The Best iPhone VPN Services
There are a few reasons you’d want to get a VPN connection on your iPhone. Basically, they boil down to privacy and entertainment. If you’re using an iPhone VPN for Netflix and Hulu outside The USA, or a similar service where you have to change your IP, you’ll be looking for a VPN service that can give you the most speed. If you’re using a VPN to protect your identity at public wifi spots, or secure your data transfers over unsecured connections, then you want a VPN that will provide you with the best encryption.
Here’s the breakdown of what you’re looking for.
Fast VPN
For speed, you need PPTP VPN. This is an older version of VPN technology, and encryption certainly isn’t as advanced as some other protocols are now. However, because of its simplistic structure and low bandwidth use, streaming will be faster than with high-encryption VPN protocols. You can even use this VPN connection on your Mac or other PC operating system.
You iPhone will come with a VPN client for PPTP VPN, which means that installation is as simple as typing in the username and password provided by the VPN service of your choice. This VPN protocol hides your IP address and provides you with some privacy while browsing the internet. All VPN services will offer this basic VPN connection, and some even have discounts for PPTP VPN.
Secure VPN
If you’re looking for security, then L2TP is what you need. You may see it written as L2TP/IPSec. These are the two layers of the VPN. L2TP is the type of VPN tunnel that is created between you and the VPN server. IPSec is the type of encryption that is used. You do not need to know the minute details of how they work, but you should know that this is a 2nd generation VPN protocol that provides major security and privacy upgrades from PPTP VPN.
The high-encryption features of L2TP VPN mean of course that it will use up more bandwidth, and may not be suitable for streaming TV. It can, but you won’t get as fast of a connection as PPTP VPN. Some users report this different as negligible, and others say different. It may depend on other factors like your internet connection speed, location of the VPN server, and how many other users are signed into the VPN.
Though iPhone comes with an L2TP VPN client, you may be required to go through a setup process to get connected. This will depend on the VPN service you choose and their particular version of the L2TP VPN for iPhone. This type of VPN is offered at most VPN service.
OpenVPN and SSTP
Though you may see some blog posts or articles posted around the internet about how to get these types of VPNs on your iPhone, it is not recommenced that you do so. Many of these are written by ‘wannabe tech-gods’ that may not know 100% of what they’re talking about. Though it is possible to jailbreak your iPhone and develop the proper apps to get connected to OpenVPN and SSTP VPN servers, your iPhone was not designed to do this! These types of modifications may result is bricking your phone, and then no one can help you.
Best VPN Services for iPhone
There are a number of VPN services out there and pretty much all of them support iOS systems. The big 4 are Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows (and sometimes Linux), so finding a provider that supports iPhone is not a problem. Below are some of my favorite VPN services and why.
Hide My Ass
This is certainly the most popular VPN service on the site. I think it’s because they offer lots VPN server locations and FULL access to all of them for one price. For just over six dollars a month you get access almost 300 servers in 50 countries, which is a TON. Other services that offer networks as large as this do not give you full and unlimited access. The only issue with HMA is that their customer service team is a bit wishy-washy sometimes.
VyprVPN
For users looking for security and privacy, VyprVPN is the way to go. What most services don’t tell you is that their VPN servers are actually owned by other companies. This doesn’t mean that there are groups of hacker looking to hack your personal data through these third party servers, but it does mean that these services don’t maintain 100% control of the VPN servers. With VyprVPN, everything is in-house. They also offer NAT-Firewall upgrade options and a standard of 256-bit encryption rather than 128-bit as with other services. At Mr. VPN we’re currently able to offer a $5 discount for every month you use VyprVPN. That means you save $60 per year.
—–> Read the full review for updated info + Discount Links
PandaPow
This service will appeal to users who just want to get started NOW. Their one-click installation and easy server connection means you don’t have to think about anything except which server you want to connect to. Customer service is also awesome – fast and friendly. There’s not a lot of frills like tons of server locations or mega-encryption deals, but they provide everything that’s needed for a secure, private, and reliable VPN connection.
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