If you’ve got an iPhone, then you might think you don’t need to worry about using a VPN. You’d be completely wrong, unfortunately: iPhone users are just as vulnerable to cyberattacks as Android users are!
Where you definitely do have an advantage is when it comes to the iphone VPN apps available in the Apple App Store. Because Apple has much stricter regulations than Google does, there aren’t as many fake options that simply download malware onto your iPhone.
But that doesn’t mean you can install just any free iPhone VPN app.
What to Look For in an iPhone VPN
Before we take a look at our best iPhone VPN app recommendations (or even the reasons you should ideally be avoiding free VPNs), let’s talk about the things you should be paying attention to when on the market for a VPN:
- The provider is not based in a 5/9/14 Eyes country
- Strict no-logs policy
- 256-bit AES encryption
- Automatic kill switch
- IP and DNS leak protection
- Lots of servers
- High-speed connection
- Able to unblock streaming services
- Unlimited bandwidth
- OpenVPN protocol
- Usability
- 24/7 customer support (live chat is best)
- Affordability
Unfortunately, expecting any free VPN to tick all of these boxes is highly unrealistic.
With that said, we did manage to identify a few passable options.
The Best Free VPN for iPhone
Our guidelines for finding the best free VPNs you can trust are:
- Always do plenty of research, but be wary of fake or compromised VPN review sites
- Read through the Privacy Policy to see if the provider is doing anything you should know about
- Use a freemium service, where the provider offers a free version as well as a premium version
Using these criteria, we can recommend the following providers:
- Windscribe is a freemium service, so you can upgrade to the paid version at any time. The two versions are almost exactly the same, with the only limitations being a 10GB/month bandwidth cap and a smaller server network to choose from. However, you can get an extra 5GB/month if you Tweet about the provider!
- ProtonVPN is another freemium option. There aren’t any data limits, but you can only connect to VPN servers in 3 countries.
- Tunnelbear is a cute, bear-themed freemium VPN that offers 500MB/month for free. However, you can get an extra 2GB/month if you Tweet about the provider! There are a few other issues (including some user logs being kept), but it’s a good way to ease into the world of VPNs.
- Speedify only gives you 2GB for free every month, and they have a few other notable issues. These include a less-than-ideal logging policy and substandard encryption.
Why You Shouldn’t Rely on a Free VPN for iPhone
Many VPN review sites have much longer lists. You might be looking at ours and thinking we’re cheating you out of other viable options!
But the truth is, the 4 VPNs we listed above are the only free iPhone VPNs you can actually trust. The others – including those other review sites are pushing – have at least one, typically more, of the following issues:
- Completely fake
- Logs your data and sells it to the highest bidder
- A government honeypot (or is otherwise known to give user data to the government)
- Has poor security
- Has major malware issues
You’ve already spent a lot of money buying yourself an iPhone. Don’t risk messing it up by choosing a dangerous VPN app!
Ultimately, if you’re going to use a free VPN at all, it should be considered a short-term solution.
The Better Option…
Ideally, if you’re in a short-term bind, then the best option is to take advantage of free trials and money-back guarantees. These will only work if you need a VPN short-term, though, because eventually you’ll run out of reliable providers!
If your plan is to upgrade to a premium VPN at a later stage anyway, then we recommend the following best VPNs for iPhone:
- CyberGhost VPN – 14-day money-back guarantee (45-day guarantee on longer subscription terms)
- ExpressVPN – 30-day money-back guarantee
- NordVPN – 30-day money-back guarantee
- SaferVPN – 30-day money-back guarantee
- Surfshark VPN – 30-day money-back guarantee
Bear in mind money-back guarantees usually have terms and conditions attached! In some cases, that includes bandwidth limits.
Remember to read through those terms and conditions first to make sure you don’t lose money you were planning on having refunded.
Final Word
As we hope you can appreciate, using a free VPN isn’t ever really recommended. But it certainly is a good short-term solution!
Ultimately, the Windscribe freemium option is our best recommendation. But you’ll still want to opt for a premium VPN with a money-back guarantee if you can.
Be sure to use our VPN comparison tool to find the right VPN to install on your iPhone!
