best FREE VPN for iPhone 2022

Private Relay, a new tool for iCloud customers, has recently been introduced. It functions similarly to an iPhone's built-in free VPN, but can it compete with a typical free iOS VPN? Let us investigate.

What is a Private Relay?

Private Relay, at first, I was convinced it was a built-in iOS VPN, but it's not. It works by sending your traffic through two proxy servers, one operated by Apple, which encrypts the data and sends it forward, The second server, run by a third-party supplier, decrypts it before forwarding it to a website. See, this way, Apple knows your IP but doesn't know where you're going. Meanwhile, that third party doesn't know who you are but knows what you're looking for.

There is one main difficulty that has arisen as a result of all of this. Apple does not have a no-logs policy in place, so we don't know if they could trace your data back to you if needed, requested, or threatened. Furthermore, Private Relay only encrypts your traffic in Safari. Everything you do in other applications and browsers will continue to be tracked. Furthermore, Private Relay proxy servers are readily detected.

if Private Relay is not exactly your best option, well, what is? Is it possible to acquire a free VPN for your iPhone? Yes, yes you can. And two of my personal best free VPN for iPhone 2022 options are the Atlas VPN and Proton VPN Free.

How are free VPNs better

For starters, with this two VPN for iOS choices, you get yourself an audited no-logs policy, which is important since a lot of non-reputable VPNs tend to sell their user's data. So a no-logs policy is a nice transparency move. That way, I can rest assured that my data will not be captured or sold off.

and there's one more thing that these free iPhone VPN 2022 picks do better than Private Relay, and that would be with system-wide encryption. You'll no longer be limited to one browser. All your apps will go through the same VPN server, and traffic will be safe and encrypted.

And since I've used these two best free VPNs for a while, let's pick them apart one by one.

Atlas VPN free version review

The Atlas VPN free version allowed me to set up two devices at once. So I tested it both on iPhone and iPad, and both work great. Within the free VPN for iPhone app, they offer servers in three locations.

I also found that the Atlas VPN free apps fully support the WireGuard tunneling protocol. WireGuard not only boosts the speeds of this best free VPN for iPhone pick but also comes with advanced encryption, ChaCha20. Plus they have an effective kill switch. So thanks to this feature, if your VPN connection drops, none of your data will get leaked.

a free VPN is not exactly a long-term solution. You're gonna notice the limitations very quickly. But Atlas isn't the only free iPhone VPN 2022 choice.

Proton VPN free version review

Let's have a look at the Proton VPN free version. Proton earns points for being open-source. That means developers or anyone with a bit of knowledge can look through it and point out any vulnerabilities.

It also lacks a data cap, which is the primary distinction between Proton and Atlas. However, the best free VPNs are still quite comparable. I discovered servers in three separate locations, using a variety of tunneling protocols, including WireGuard. However, I must say that when I tried them, Proton's speeds were not as fast. It might be because of the heavy server load.

Proton might be among the best free VPN for iPhone picks, but I'm still riddled with limitations. I wasn't able to access many features without upgrading, streaming didn't work well, and the slow speeds got a little bit annoying.

is it worth upgrading any of these apps?

these two are the best free VPN for iPhone 2022 options, but as their premium counterparts, well, they aren't the best options on the market.

I normally use Surfshark and NordVPN on my iPhone instead of Atlas and Proton for two reasons:

First, consider server configuration and performance: Atlas has around 750 servers, whereas Proton has over 1,800. Sure, that's a lot of alternatives, but in this situation, more is better. More servers imply that server loads will be lower, and the nearest servers to you will not be thousands of miles distant.

All of that combines for a better VPN performance. And that's one of the biggest reasons why Nord and Surfshark mobile app versions consistently top the VPN speed charts since they're coming in with about 5,600 and 3,200 servers, respectively.

The second problem is cost: Atlas VPN isn't the most feature-rich option available. As a result, it's ideal for novices. It's a good budget-friendly choice because it also allows for unlimited simultaneous connections and costs roughly $2 per month.

On the other hand, Proton VPN is kind of the opposite in both ways. It's packed with features from stuff like Tor over VPN for extra privacy and even a VPN Accelerator for greater speeds. But the cheapest plan currently goes for $5 a month. And yeah, that's quite the price jump. So since Surfshark and NordVPN for iPhone can both match Proton in speed and features, well, I tend to lean towards them, especially since the prices are quite a bit lower.

That is one of my key motivations, but there is another. Would anyone be interested in streaming various foreign Netflix libraries? So after months of testing, I concluded that I just needed to have a better experience with Nord and Surfshark while attempting to access international libraries. They opened 15 and 28, respectively, overseas libraries. That's more than enough to meet my streaming requirements.

Atlas and Proton can open mainstreaming sites, although they appear to suffer much more. And I'm getting a lot more Netflix errors. So, altogether, selecting a suitable premium choice is a bit of a pain.