bit encryption does a great job at tackling attacks; from our test, there were no leaks.

Speed: Over 5,500 servers in almost 60 countries guarantee high speeds and good coverage. But the truth is that NordVPN has developed NordLynx – a protocol based on wolfSSL and very similar to WireGuard, which makes this VPN probably the fastest on the market.

User Interface: We loved the user-friendly interface. It’s so well done that it catches the eye of graphic designers, too. It’s relatively easy to use, and the modern style adds a lot of value to the product.

Streaming: Not all servers that NordVPN uses support streaming, which is not great. While you can watch Netflix, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, and others in 4K without buffering issues, streaming platforms sometimes recognize Nord’s IP addresses and restrict access.

Value for money: NordVPN offers very good pricing flexibility, as you can get the best deal for just $3.69 per month on a two-year plan. However, you step up and use either the Plus or Complete plans, but prepare to spend up to $5.69 per month. Six simultaneous connections isn’t perfect either.

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#3 Surfshark – A Premium iPhone VPN with a Stunning Price

Surfshark has the highest App Store rating among all members and is certainly worth the price. It’s a game-changer.

Security:Surfshark is a fantastic mobile VPN and deserves full credit for its security protocols. It comes with AES-256 encryption and RAM-only servers, and it didn’t fail in our DNS leak tests, and the rotating IP is a cool feature.

PIA is very well equipped with security features like AES-256 bit, DNS leak blocking, and can occasionally bypass the Chinese’s firewall. We were particularly fond of that.

Speed: With more than 3,200 servers in 100 countries, Surfshark has one of the largest global distributions in the whole VPN market. It supports WireGuard with AES-256-GCM, and reaches insane speeds at times, but sometimes, it fails to keep consistency.

User Interface: Surfshark has a beautiful user interface, but it seems a bit too complicated for beginner users. While we didn’t have any issues with it, you can’t say the same about non-tech-savvy people.

Streaming: Surfshark isn’t popular with its streaming capabilities, although it can stream Netflix and HBO Max without issues on an iPhone. Otherwise, it does open Full HD and 4K content without buffering issues, so it passes our test.

Value for money: Great deal! That’s what we can say about Surfshark. It’s only $2.30 per month if you subscribe to the 24-month plan, which makes it a fabulous deal for bargain hunters. And Surfshark allows unlimited connections!

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#4 ExpressVPN – The Security King of iPhone VPNs

ExpressVPN is an industry leader in VPN security, and it will continue to be a major factor despite its higher price.

Security: ExpressVPN takes security to the next level. Apart from the 256-bit AES encryption, it uses SHA512 hashing (most rivals use SHA256 or SHA384) and a 4096-bit RSA key (also better than the competition). It passed our DNS IP leak tests with ease, and who would think otherwise?

Speed: ExpressVPN has over 3,000 servers in 90+ countries which is a good indicator of high speeds and great server coverage. To our surprise, the proprietary Lightway protocol doesn’t deliver very high speeds.

User Interface: The user interface is well-made, although it is still a bit tough for beginners. However, if you don’t touch too many buttons, you can easily connect to a recommended server which is a good thing.

Streaming: ExpressVPN is a top choice if you are looking for a streaming option on your iPhone or iPad. You can easily open most libraries, like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and others, and enjoy decent speeds without buffering.

Value for money: ExpressVPN doesn’t offer a cheap plan which is quite sad. The best deal is the annual plan which comes at $6.67 per month, which is much higher than the competition. To make things worse, you can only connect 5 devices at the same time.

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#5 ProtonVPN

ProtonVPN works like a Swiss clock…most of the time. But it has a great free plan…most of the time.

Security: ProtonVPN has robust security and is developed by the team who created ProtonMail. There’s a strict no-log policy, 256-bit AES encryption, and two modules worth our attention – Secure Core (against network-level attacks), and NetShield (an adblocker).

Speed: The Swiss VPN provider has more than 1,700 servers across 64 countries but retains best speed across Europe and North America. We were satisfied with the speeds in several tests, but in others, ProtonVPN failed, which shows a lack of consistency.

User Interface: The user interface is not one of the best we’ve found on the market, but you will get used to it after spending some time on the app. We definitely loved the dark theme (from a design standpoint).

Streaming: ProtonVPN has never been the first name to pop into your head when you seek a good VPN for streaming. While you can open Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video, there are many unsupported services.

Value for money: This is the only iPhone VPN that offers a free plan. Remember that you won’t get much value from it – while Proton promises high speeds, the free servers are often congested. The best premium deal you get is $4.99 per month, the biennial plan.

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FAQ

Using a VPN on an iPhone will let you join public networks with more confidence, stream your favorite TV shows, and enjoy mobile shopping at lower prices. For these reasons, we would definitely recommend using a VPN.

Unlike desktop computers, mobile plans still have data caps that should be considered. You should also take into account battery drain. As a result, we wouldn’t recommend using OpenVPN on an iPhone. Instead, you can try IKEv2, which is fast, efficient, and consumes less battery and mobile data.

Yes, if your VPN service supports streaming services and has access to many content libraries, you can enjoy your favorite movies on your iPhone or iPad device.

Yes, you’ll lose some of your bandwidth speed. However, technology is advanced enough that the losses will be negligible if you use the most suitable protocols (IKEv2).