Access Stuff From Back Home On Vacation
When you go abroad, many websites and services from your home country become unavailable. This is because of geo-restrictions set up by those websites. With a VPN, you can pretend to be back home by connecting to a server in your country. This lets you access websites and services youre your home country, even while you are away on vacation. For more information, check out our VPNs to use while on holiday guide.
Why Set Up A VPN
You can prevent all of the above by connecting to a VPN first. You do that by using a VPN app. And the website that you connect to will identify you as a server within the VPN, instead of your private connection. If youre in country A and you connect to a VPN server in country B, all internet servers will think that youre in country B.With a VPN, youll be able to access blocked sites, such as when youre overseas. Those who frequent file sharing and torrent sites, should also consider installing a VPN app.Todays VPN services use data encryption and other tools to increase your privacy and security on the internet. However, a VPN app cant make you completely anonymous. The VPN company may have to share your data with law enforcement if served with a warrant. But thats a topic for another article.
Guide: What Does VPN Do For Your Phone
VPN, which stands for Virtual Private Network, provides many benefits for your phone including the ability to connect to blocked websites and content in other countries and a more secure browsing experience.
Are you thinking of getting a VPN and wondering what does VPN do for your phone?
VPN, which stands for Virtual Private Network, provides many benefits for your phone including the ability to connect to blocked websites and content in other countries and a more secure browsing experience.
When you are on your phone, VPN helps you stay anonymous and access blocked sites, videos and content while you are on-the-go.
Let us explore what is a VPN and how it can benefit you on your phone, whether you are on an iPhone or Android phone.
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What Kind Of VPN App Is Best For My Android
There are lots of VPN providers out there, from free VPN services to iOS users that require iPhone VPNs. Of course, Android users are no exception and that’s why we’ve compiled our dedicated guide to the best Android VPNs available today.
Do your research and choose an app that works best with your Android phone from our guide. And be aware there can be a large disparity between the price of these services, so be sure to look at competing products before deciding on a winner.
In short, you’ll want a service where the devs have really thought about how the VPN should work smoothly and intuitively on Android. It’s also worth looking out to see whether the provider your eyeing up has a custom kill switch for Androids – an extra layer of protection that not all VPN apps are able to offer.
Does The VPN Have A Kill Switch
What if your connection with your VPN provider drops? Usually, your laptop, smartphone or other device will revert back to public Internet Protocol address provided by your home Internet Service Provider. This means that snoops could then be able to track your online activity and see your IP address until you connect back with your VPN provider.
Some VPN providers offer a kill switch feature to deal with this. If the VPN connection drops, the kill switch is designed to instantly sever your connection to the internet. This way, your IP address and online activity arent visible to anyone else.
Does the VPN have a kill switch?
- Norton Secure VPN no
- Tunnel Bear yes
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Why You Should Use A VPN
The benefits of a VPN are mostly around privacy, but there are other perks.
Your internet traffic is guarded against interception. Unencrypted data is viewable by anyone with network access and a desire to see it. With a VPN, hackers and cybercriminals cannot eavesdrop. They need an encryption key to make sense of it, and brute force attacks would take billions of years for a computer to discover the code. With cybercriminals blocked out, your activity is hidden with confidence, even on public networks.
Location privacy is a result of the VPN servers standing in as your representative on the internet. Since the location demographic data comes from the server in another country, your actual location is impossible to discover. Most VPN services do not store logs of your activity on their service. So, any potential record of your use is permanently hidden.
Region-restricted web content is unlocked for your access from anywhere. Services and websites sometimes have content only accessible from certain parts of the world. Default connections use local servers in-country to determine your location. This means you cannot access home content if traveling, and you cannot access international content while at home. VPN location spoofing allows you to server-switching to other countries, effectively changing your location.
Which VPN Should I Use
Our roundups of the best VPNs and the best cheap VPNs are excellent places to research the top choices, but below is a quick list of our top picks if you just want to get started with online privacy protection right now.
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An Alternative To VPNs For Iphone
If youre still on the fence about using a VPN on your iPhone, there are free alternatives that will also help to keep you anonymous online. One alternative is Tor, a web browser that relays you through a random series of computers before you connect to the internet.
There are many Tor-powered browser apps available in the App Store, most of which are free. There are also some paid Tor browser apps such as Red Onion, which has a 4.5 star rating based on nearly 1,000 reviews.
Tor was originally created by the United States government to help protect their overseas agents. Today, Tor is used by millions of people who just want to try and stay anonymous on the internet. Tor has become increasingly popular because its free to install on your Mac or iPhone and its fairly easy to use.
Watch International Sports Competitions
Services like MLB.TV, UFC Fight Pass, F1 TV, Sky Sports, BeIN sports, ESPN, and Fox sports are not available in every country. However, with a VPN you can unblock those channels to stream more sports with your VPN. A VPN also lets you watch local tournaments such as Wimbledon for free.
Its worth noting that VPNs do not bypass the need to subscribe to premium services, but they can provide access to channels around the world that might air the same paid content for free.
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Which VPN Is Best For Android
There is a wide selection when it comes to choosing the best Android VPN app. Google Play lists numerous VPN services, some of which are free to the user, while others are subscription based.
Free VPN services often allow and include advertising, and the quality of their services varies, especially in terms of how long it takes for websites to respond. They may limit the amount of data you can use through their services each month and, they may also log your browsing activity.
Subscription-based VPN apps often offer better service levels and no restriction on the amount of data you can use. Response time is also usually faster. Of high importance, paid VPN services typically offer highly secure, bank-grade encryption.
Here are some features you may want to look for in a VPN app for Android:
- Bank-grade encryption
- No logging of your web activity
- Adblocking features
- Variety of server locations to connect to
How To Get The Fastest VPN Speeds On Your Iphone
People spend lots of time on iPhones these days, and that includes taking part in high-bandwidth activities such as streaming videos. And it goes without saying that nobody enjoys buffering, playback errors, or slow-loading websites. Therefore its important to get a fast and reliable VPN for your iPhone that delivers consistent performance.
If you want a fast VPN for your iPhone, you will need to use the WireGuard VPN protocol with a good VPN provider. It is for this reason that NordVPN and Surfshark were ranked the best VPNs for iPhone in 2022. They both support the WireGuard protocol on iOS, and they both have a network of extremely fast servers . Here are the reasons that make the WireGuard protocol so ideal for iPhone users:
- Extremely fast download speeds
- Nearly instant connections
- Seamless connection when transitioning between network interfaces
- More reliability
Using WireGuard on an iPhone is easy just select it under the list of protocols in your iPhones VPN app. For example, here it is with NordVPN with the NordLynx protocol :
With a good VPN, and the WireGuard VPN protocol, you will enjoy the fastest VPN speeds on your iPhone. Now just dont run out of data!
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How Do I Turn Off A VPN On My Phone
If you want to turn off the VPN on your phone you simply go in here:
Theres another way to do it and it is by opening the VPN app from the VPN provider. In the case above it will be an app from XpressVPN or Windscribe. When the app is opened you can simply click the big On/Off button at the center of the screen.
Now you have deactivated the VPN and you will no longer be browsing through an encrypted connection.
For an Android phone, you do it in a similar way. You go to:
And of course, you can also open the VPN app on your Android device and simply turn off the VPN there.
Is There A VPN App For My Iphone
You can download the VPN software for your iPhone from the App Store. In fact, the best VPNs have made their app available on the Apple Store. Unfortunately, the market is being eroded by hundreds of VPNs, so it’s not a good idea to search for VPNs in the App Store. Many free VPNs are known to contain malware, malicious ads, and spyware.
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How Many Devices Can Connect To The VPN At Once
Think of how many devices in your home connect to the internet. You have your laptops, tablets, smart phones, and voice assistants. You might even have smart appliances that access the web.
Thats why its important to work with a VPN provider that allows several devices to connect to it at one time. That way, you can have both your laptop and your childrens tablets routed through a VPN at the same time.
Some VPN providers might offer different plans that allow for a higher or lower number of simultaneous connections. In general, you can expect to pay more for a greater number of connections. Top providers allow you to connect 10 or more devices simultaneously.
Number of simultaneous VPN connections:
- Norton Secure VPN 1, 5 or 10 based on plan level
- PureVPN 5
- Tunnel Bear 5
A VPN Makes It Possible To Access Corporate Private Files On Your Phone When Working Remotely
Sometimes its much easier to reply to someone via email from your iPhone or Android smartphone. But if you need to attach a confidential document , youd typically have to get them from the companys online drive, which will require a secure connection.
Pros: If youre using a VPN on your phone, not only you will be able to quickly do that, but also work in a completely secured environment, without any potential leaks.
Cons: You may be restricted to certain choices of VPN services, depending on your company policy. This means that the VPN service might not be the perfect fit for your other needs. But, all-in-all, its better than not using a VPN at all!
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What Does VPN Do On Your Phone
VPNs give you access to your computer without paying a fee. Regardless of whether you have a computer, tablet, or smartphone, a VPN software keeps your data from prying eyes. you are delivering your sensitive data in a scrambled format which is completely unreadable to anyone.
Should I Always Use A VPN On My Iphone
Ultimately, youll need to decide whether you want to use a VPN all or just some of the time, but these tips should help you to make an informed decision:
- Typically, VPNs will slow down your iPhone because it has to connect to another network before connecting to the internet. So, when youre using a VPN on your iPhone, it may be slower than youre used to.
- If youre trying to do something on your iPhone that uses a lot of data such as streaming videos or downloading files then it may be better to turn your iPhone VPN off. In fact, some VPNs will even limit your ability to stream videos because of the amount of bandwidth it takes up.
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What Does VPN Mean At The Top Corner Of My Screen
When you see this VPN logo at the top corner screen of your mobile phone it means that you have an active VPN connection running.
A VPN program can be set to automatically start when you turn on your phone or you may have activated it yourself.
The VPN logo is typically shown in a little squared box like the example above. When you see the logo you can do into your phone setting to see where the VPN comes from and which program it is run by.
Heres how you check that on an iPhone:
Here you can see whether it says Connected or not. If you see the squared VPN icon at the top of the screen it means that the VPN is active. It will say on this screen which VPN you are using. Heres how it currently looks on my iPhone as Im using a VPN called ExpressVPN:
You can also see the logo at the top of my screen above.
A Hide Browsing Activity On Public Wi
One of the most popular uses of VPN is its ability to secure and hide your browsing activity from your local ISP network or when youre on unsecured Public Wi-Fi networks, such as airports or cafés. Most of these public Wi-Fi networks are offered for Free and in return, snoop on customers’ privacy by reading their browsing habits, ecommerce purchases, social media activity, etc. In order to safeguard yourself and your data from such ISPs and networks, you can enable VPN on your iPhone.
Once VPN is enabled, your iPhone creates a secure and encrypted tunnel to the fortified VPN servers and all traffic between the two is kept hidden from the local ISPs and Public Wi-Fi networks. As the connection is encrypted, they are unable to intercept any data or invade your privacy.
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Does The VPN Block Ads
Pop-up ads can be annoying and dangerous. They can slow your browsing speeds and clutter your screen when youre trying to watch videos or read a blog post. Even worse, cybercriminals often use pop-up ads if you click on them to infect your computer with malware.
Thats why ad blockers are so important: They help to keep these ads from showing up on your screen when youre surfing the web. This can improve speed web pages load faster when theyre not bogged down with ads and help keep your devices safe from ads littered with malware.
You want a VPN service that blocks ads, then. Again, most paid services will do this. And you can see that each VPN provider in our list does block ads.
Does the VPN block ads?
- Norton Secure VPN no
- Tunnel Bear yes
Setting Up Your VPN On Your Iphone Or Android
Once youve chosen a provider, its time to set up the VPN on your phone. There are a couple of ways to do this. The first and most straightforward option is to:
- Purchase a VPN app in the Apple store or the Google Play store and download the app
- Follow the setup instructions. Generally, these applications are easy to set up, even for the novices. And, theyre easy to maintain, since you can set up and save preferences.Avast SecureLine VPN offers apps for both Android and iOS mobile devices. And, it has 256-bit bank grade encryption and is built on the strong OpenVPN and OpenSSL protocols.
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The second option is to manually set up the VPN on your mobile device, which obviously requires a bit more time, effort, and knowledge. This approach is best suited for someone who wants more control over the VPN experience, including the ability to choose a specific protocol and customize settings.
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