Free OpenVPN on iPhone and iPad
iOS will not let an app build a VPN tunnel on another app's behalf, so the config has to end up inside an OpenVPN client. OpenVPN Connect is the official one, it is free, and once it is installed the rest is two taps.
- OpenVPN Connect from the App Store — free, published by OpenVPN Inc. Version 3.3.6 or newer if you want the one-tap route in step 3.
- An iPhone or iPad on a version of iOS or iPadOS that the App Store still offers OpenVPN Connect for. Nothing here needs a jailbreak, a profile from a website, or a Mac.
- A server from the list. Higher score means it has been answering more reliably, not that it is closer to you.
Step by step
- 01
Install OpenVPN Connect first
Get it from the App Store before you download a config. If the app is not there yet, iOS has nowhere to send the file and the handoff in step 3 does nothing at all — which looks exactly like a broken download.
- 02
Pick a server
Open the server list, or go straight to a country from the country index if you need a specific exit location. Two columns matter: the score, which is mostly how reliably it has answered, and the latency, which is measured from our prober rather than from your phone — treat it as a relative ranking, not a prediction of your ping.
On a mobile network, prefer TCP if you have the choice. Carriers drop idle UDP flows aggressively, and a UDP server on a high random port is the single most common cause of "it connected, then died".
- 03
Download, then tap "Open in OpenVPN app"
Press Download on the server, then take the Open in OpenVPN app button in the dialog. Safari hands the profile URL to OpenVPN Connect, the app fetches it itself, and you get an import prompt. Accept it.
Nothing happened? The app is either missing or older than 3.3.6. Use the Files route in the next step instead — it always works.
- 04
Instead of step 3: import through the Files app
This replaces the step above — do one or the other, not both. Choose Download .ovpn, let Safari save it, then open Files and go to Downloads. It sits under iCloud Drive if iCloud Drive is on, which is the default, and under On My iPhone if it is off. Tap the file. If iOS opens a wall of text rather than the app, tap Share and pick OpenVPN Connect from the list — that route never fails.
In the app, the profile appears with an ADD button next to it. Tap it.
- 05
Approve the VPN configuration
The first time only, iOS shows a system alert asking to add VPN configurations, and asks for Face ID or your passcode. This is iOS granting the app permission to create tunnels at all — it is not the server asking for anything, and it does not happen again for later profiles.
- 06
Enter the username and password, if there is one
Most servers need none. Where one does, our download dialog shows the credentials with a copy button — they are published with the config, identical for everybody, and not an account. Note that they do not travel with the one-tap import, so if you took that route you will have to come back for them.
- 07
Connect
Flip the toggle next to the profile. A VPN badge appears in the status bar within a few seconds. If it sits on "Connecting" for more than about twenty, the server is not going to answer — go back and take another one rather than waiting it out.
When it does not work
It sits on "Connecting…" and then gives up
Usually a UDP server behind a carrier that is dropping the packets. Take a TCP server on port 443 or 1194 — filter the list with protocol = TCP. If TCP also fails on mobile data but works on Wi-Fi, the carrier is blocking the port rather than the protocol.
The connection fails on authentication
The server wants a username and password and did not get them. Reopen the download dialog for that same server — the credentials block is shown there — and enter them in the profile. This is the usual outcome of importing via the one-tap route and closing the page.
"Missing external certificate"
A different problem, and not one a password fixes: the profile expects a client certificate that is not inside the file. Nothing on this site ships a config like that, so it usually means a partial import — delete the profile in OpenVPN Connect and import it again. If it repeats on the same server, pick another one.
It connects, then drops a few minutes later
Volunteer servers restart, hit their own limits, and go away without notice. It is the normal failure mode, not a fault on your phone. Choosing a server with a high uptime figure is the only real defence — that is precisely what the score is built to express.
Safari opened the .ovpn as plain text
Harmless — it is a text file, and Safari is guessing. Tap the share icon and choose OpenVPN Connect, or save it to Files and import from there.
The VPN switch in Settings turns itself back off
iOS disables a tunnel whose server has stopped responding. It is the same underlying problem as the third item here, showing up somewhere else.
Removing a profile
Delete it inside OpenVPN Connect. To remove the app's permission to create tunnels at all, go to:
Settings → General → VPN & Device Management → VPN
Deleting the app removes its profiles with it. Nothing is left behind on the server side — there was no account to begin with.