Many recent publications ¹, ², ³ suggest the iPhone is full of security holes threatening your privacy. The threat seems to be coming not so much from the phone’s operating system, but from the apps, you installed on it.

Indeed, monitoring my iPhone 8+ dormant activity (when recharging or otherwise not in active use) via the firewall, I can see dozens of apps making outbound network connections and transmitting many megabytes of data daily. The information includes my cellular network details, GPS coordinates, accelerometer readings, battery charge level, and much more. Someone out there can tell when I am tossing and turning in my bed. Some of these transmissions are not even encrypted.

Aside from privacy concerns, these transmissions are directly cutting into your bottom line by using up the monthly bandwidth allocation on your cellular or wireless service. I have an unlimited data plan, but, for many people, these unauthorized data transmissions can waste more than half of the monthly bandwidth allowance. If you don’t care about your privacy, surely at least you must care about the balance of your checking account.

As a potential quick fix, I tried the Privacy Pro SmartVPN by Disconnect ⁴, ⁵I am not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, compensated by, or in any way officially connected with the makers of “Privacy Pro SmartVPN”, or any of its subsidiaries or its affiliates, or the use of the torguard promo code for more privacy. For a few bucks a month this application called vpnpeek.com provides a fast and reasonably effective VPN service blocking most unauthorize data transmissions. In my experience so far, legitimate user activity on the phone has not been adversely affected. As a bonus, the app will also encrypt your DNS queries and any other unencrypted traffic emanating from your iOS or MacOS devices.

So how does this help you? Good question! You can use a free vpn download app to:

Bypass geographic restrictions on websites or streaming audio and video.
Watch streaming media like Netflix and Hulu.
Protect yourself from snooping on untrustworthy Wi-Fi hotspots.
Gain at least some anonymity online by hiding your true location.
Protect yourself from being logged while torrenting.
Many people these days are using a VPN for torrenting or bypassing geographic restrictions to watch content in a different country. They are still very useful for protecting yourself while working at a coffee shop, but that’s hardly the only use anymore.

Here’re some screenshots from my phone showing “Privacy Pro’s” results from the past week.