Best free VPN for iPhone in 2025 – the safest free solutions for your phone, based on expert testing

PrivadoVPN Free’s iOS app is easy to use. There’s a slight delay when opening up the app, but once the information is loaded, you’ll see a very clean interface. Particularly prominent is a quick-connect button. Swiping up on the server location window brings up the server list and the option to sort by latency and to save preferred locations.

Clicking on the hamburger menu in the top left corner of the iOS app brings up preferences. From here, you’ll find the VPN protocols, each of which comes with a short description, providing accessibility for first-time users. You’ll find options to change the app’s language and even determine whether the “best server location” is based on distance or latency.

PrivadoVPN Free doesn’t offer much in the way of features. What’s particularly disappointing is the lack of a kill switch on iOS – something you can find in other free VPNs like Proton VPN Free. Another notable omission is PrivadoVPN’s threat blocker, Control Tower. Still, you’ll have several different VPN protocols to choose from.

The iOS app has an option to automatically connect you to your preferred server location on app launch. What’s most impressive about PrivadoVPN Free’s slim feature lineup is the inclusion of SmartRoute, its split tunneling feature. With it, you can specify which websites can bypass the VPN – though on iOS, you cannot use its alternate mode, which allows you to select only specific apps that will use the VPN instead.

PrivadoVPN was the fastest free VPN in our latest round of testing, even outperforming Proton VPN Free. It achieved download speeds of 671 Mbps, which is on par with some of the best paid VPNs on the market. That’s hugely impressive, but it’s worth remembering that these fast speeds are limited to your first 10 GB of data each month. Once we surpassed this limit, speeds slowed to a crawl of 1 Mbps.

With WireGuard and OpenVPN, your traffic will receive ChaCha20 or 256-bit AES encryption when connecting to PrivadoVPN Free servers. Like Proton VPN, PrivadoVPN is headquartered in Switzerland and, promisingly, has a no-logs policy. The trouble is that we’re still yet to see an independent audit that verifies PrivadoVPN’s no-logs claims. Further, there’s no kill switch available in the iOS app.

Proton VPN’s apps had a major facelift in April 2025 and are now among the best VPN apps on the market. The home view features a big quick-connect button coupled with a stylish map, which pings the corresponding location. It’s clear and, unlike some VPN apps, isn’t bogged down with unnecessary clutter, making it simple enough for beginners to grasp.

The iOS app’s footer menu makes finding your way around straightforward. The settings page is accessible in a single click, and various options can be toggled on or off in seconds. Plus, there are explanations given for the majority of features if you’re unsure. The iOS app is responsive, and connecting to a server couldn’t be quicker. However, if you need help, you’re limited to email or Proton VPN’s support site – there’s no live chat support available here, which isn’t ideal if you’re new to VPNs and in need of a quick answer.

Proton VPN Free is light on features. You won’t have access to its ad and tracker blocker, NetShield, Secure Core (Double VPN) servers, or split tunneling. Nor will you be able to create custom profiles for specific use cases, such as streaming or extra security.

Still, Proton VPN gets the basics right. On iOS, you’ll have two VPN protocols to choose from: WireGuard and Stealth. The latter, Proton’s proprietary Stealth protocol, helps you bypass online censorship – perfect if you’re connecting in regions such as China or India where this is apparent. Also included is a kill switch and a highly responsive widget for iOS.

Thanks to its use of the high-speed WireGuard protocol, Proton VPN Free is one of the fastest free VPNs. This was reflected in testing with speeds of up to 339 Mbps. Although these speeds are more than fast enough for streaming, we suffered significant throttling after consuming a certain amount of data, and given that you’re unable to choose your server location with Proton VPN Free, we found unblocking streaming services extremely patchy in our testing anyway.

Proton VPN Free is from the Swiss company Proton AG; therefore, it benefits from Switzerland’s strong privacy laws and favorable data retention regulations. This, coupled with the fact that Proton VPN operates a strict no-logs policy, makes it one of the most private VPNs. The multiple independent audits it has undergone are further testament to this.

When you connect to a Proton VPN Free server, your internet traffic receives ChaCha20 encryption, which is one of the strongest encryption protocols available. You’ll also find a kill switch within the iOS app’s settings. This steps in to cut your internet traffic should the VPN connection fail, preventing your data from being exposed.

Although Windscribe Free is quick and easy to download and install, we found its iOS layout a little confusing. There’s a lot packed into the home view, including several symbols that aren’t labeled. On the plus side, there’s a search bar if you don’t fancy scrolling through the server locations. There are also some fun server names, such as “Philadelphia Fresh Prince”, providing some comic relief.

Connecting to a Windscribe Free server on iOS was fast, and the app makes it clear when you’re connected with the on/off button and the app’s background lighting up. A tap on the hamburger menu takes you to the Preferences menu, and from here, it’s easy to switch up the various settings with toggle buttons and drop-down lists.

Unsurprisingly, you won’t find a wealth of features included with Windscribe Free. There’s no split tunneling on iOS, for example. Yet there are more VPN protocols to choose from than most free VPNs – five in all – including two protocols, Stealth and WStunnel, that conceal VPN traffic for evading VPN detection.

Windscribe Free’s most impressive feature is R.O.B.E.R.T., its ad, tracker, and malware blocker. Accessible via the preferences menu in the iOS app, this even lets you block social networks and gambling content. Windscribe’s appearance is fairly adjustable with light and dark modes, and you’ll also find a handy iOS widget.

With speeds of 496 Mbps in our in-house performance tests, Windscribe was second only to PrivadoVPN when it comes to the fastest free VPNs available. At 785 Mbps, Windscribe’s paid version is faster, but that’s to be expected when paid users have access to far more servers. Windscribe Free’s speeds are fast enough for streaming but a monthly 10 GB data limit prevents it from being a viable streaming VPN. It should be noted though, that in our testing, Windscribe Free was the best free VPN at unblocking streaming services. It unblocked the likes of Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and BBC iPlayer. Even if some were after a couple of attempts, this is seriously impressive for a free VPN.

Windscribe is unique in that, unlike most VPN services, it doesn’t require you to provide an email address to access its service. Having said that, you’re limited to just 2 GB of data a month, and by providing an email address, this limit is raised to 10 GB. Windscribe operates a no-logs policy, and its privacy policy is refreshingly clear and easy to follow.

Depending on the VPN protocol you choose, you’ll receive ChaCha20 or 256-bit AES encryption, both of which are effectively impossible to crack. An Always On VPN function routes all internet traffic via the VPN at all times. Further, we tested Windscribe’s DNS-based blocker, R.O.B.E.R.T., against 50 malicious sites and it blocked 46% – better than some antivirus apps.

TunnelBear has arguably the simplest, most user-friendly free VPN app for iPhone. The home interface consists of a navigable map with tunnel symbols for each server location. Connecting to a server sees an animated bear tunnel through the ground and pop up in the location of your choosing. It’s fun, though I found it often took a few seconds to connect.

Clicking on the server connection window near the bottom of the screen expands the server list. This is ordered alphabetically, with the exception of the US, UK, and Canada, all prominently listed at the top. The cog symbol in the top right takes you to the settings page for quickly and easily switching up the limited settings.

TunnelBear Free offers the three most common VPN protocols – WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2. What’s more, the free version for iOS includes VigilantBear, its kill switch, which can simply be toggled on or off via the settings page. What is lacking from TunnelBear Free, however, is GhostBear, its feature for fighting censorship.

Another great extra is TunnelBear’s split tunneling feature, SplitBear. With it, you can enter websites while avoiding the VPN connection when you need to – useful if a site or app doesn’t work or struggles with the VPN connection, such as banking sites.

In testing, TunnelBear Free managed download speeds of 269 Mbps on WireGuard, which, though not as fast as PrivadoVPN Free and Proton VPN Free, is impressive for a free VPN. Speeds proved highly consistent, but you still won’t be able to use TunnelBear for much other than browsing due to its monthly data cap of 2GB.

In terms of security, all of TunnelBear’s protocols benefit from 256-bit AES encryption, plus TunnelBear has a solid history of undergoing independent audits to prove its security and privacy claims. Despite this, TunnelBear’s most recent audit was carried out in 2023. The audit identified a number of issues, too so it would be good to see a new audit in the near future.

Hotspot Shield Basic’s iOS app keeps things simple, preferring not to overload you with information. A quick connect button sits front and centre. Scrolling up on the server location near the bottom of the screen brings up the server locations. However, I found selecting a specific server location wasn’t always responsive, with my touch not always registering.

Another gripe I had is that there are premium prompts everywhere in the app, which don’t exactly make for the most user-friendly experience. Scroll past one of these many upgrade messages, and you’ll find your settings. However, these are effectively useless to free users because opening them up just provides yet more premium reminders.

Hotspot Shield Basic offers even fewer features than you’d expect from most free VPNs. There’s only one VPN protocol on offer, Hotspot Shield’s proprietary Hydra protocol. It doesn’t offer a kill switch on the free version of iOS, and there’s no split tunneling either. You’re also limited to just one connection at a time, but this is a common limitation with free VPNs. Yet it’s one of the few free iPhone VPNs to offer unlimited data with no throttling apparent in testing.

Compared to most free VPNs, Hotspot Shield Basic’s speeds are on the slow side. The highest speeds we saw on the Hydra protocol were merely 168 Mbps, and that was when connecting to the US. Connecting to the UK oddly made the service slower on multiple attempts, achieving only 106 Mbps. What’s more, the provider is almost completely incapable of streaming unblocking. While limitations are expected with free VPNs, Hotspot Shield Basic only successfully unblocked Channel 4 during our testing, meaning it was incapable of unblocking any global streaming sites.

Hotspot Shield’s proprietary VPN protocol is Hydra. Based on OpenVPN, a secure and open-source protocol, it supports 256-bit AES encryption. This provides a high level of security for your data. Hotspot Shield has a no-logs policy, which underwent an independent audit in 2023. It would be nice to see a more recent and more comprehensive audit, however, particularly because Hotspot Shield does collect some metadata.