Dear Lifehacker, does a VPN app on a phone make all internet traffic go through it? I’m heading to London and Iceland and want to use unsecured Wi-Fi for banking and email. Do the VPNs push Safari as well as things like the Facebook app through them to be secure? Cheers, Mickus.
Hey Mickus,
Yep! A VPN on your smartphone will entirely take over its network connection — whether that’s Wi-Fi or mobile data — and will send all data through that. All apps and background services will run via the VPN’s network connection.
You can either set up a VPN through your iPhone’s settings — I’m guessing you use an iPhone since you mentioned Safari, but the same is true of Android — by heading to Settings->General->VPN and entering the details there. Alternatively, you can use a standalone app. Some of the more premium VPN services out there have name-branded apps — I’m thinking of Private Internet Access, which I pay $US40 per year for to dodge government spooks — that you can use.
I’d only do banking through a VPN that you trust and have thoroughly researched, though. It’s hard to establish the authenticity of any of the hundreds of different VPN services out there, but you can at least read their terms and conditions, understand where their servers are located, and whether they actually take responsibility for the data that passes through. A paid VPN, too, is universally a better idea than a free one. Almost anything will be better than unsecured Wi-Fi, though — better the devil you know.
When you’ve settled on a VPN that you like, and have signed up and installed the app or input the appropriate details into your phone’s settings, you just have to remember to use it. VPNs don’t switch themselves on automatically, especially if you’re regularly switching on and off your phone — like when you’re travelling around the world — so a little bit of extra vigilance will go a long way.
Cheers
Lifehacker
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This article originally appeared on Gizmodo.
Comments
4 responses to “Ask LH: Does A VPN App Hide All My Phone’s Internet Traffic?”
I’ve noticed when I’m using my VPN on my phone (Private Internet Access on an Android), I can’t send or receive MMS. Anyone else have this problem or know how to fix it?
Disconnect from your VPN to send MMS. You can work around it, but that could lead to roaming fees.
If you’re using a VPN on your phone to browse anonymously (insofar as that’s possible) would you then need to log out of Facebook, or prevent Mail from checking for new emails? Not in Safari but other apps, is staying logged into them providing a link between those accounts and your browsing?
Hi LH! I also use a VPN when connecting to the internet through my android. I’m only new to this kind of thing but so far I’m happy with using FrootVPN to surf anonymously, especially since I like connecting to public WiFi networks on libraries (and sometimes coffee shops). It’s just good to read that my decision to use a VPN is actually better. Cheers to this answer.