If you are wondering what “VPN” means on your phone, you have come to the right place. We will be discussing what is VPN on my phone, in this article. So, let us get on with the topic.
What is VPN on my Phone
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, which is a program that runs on your smartphone to make for enhanced data encryption. It generally hides our activity from our ISP. When it’s in on mode, you’ll see a small “from” icon in the top corner of your screen. Typically, you’ll use an app from a VPN provider to use these settings. Now, let us go into more detail about what a VPN is, and how you use it.
What does VPN mean on a phone
A VPN is another way of saying that you’ll be accessing the internet through a private connection. By this, we mean a connection that is secure because it is encrypted and hidden from other people on the network and your Internet Service Provider.
When you use your phone without a VPN, your entire browsing history is logged and stored by your ISP, and they know exactly what websites you have visited and more.
More and more people are concerned about privacy and for good reason. There are ISPs selling information about their customers’ whereabouts to big advert companies so they can serve ads based on your activity.
But more importantly, you get a lot more security when you join unsecured wifi networks in places like:
- Coffee shops
- Restaurants
- Hotels
- Schools
If you do this, you are very vulnerable to attacks from hackers and people trying to spy on your passwords, personal information, credit card information, etc. This is much more common than you think!
How to check for VPN on iPhone
Here is how to check if you have an active VPN connection on an iPhone:
- Go to Settings
- Click General
- Scroll down to “VPN”
Here, you can see if it says “Connected” or not. If you see the square VPN icon at the top of the screen, it means the VPN is active.
How to turn off a VPN on my phone
If you want to disable VPN on your phone, just go in here:
- Go to Settings
- Click on “General”
- Scroll down to where it says “VPN”.
- Toggle the active VPN to “Not connected”.
There is another way and that is by opening the VPN app of the VPN provider. Once the app is open, you can simply click on the big on/off button in the middle of the screen.
Now you have disabled the VPN and you are no longer browsing over an encrypted connection.
How to check for VPN on Android
On an Android phone, you proceed in a similar manner. You go to:
- Go to Settings
- Click on “More” under “Wireless and Networks”
- Choose the VPN you find
- Switch the connection to “Disconnected”.
Is VPN necessary on my phone
If you use your phone in places like coffee shops, hotels, airports, etc. with unsecured wifi, you should use a VPN. VPNs are very inexpensive and make it harder to access your private data, which can otherwise be easily stolen on these low-security networks.
It’s so easy to steal personal information today, and the results can be very frustrating for the victim!
So, as always, the answer depends on what you use your phone for.
I never use my phone without a VPN when I am in an airport, coffee store, restaurant, etc. I make sure my VPN is turned on so no one can see what I type and what passwords I have installed on my phone.
How does VPN enhance encryption on Phone
A VPN works in the background to ensure that ALL traffic between you and the internet is encrypted. In addition, it also changes your IP address so that the websites you visit can not see who you are or where you are coming from.
Let us list exactly how a VPN makes your phone more secure:
- The VPN encrypts your data
This makes it MUCH more difficult for outsiders to grab your data and information. Your data is sent from the VPN provider’s servers, which put a thick layer of security around your data, making it nearly impossible to hack you.
- VPN hides your browsing history from your internet service provider
Normally, your ISP logs all of your whereabouts, so they can see exactly which websites and web services you have used at any given time. This can be a problem for many reasons, which we will not go into here. Let us just say that there are many examples where governments and private companies have gained access to people’s personal data.
- It also hides your IP
In effect, the VPN gives you a different IP. Hence, making it inadequate to know your location and identity. This can be a great advantage if you want to access US websites that are only accessible to Americans. By choosing a VPN server in the US, you can move your location to the US.
CONCLUSION
I hope that I have helped you become aware of the VPN on your Phone. We have seen how to turn it on and turn it off too both on iPhone and Android. Not only that we have also seen why is VPN necessary and what does it do on your smartphone. On that note, until next time…. See-ya, goodbye !! ? ? 🙂