A lot of people don’t realize that their banking apps encrypt the data they send between their phone and the servers. However, there is no guarantee that this happens automatically. Plus, a lot of apps simply don’t have security features and as a result, they send data over unsecured WiFi networks. If you travel a lot and are regularly connected to unsecured WiFi networks, you should consider using a VPN to protect your data.

If you have a corporate iPhone, you can probably already take care of securing it by using a corporate VPN server. However, if you want to secure your personal device even more, you can set up your own personal VPN server and connect to it from anywhere in the world. This way, no matter where you are in the world, you can securely access all the traffic coming in and out of your iPhone.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps that would be needed to accomplish something like this. There are many ways to go about it and the best way depends on what kind of hardware you already own. For example, I own a Synology NAS that allows me to create a VPN server and to access the NAS from the Internet using dynamic DNS.

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Step 1 – Understanding IP Addresses and DNS

IP addresses are unique identifiers assigned to a computer or network. A computer can have many IP addresses, but only one will be used for the duration of the connection. DNS is a system that translates domain names into IP addresses. When you type in “www.example.com” into a web browser, the DNS system resolves the domain name to an IP address that your computer can use to connect to the website. Configuring your iPhone VPN settings is important because it allows you to access websites and applications that require an IP address other than your own.

Dynamic DNS is a great way to access your VPN server from anywhere. No-IP provides a free service that allows you to set up your own DNS name so you can access your VPN server from anywhere.

Once you have your dynamic DNS set up, you can access it from any computer by going to your ISP’s website and clicking on the link to set up a new account.

Your VPN server should be up and running first. Then, you need to set up dynamic DNS. There is no real order you have to follow, just make sure each part is working on it’s own.

Step 2 – Port Forwarding

Dynamic DNS is a service that allows you to say “Hey send all the traffic for this VPN to myhomeserver.no-ip.com.” and it will automatically figure out what the current IP address given by your ISP is for your home and send it there.

A VPN will not work if your router blocks all of it, which all routers would do by default. Data send over VPN will use certain “ports” that need to be opened on your router in order for the data to be sent to the computer inside your network. This is called port forwarding.

To set up a VPN, you’ll need to open ports on your router. Here are the port numbers you’ll need to forward for a VPN:

  1. UDP: 53
  2. TCP: 443 (SSL/TLS)
  3. TCP: 1194 (DNS) Next, read my article that explains port forwarding and how it is used. You’ll have to open a couple of ports on your router for VPN. When you read the articles on setting up a VPN below, you’ll be told the actual port numbers. To set up a VPN, you’ll need to open ports on your router. Here are the port numbers you’ll need to forward for a VPN:
  4. UDP: 53
  5. TCP: 443 (SSL/TLS)
  6. TCP: 1194 (DNS). ..

Configuring a Router for Port Forwarding

Step 3 – Setup a VPN Server

  1. Connect your Synology NAS to the internet.
  2. Create a new VPN server on your Synology NAS.
  3. Configure your VPN server to use the Synology NAS’s IP address and port number.
  4. Enjoy your VPN!

To enable L2TP/IPSec VPN on your computer, you will need to first click on the left-hand side menu and select “L2TP/IPSec.” Then, under “Settings,” you will need to make sure that you have the “Enable” checkbox checked. Finally, you can type in a pre-shared key into the “Privilege” field and click on the “Apply” button.

If you’re using a Synology NAS, you’ll need to forward UDP ports 1701, 500 and 4500 so that your devices can communicate with the internet. The setup process is simple and takes about 5 minutes. You also need to configure DDNS, which is built into many Synology NAS products.

If you don’t have a NAS, you can configure VPN settings in your router if it has dd-wrt installed. If dd-wrt is supported, you can actually replace your current router’s firmware with dd-wrt. It’s a bit more complicated to setup on dd-wrt, but they have lots of documentation on their site.

If you want to keep your data private and don’t have a specific VPN service in mind, then you can turn your Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer into a VPN server. This will help protect your data from being accessed by anyone who might be trying to spy on you. There is an excellent guide by the How To Geek site on creating a VPN in Windows 7. You can follow the same instructions for Windows 8. When setting up a VPN using Windows, it’ll probably be PPTP, which means it’ll use a different set of ports than L2TP. The article mentions the port numbers also. ..

Step 4 – Connecting to a VPN via iPhone

Now, you’ll need to enter in your VPN service and password. If you don’t have one yet, you can get one for free on the website. Once you’ve entered in all of your information, tap on the “connect” button. You’ll now be connected to your personal VPN and be able to browse the internet like normal.

This will add a new VPN configuration to your device.

This screen will ask you for all the necessary information to set up a VPN on your Synology NAS. The server name and dynamic DNS URL should be entered in the first two fields, and the user name and password for the Synology account or Windows account that has permission to connect to the VPN should be entered in the third field. The pre-shared key is also entered in this field, as you’ll need it to connect to the VPN. You want to have Send All Traffic enabled so that everything gets encrypted.

Now to connect to the VPN, go back to the main Settings screen and you’ll see a new VPN option below Cellular and Personal Hotspot. Go ahead and tap on that to connect and it will change to VPN Connecting.

If all goes well, you’ll see the green light turn on!

If you exit the app and go to any other screen, you’ll see the little VPN icon now at the top of the status bar. ..

Facebook stalking is a difficult thing to set up and it will take some time, reading, testing and tweaking before it’s perfect. However, once it’s set up, it’s a cool feature. Whenever I’m not at home and use my iPhone for anything other than browsing the web, I always connect to my VPN first.

I’m looking for help with my iPhone setup. Can you tell me what tools and services you use and how they work?