How to setup PPTP VPN on iPhones or iPads running iOS

If you are looking to setup PPTP VPN on iPhones or iPads running iOS, you have landed in the right place.

The pandemic times and the uncertainties that it has brought with it have been one of the prime reasons we have all been forced to get used to the “WFH” Work from Home culture. That has made it extremely important to secure your network and stay away from the risks associated with untrusted networks. That is precisely where a VPN would come to the fore.

Related: How to Setup a virtual private network (VPN) on Android 10

So, now that you have chosen to set up a VPN service on your iPhone, you might be scratching your head, unable to find where to start from. We thought to help you out in setting up a VPN network on your mobile. For the sake of this post, we will focus on how to set up a PPTP VPN on your iPhone.

Why use a VPN on a mobile?

Most of our digital life now depends on smartphones. Mobile banking, binge-watching, chatting with friends, doing those productive tasks of your office, or even sharing those beautiful moments on Instagram – we are all dependent on mobile connectivity.

Online connectivity comes with its threats. The privacy threat is perhaps one most crucial factors that go into the picture in this context. If you are not careful enough, your online activity’s details will fall into the wrong hands in no time. Using a VPN service helps you stay away from online hacking and other threats and safeguards your data.

How can you setup PPTP VPN on iPhones or iPads running iOS?

The easiest option to set up a VPN on your phone would be to download a VPN app and configure it. The best part with this option is that you do not need to have much of the technical background or knowledge about setting up a VPN on the device. The app gets most of the tasks done, and you are ready to use the VPN services right after signing up for the service.

The VPN apps are highly advantageous because they do most of the work in the background, and you need not bother about the settings. It can even save your preferences and configure your VPN network more straightforwardly. However, choosing the right VPN service would be a concern many a time.

Please make sure you go with a paid service as they tend to be more reliable. There are plenty of free services, and they do offer a no-logs policy – but we would not consider them much safe. A free VPN service needs to make money, and we do not trust them not to sell your private data to third-party operators.

What is the PPTP VPN Service?

A PPTP VPN service has been one of the oldest methods of VPN protocol. Known for a faster speed, PPTP stands for Point to Point Tunnelling Protocol. The protocol is supported on a wide range of platforms and has been widely used VPN protocols.

However, PPTP is not secure. In fact, among a host of VPN protocols currently in use, PPTP has been rated as the least secure. The platform was created to create a VPN network on dial-up connections. It was initially developed by a vendor consortium founded by Microsoft in 1999. We would, in fact, not recommend using it. In fact, iOS 10 has removed it as the native option for setting up your VPN network.

However, there are instances where you may not have any other alternative than using a PPTP connection. Maybe your VPN service provider does not support any other option than PPTP, or for any other reasons whatsoever, you would need to use a PPTP connection on your mobile network.

How to set up a PPTP VPN on iPhones?

Now that we have understood what a VPN capable of is and a PPTP protocol, we will now check out how to set up a PPTP VPN on your iPhone. Please note that we will need to check out the iOS 10 and above methods and those for iOS 9 and below.

For iOS 9 and Below

The PPTP VPN is supported natively on iOS 9 and below. So, if you are on iOS 9 or below, you should find it rather easy and straightforward to configure your PPTP VPN network.

Follow the steps here below –

• Launch your iPhone Settings
• Go to General -> VPN
• Next, tap on Add VPN Configuration
• Select the option PPTP.
• Fill in the details required.
  • Enter a name for your VPN connection.
  • Enter the VPN server address.
  • Enter the VPN username and password
• Tap on Save.

That does it. You have set up successfully and configured your PPTP VPN on your iPhone. Your network administrator will provide credentials such as a VPN server address, username, and password. To activate the VPN, you need to toggle the VPN switch to ON.

The typical settings that we would recommend for the purpose would be –

• Description: You can enter any name that you would want to use for the network. This is to identify your network.
• Server: Enter one of the server addresses provided by the service provider.
• Account: Enter the username provided by the service provider
• RSA SecurID: Keep this off.
• Password: Enter the password provided by the service provider
• Send All Traffic: Make sure this is kept ON.

For iOS 10 and above

The support for PPTP as the native VPN protocol has been removed with effect from iOS 10. This is solely because the PPTP VPN connection is no longer considered secure. Even the other protocols like IPSec and L2TP are not treated much secure, but PPTP has been the least secure option among all the protocols currently in use.

If you are on iOS 10, you have no choice or an option to configure a PPTP protocol. That would be a strict NO as Apple has obliterated the interface. However, if you are jailbroken, you would be able to enable the PPTP protocol on your device running on iOS 10 or above.

Please note that even if you are jailbroken, there is no option to configure a PPTP connection on your iOS 10 device. We will use a workaround where we will repurpose the L2TP interface to use a PPTP connection.

Use the following parameters –

• Description: You can enter any name that you would want to use for the network. This is to identify your network.
• Server: Enter one of the server addresses provided by the service provider.
• Account: Enter the username provided by the service provider
• RSA SecurID: Keep this off.
• Password: Enter the password provided by the service provider
• Secret: Type in PPTP in uppercase here
• Send All Traffic: Make sure this is kept ON.

Please note that configuring PPTP using this workaround may or may not work effectively in every case. You can try checking out the option if you have jailbroken your phone and check if it works in your case.

Conclusion

Well, those were the best options to set up and configure the PPTP VPN on your iPhones. The options to set up a VPN on an iPhone are simpler and more manageable when compared to the procedure on an Android. Ideally, the steps above should help you gain access to the best standards in setting up your network quickly.

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