How PIA Implemented OpenVPN on iOS: New This Week

Right before we published our new guide to VPNs, we learned that one of our contenders—Private Internet Access, or PIA—had added OpenVPN support for its iOS app. Alternatives to OpenVPN have security flaws and disadvantages that make us uncomfortable recommending a service that relies on them, so we made OpenVPN support a requirement for any pick. But seeing it supported in an iOS app surprised us, as our research suggested that licensing restrictions in Apple’s App Store made this impossible. Even though PIA was not our VPN service pick, it has been a staff favorite for a few years running (it’s still the VPN I personally use). We were curious as to how it’d been able to implement our preferred protocol in its iOS app, instead of forcing users to do what we recommend—connect to your chosen VPN through the OpenVPN Connect app. So we began digging.

Chris Miller, PIA’s senior VP of marketing, told us that OpenVPN can refer to both a software and a protocol (as well as the technology company that owns the aforementioned software). Licensing restrictions prevent PIA from using OpenVPN software for apps available on Apple’s App Store. Only the OpenVPN Connect app we recommended to iOS users can use that. But PIA’s engineers were able to write their own version of software that uses the OpenVPN protocol, which Miller noted is in the public domain according to OpenVPN’s community website, without infringing on OpenVPN’s software or violating Apple’s rules for the iOS App Store.

At the time of publishing, we thought limiting our picks to OpenVPN would require the aforementioned workaround for all iOS devices. But these services are always getting better, and we’re now in the process of testing PIA’s approach on using OpenVPN. We will update our advice on how to use a VPN on iOS once we have conclusive results. And we’ll keep our eyes open in case other competitors also begin writing their own libraries that would allow them to do the same thing.

In our speed tests, PIA was still more sluggish than IVPN and TorGuard, our current picks. So right now, we think our recommendations will stay the same. We’re also getting ready to test ProtonVPN, in part thanks to the release of its new Mac desktop app. In the past, the service relied on third-party applications that were hard to set up and lacked important features, which is why we dismissed it before testing. A lot of readers have contacted us asking for ProtonVPN to be reconsidered in our next update, and now that native applications are available on all the major platforms, we’re looking forward to doing just that.

Providing the best advice for VPNs is a moving target, but we’ll do our best to update this piece continuously as each service matures.

Here are some other things we updated this week:

LCD/LED TVs: We’ve swapped out the Sony XBR-X900E for the X900F as our runner-up pick. The newer X900F has a brighter image and offers improved colors and motion quality. We’ve also added some new testing notes about the Samsung NU8000.

Headphones for Running: After finishing our first round of testing on the Jabra Elite Active 65t—a sportier version of our true-wireless pick—we’ve added our initial thoughts to the What about AirPods and other true wireless headphones? section.

Apple HomePod: Now that Apple has released AirPlay 2, we’ve updated our guide to include the highly anticipated multiroom speaker capabilities for the HomePod.

360-Degree Cameras: After testing the Rylo and GoPro Fusion cameras, we’ve decided not to recommend them. We’ve added our thoughts to the Competition section.