To Browse anonymously on the iPhone or iPad. Here, Among all the growing privacy concerns, we have been continually battling to protect our privacy online. Most of the things you search, read and interact with on the internet can be followed to either recognize you or deliver personalized advertisements. Consequently, if you are worried about your privacy while surfing the web on your iPhone or iPad, there are approaches to browse privately on your iPhone.

Why Should You Browse Anonymously?

An exemplary question I get asked all the times. People ask why to strive for privacy when they aren’t engaged in any illegal activities online and are certainly not linked to any terrorist organisation. It’s basic. Today, business models of numerous private companies are built around information provided by users. Although all companies promise to keep your data safe, there’s no telling when a company could go haywire. Indeed, Even Governments run mass surveillance programs to monitor all your personal information on the Internet (I’m looking at you, PRISM). Therefore, to protect our freedom rights, we ought to know the fundamentals of browsing anonymously.

When it comes to the iPhone, Apple has constantly made a strong emphasis on privacy. Today, let’s take a step more and learn how to browse anonymously on the iPhone:

1. Onion Browser for iOS

While you can utilize the Private browsing more in Safari or any new browser, it’s not truly as direct as you’d like. So, if you’re a privacy buff, the Onion browser ought definitely ring a bell. After all, it was released as a paid app for iOS back in 2012 but is back in the headlines as it’s now free. Onion browser encrypts all your web traffic through the Tor network to support you stay anonymous online. Some of the privacy benefits of utilizing the Onion browser are:

• Websites cannot see your real IP address and so cannot trace your location.
• Even ISPs cannot see what you’re browsing.
• Access websites regardless of geographical barriers.

Getting started with Onion browser is truly simple. The first time you open the iOS application, it presents you with a “Connecting” screen and should not take over a moment. After that, you’ll be given with a success message as shown below —

From here on, you can browse any website anonymously. Something essential to remember is that Onion browser encrypts all the traffic from inside the browser only. Moreover, if you login to websites where you’ve already stored your data (Facebook, Gmail etc) even inside the Onion browser, you are not really anonymous. One downside of utilizing this browser is that it is much slower in loading pages when compared to consistent browsers. This is because all the traffic has to be encrypted and relayed through the tor network. It’s a trade-off you have to make for browsing anonymously.

Download Onion Browser (Free)

2. TunnelBear for iOS

TunnelBear is a well-known cross-platform VPN service. TunnelBear’s free version provides 500 MB of data per month (additional data through paid plans or social media activities) and permits you to browse from 20 different locations including UK, US, Japan and India. On the other hand, there are a lot of free VPN applications accessible for the iPhone.

Let’s see how a VPN can help you stay anonymous on the Internet —

• Hides your real IP address from websites so they cannot track you or your location.
• If you’re connected to a public WiFi network, a VPN can encrypt all the information, thus preventing anyone from stealing your important information (Man-in-the-middle-attack).
• A VPN can “fake” your location as another country, thus helping you to get around blocked sites and censorship.

Getting started with TunnelBear is very simple, as well. The first time you open the iOS app, it’ll ask you to create a new account. Tap on “Allow” on the next prompt to install the VPN configurations.

The next step is to confirm your email address and tap on “Continue“.

Here is how TunnelBear looks like when it’s up and running.

One of the benefits of using a VPN is that it encrypts all the outgoing data from your iPhone, regardless of the app you are using. Unlike the Onion browser, TunnelBear VPN doesn’t slow down your browsing experience.

Download TunnelBear VPN for iOS (Free, with in-app purchases)

3. DuckDuckGo Search Engine for iOS

DuckDuckGo is a private web search tool company that takes pride in the fact that it doesn’t track you. First, let’s see what information is gathered when you make a search on say, Google —

• You actual search term is sent to the site which you click from the search results.
• It also sends theuser agent of the browser and your IP address which can be potentially used to uniquely identify you.
• The search enginestores the history of your search results and uses it to deliver personalized advertisements.

Alternatively, DuckDuckGo doesn’t track you utilizing any of the approaches above. A point to be noted is that it anonymizes only your searches. If you navigate to a various website, the privacy policy of that specific website will apply.

Along with the privacy features, DuckDuckGo additionally has a few neat tricks up its sleeve like instant search and (!) bangs. The (!)bang feature is very helpful if you feel like doing a Google search anonymously. For example, simply append “!g” (without the quotes) after your search query and you will be taken to the Google search results, and all this without being followed. Truly perfect stuff, right?

You can search on DuckDuckGo online but you may need to install their iOS app for further convenience. You can also check out our detailed article on DuckDuckGo to know why you ought to switch to it.

Download DuckDuckGo for iOS (Free)

Use These Methods to Browse Anonymously on iPhone

Humans have all kinds of insecurities, and tracking only makes it worse. We should all endeavour for online privacy because it has the potential to change the way you live your life online. If you own an iPhone, you can browse anonymously using the above mentioned methods