Best iPhone VPNs 2025, tested by experts
If you're after a free VPN for your iPhone, Windscribe is our top pick. Based out of Canada, Windscribe offers users a generous 10GB of free data per month, if you sign up with a confirmed email address. Impressively, you can also sign up without providing an email – a rare feature among VPN providers, especially free ones – though you'll be capped at 2GB of data per month, which is still substantial. While some free VPNs offer higher data allowances, finding one that lets you stream while travelling abroad is nearly impossible.
The Windscribe iPhone app is a little bit complicated and messy, with lots of text and buttons. The home screen features a prominent 'connect' button for quick access to the nearest or selected server, and there are server locations specifically for streaming. A list of server locations is easily accessible, though it's a bit tricky to tell which ones are free in the 10 available countries.
From the home screen, you can customise your experience by selecting from multiple protocols, including WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, Stealth and WStunnel, so you can balance your own needs in terms of speed and security.
We really like Windscribe's R.O.B.E.R.T. tool, a domain and IP blocking system that blocks ads, trackers and malware at the DNS level. This tool is customisable, giving you control over your browsing safety while improving speed. All features, including ad-blocking, are available to free users – none of it is locked behind a paywall.
During testing, Windscribe's free plan performed OK. Speeds are admittedly not the best, with streams taking a while to load. It was also a bit sluggish browsing the web on Safari, but the fact that we were unable to access local streaming services was a real highlight – BBC iPlayer, ITVX and Channel 4 were all accessible, and that's not something you see from a free VPN.
But is it safe? Windscribe has come a long way since the 2021 Ukraine server incident, where two unencrypted servers were seized by authorities. Since then, the company has completely overhauled its infrastructure to ensure something like that doesn't happen again. It's switched to RAM-only servers, meaning no data is ever stored permanently, and adopted perfect forward secrecy, so even if someone got their hands on a private key, they couldn't decrypt past sessions. On top of that, keys are rotated regularly to keep things extra secure.
Windscribe has also had its systems independently audited. Its desktop apps were audited by Leviathan Security Group in 2021, its mobile apps in 2022, and its entire new infrastructure by PacketLabs in 2024. Each time, the issues that were found were promptly resolved.
While 10GB of data is sufficient for moderate use, it may not stretch far for those who frequently stream or download large files. But if you use it occasionally, Windscribe is a great option, and its flexibility to work without requiring personal information is a big win for privacy-conscious users. If you like Windscribe's independence, not being owned by Kape or Nord Securities, you might enjoy the pro plan, which gives you unlimited access – no data limits and all of its suite of on-location servers.
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