If you use your Cell Phone, or Tablet online, then you do not necessarily need a VPN, but a VPN does add a greatly beneficial layer of protection. By using a VPN, you will reduce your online risks and vulnerability substantially. A VPN can be used on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, as well as on your PC, or Laptop.
With the ever-increasing online security risks that we must contend with every time that we go online, every layer of security that we add reduce our online risks. This will not only help to protect your data and privacy but will also contribute to your peace of mind when you are online.
When deciding if you want to use a VPN on your cell phone or tablet, you also need to consider your level of risk when you are on the internet.
What Factors to Consider
Stored Data
The first factor to consider is what personal information and sensitive data you have on your device and what the possible consequences could be if this data were to be exposed.
Online behavior
You also need to consider what type of websites you visit and how risky your online behavior is. As an example, do you only use your device to access your favorite social media platform, or do you frequently visit unknown websites, or potentially risky websites.
This online behavior could expose you to different types of risks. On social media, you may be more likely to be targeted on a personal level, where dubious websites may be more likely to target you by attempting to launch a cyber-attack.
You may also find our article on Online Privacy useful.
Type of Internet access
By using public Wi-Fi, you could increase your risk, as public Wi-Fi is often targeted by opportunistic hackers. We looked at this in more dept in our article Is free public Wi-Fi and Hotspots safe to use?
Transmitting sensitive information
If you use your device for online banking, or business use it may also put you at risk of your sensitive data being intercepted.
How does a VPN protect you?
When you use a VPN, your data is encrypted. This means that the data is converted from a readable format to a format that cannot be read unless you have the decryption key. The encryption and decryption are built into the software. This means that even if your data is intercepted, it cannot be read.
The other feature of VPN, which is arguably the most significant feature is that your device will connect to a VPN server and then only connect to the internet from a VPN server. This means that your device is shielded by the VPN. If a hacker attempts to follow your internet connection back to your device, they will encounter the VPN server. They will not be able to trace it back further than that. This is explained in more detail in our article How does a VPN Connection work.
We recommend NordVPN, but if you are on a tight budget, then ProtonVPN is also a good choice in our opinion. The reason why we prefer these, apart from the features that they offer, is the fact that both are based in countries with strict privacy policies. These privacy policies will then also benefit you in the protection of your data.
