Many of us these days are using the internet to do everything from shopping for clothes to watching our favorite TV show. But, this is not without its risks. The internet is full of hackers looking for ways to steal your personal information and passwords; which means you need protection!
One way to protect yourself online is by turning on a VPN on your iPhone. But what is a VPN on your iPhone and what exactly does switching it on mean? And should you turn on the VPN on your iPhone? Here are the benefits and drawbacks of turning on a VPN on your iPhone.
The Advantages of Switching on a VPN on Your iPhone
There are plenty of reasons why you should turn on a VPN on your iPhone. These include:
- More privacy and security on the internet; the VPN sends your iPhone data through an encrypted tunnel, which means no third parties can see what you’re doing online. This is beneficial to prevent hackers and other snoops from finding out any of your personal data or information.
- The ability to bypass geo-blocks. With an iPhone VPN, you can access foreign websites which are blocked in your country or foreign versions of popular sites such as streaming platforms. This can be done by connecting to a server in another country that changes your IP address.
- Using a VPN on your iPhone can also help you get past firewall blocks on school and work networks. For example, if certain websites are blocked on these networks, like social media platforms, then a VPN can help you access these with no issue whatsoever.
- With a VPN switched on on your iPhone, even if you’re not using the internet, you are protected at all times. So, if you have 4G data roaming when you’re out and about, your VPN will be protecting all apps that are connected to the internet. Furthermore, whenever you switch to a new internet network on your iPhone, with the VPN turned on, you can rest assured that you’ll be protected at all times.
The Disadvantages of Switching on a VPN on Your iPhone
Although VPNs offer a lot of advantages for iPhone users, there are some downsides to turning on the VPN on your iPhone.
- Switching a VPN on, can, on occasion, affect your iPhone’s overall performance. VPNs can drain your battery and cause your iPhone to underperform. It can also affect the running of other apps, which may have to stop running in the background, causing issues for your overall device.
- As well as slowing down your iPhone and its functions, a VPN can sometimes slow down internet speeds on your iPhone. This isn’t great news, especially if you’re sending emails, having chats on VoIP services, and need good quality and a buffer-free connection.
- Depending on the plan you use, your iPhone VPN may have a bandwidth limit (especially if you use a free plan). By turning on the VPN when you don’t need to, you’ll be using up your data allowance and potentially using up the daily or monthly quota without realizing it.
Should I Turn My iPhone VPN on?
We recommend that users activate VPNs on their iPhones, only when necessary. If you are carrying out internet tasks that don’t require the use of a VPN, or you are not using the internet, then you don’t need to turn on the VPN.
However, we don’t advise never using the VPN, since internet threats are very real and becoming increasingly more prominent.
Hi, I'm Madeleine. I'm a British writer with a global background, currently based in the UK.
I have always been interested in the online world and how it connects people worldwide. My keen interest in the internet led me to ...
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