VPN on iPhones

[skays]

Starting to get more and more interested in VPN; however, know nothing about it and just now learned how to spell it.
I see in iPhone settings of my 8 Plus iPhone running iOS 16.0.3 reference to VPN. I also looked on YouTube and saw reference to various VPN apps I can download. I know I could purchase a VPN subscription for my iMac..NordVPN, etc, but again, don't know anything about installing or using a VPN.
Any recommendations would be appreciated and if it would be better to purchase a subscription for my iMac which also allows use on other devices, rather than one of those free/subscribe apps on the Apple Apps store.

Thank you in advance. And....maybe VPN for Dummies book???? Thanks again.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

First question, why do you want a VPN? There are very specific situations where this makes sense.

First is work related. Most companies employ a work VPN to ensure that only authorized folks are able to join the VPN and access company resources/documents/secrets/servers/etc.

Second is security/geography related. People who tend to use a lot of public WiFi for doing secure things like banking or other things want to protect themselves and will employ a VPN to keep their stuff private. Others who are in a geography that prevents them to access stuff (think being in the US and wanting to see videos only available in Europe, or being in China and blocked by the Great Firewall), these users will employ a VPN in a different country to mask their real location and get access to stuff.

There is no "fun" reason to worry about a VPN.

By way of learning about it, you don't need to really worry about the details. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and using an application like NordVPN (or the countless others out there) you basically join a network which makes it hard to monitor what you are sending over that network.