Why this security researcher claims VPNs on iPhones are ‘useless’

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.