Why this security researcher claims VPNs on iPhones are ‘useless’ – Times of India

VPN apps are quite popular with those who value their privacy. Apple has been a torchbearer of respecting user privacy and data. However, according to a security researcher, VPN apps on iOS are pretty useless. In fact, he actually refers to them as a “scam”.
In a blog titled “VPNs on iOS are a scam”, security researcher Michael Horowitz further claims that Apple has known about this for a while and still hasn’t done anything about it. “VPNs on iOS are broken. At first, they appear to work fine,” says Horowitz in the blog post. He further explains why is this the case. “The iOS device gets a new public IP address and new DNS servers. Data is sent to the VPN server. But, over time, a detailed inspection of data leaving the iOS device shows that the VPN tunnel leaks. Data leaves the iOS device outside of the VPN tunnel. This is not a classic/legacy DNS leak, it is a data leak.” Horowitz has detailed this on his blog and said that he confirmed this using multiple types of VPN and software from multiple VPN providers.
What does Apple have to say about it?
Horowitz says that he contacted Apple about this at the end of May 2022. “Since then, there have been a number of emails between myself and the company (yes, plain old un-encrypted email – no security at all),” he writes. And much to his surprise Apple said nothing to him. “They have not said whether they tried to re-create the problem. They have not said whether they agree on this being a bug. They have not said anything about a fix.”
The security researcher says that he sees no reason to trust any VPN on iOS. “My suggestion would be to make the VPN connection using VPN client software in a router, rather than on an iOS device.”