You might want a VPN on your phone. Here’s how to get started

Interest in virtual private networks (VPNs) has surged in America and Europe this year. Countries on both sides of the Atlantic have recently enacted new age-verification laws designed to prevent users from accessing certain websites unless they first confirm their legal identity. Using a VPN can bypass these age checks by making a website think you are in a country that doesn’t require ID verification.

However, adding a VPN to your smartphone is a good idea even if you have no desire to skirt age verification. Using a VPN on your iPhone or Android can help keep your data and online activity secure from advertisers, internet service providers (ISPs), and hackers. Here’s why there is growing interest in VPNs as of late, and how to put one on your phone.

Why and how to choose a VPN

While some people do use VPNs to bypass age checks, there are many other reasons to use one. A VPN can keep your data safer on public networks, like those in cafés or other places around town, by encrypting it. VPNs also let you access content from foreign streamers. Additionally, a VPN is a useful tool for journalists, academics, and activists, since it gives them more anonymity online and helps them access articles and other data that might be restricted to certain geographic locations.

The trick is to choose a good VPN for your phone. Unfortunately, that usually means opting for one you have to pay for. While many free options are available, it’s probably best to avoid them unless you completely trust the company behind the service. A VPN service can be expensive to operate, and if the company is offering it for free, it probably monetizes your data, which defeats the purpose.

Before choosing to pay for a VPN, you should research several options and select the one that best suits your needs based on several factors, including cost, the number of devices included with the plan, and the transparency the company provides about what data it collects and what it does with the data. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) offers a helpful guide on selecting a reliable VPN.

Popular providers include NordVPN, Surfshark, Mullvad, Proton VPN, and ExpressVPN, just to name a few. And the great thing about these major VPN providers is that they make it easy to set up and use a VPN on your iPhone or Android smartphone.

New age verification laws increase VPN usage

In June, France enacted age verification requirements for accessing adult websites, causing Pornhub to leave the country and one VPN provider, Proton VPN, to see a 1,000% increase in signups in just 30 minutes. Then, in July, the United Kingdom introduced a similar law requiring age verification checks for numerous types of websites, including adult websites, but also social media sites like Reddit, X, Blusky, and Discord. Again, Proton VPN said it saw signups surge—1,400% this time. 

Search queries about VPNs have also risen fast in America since late July, Google Trends data shows, as various states in America have implemented their own age verification laws—or have upcoming ones scheduled.

While the primary motivating factor behind these age check laws is to keep children safe from the negative effects of social media and adult-themed content online, which can harm them, privacy advocates like the EFF have raised concerns that the laws threaten privacy and free expression, not to mention leaving adults who verify their ages open to identity and data theft.

This last point is raised because the websites that must now follow these laws and verify the identity of users who want to access their content often rely on third-party companies to do so. Users must typically upload a government-issued ID (such as a driver’s license or passport), their credit card information, or facial scans, and sometimes a combination of all three. 

This type of data is a treasure trove for hackers, which is why some users prefer using VPNs to access age-restricted sites. They’d rather not risk trusting these third-party companies to protect their verification documents.

How to use a VPN on your iPhone

While some VPN services might have slightly different signup procedures, actually installing one on your iPhone and Android is a fairly straightforward process. Here’s how to set up a VPN on your iPhone.

1. Sign up for your VPN service of choice on their website.
2. Install the service’s app on your iPhone by downloading it from the iPhone App Store.
3. Launch the app and sign in to it using the login information you used when you joined the service on the web.
4. A pop-up should appear that says the VPN app “Would Like to Add VPN Configurations.” Tap the “Allow” button. This allows your iPhone to access the VPN’s network.
5. Now, in the VPN app, choose the location of the VPN server you want to connect to and tap the connect button.

How to use a VPN on your Android

If you have an Android phone, setting up a VPN is pretty similar to setting it up on an iPhone:

1. Sign up for your VPN service of choice on their website.
2. Install the service’s app on your Android by downloading it from the Google Play Store.
3. Launch the app and sign in to it using the login information you used when you joined the service on the web.
4. A “Connection request” pop-up should appear that says the VPN app “wants to set up a VPN connection that allows it to monitor network traffic.” Tap the “OK” button. This allows your Android phone to access the VPN’s network.
5. Now, in the VPN app, choose the location of the VPN server you want to connect to and tap the connect button.

After following the steps outlined above, the VPN should now be up and running on your iPhone or Android. Any website you go to will now think your phone is in the country of the VPN server you chose to connect to, and your data will be more safeguarded from advertisers, hackers, and other bad actors.

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