Some apps say no internet connection

Understood. So, why am I having the issue with using apps while using cell data? I have turned data on and off, cellular roaming is on, airplane mode toggled on and back off. rebooted phone. I'm using an iPhone 12, most up to date iOS,

I currently have app tracking off. Could this be the issue? Everything works flawlessly on my home WiFi. No time to make an appointment with a "Genius" at my local Apple Store.

What I need is for it to work like it did six months ago and I was happy. If Apple constantly wants your location because they are greedy, then screw them. An iPhone where you can’t play games Use the apps read the BBC stories is worthless, you have to constantly connect to the Internet which is ridiculous.

Jdfbel wrote:

Deleted VPN I did not install and problem solved!!

Your iPhone passcode and potentially your Apple ID password are seemingly known to someone else, or you’ve been installing profiles and/or have a managed device.

The party that has configured this VPN on your iPhone is apparently inclined to monitor your network activities.

Might want to change your passcode.

Might also want check for other tracking, whether via iCloud or otherwise.

Possibly reset and reload, rather than looking for tracking apps and settings..

Change your Apple ID password if it’s your Apple ID that purchased the VPN app from the app store, too.

Checklist: If you want to make sure no one else can see your location - Apple Support

Checklist: If you want to stop sharing with someone whom you previously shared with - Apple Support

Checklist: If you want to see if anyone else has access to your device or accounts - Apple Support

If you think your Apple ID has been compromised - Apple Support

elwood290 wrote:

Yes it was my VPN as well. Thanks so much for posting. I worked and worked to get on Zelle. Fianlly. It's seems crazy VPN is supposed to keep hackers out not me and my apps.

Here is a basic explanation of VPN:

VPN does not keep hackers out. The iPhone itself keeps hackers out. VPN disguises your actual location and encrypts your communications. VPN routes your communications to a distant location that could be anywhere in the world, so if you use VPN the banking app will get a false location for your phone, and it will assume that it is a hacker (possibly in another country) trying to impersonate you.

VPN also encrypts your communications, but the iPhone encrypts all communications, so VPN is redundant for that feature.

There are only two legitimate uses of VPN:

1. VPN to a corporate “inside” network lets you access data and resources on your company’s network when you are out of the office.
2. If you are in a country with a repressive government it allows you to access Internet resources outside of your country that might be blocked by the government.

Those are the ONLY two valid reasons to use VPN; well, except perhaps for accessing p o r n anonymously, and the TOR browser is better for that.

Using VPN actually increases privacy risks, because the VPN provider knows everything you access over their VPN. Do you trust them? If you are not paying to use VPN then you should definitely not trust them; they need to stay in business somehow, and they do so by selling your metadata. But even paid VPN can spy on you, and some do. Avast, for example, was caught spying on their users a couple of years ago (see→Avast is spyware).

Here’s additional information on VPN→Don't use VPN services. · GitHub

Mch877 wrote:

Delete any VPN from your Settings. Even though I had VPN turned off, I kept having the issue until I deleted some VPN I didn’t install myself, then the problem cleared up.

Who installed VPN if you didn’t? VPN is never a default installed by Apple. In fact, Apple discourages use of VPN for exactly the reasons here, except to access a business private network or to avoid snooping by a repressive government.

madukrainian wrote:

I have this problem but I have no VPN installed in Settings. Any other solutions?

Cellular or Wi-Fi?

Which iPhone?

What have you already tried, a d what happened when you tried it?

Are you on your own network, or on a network managed by somebody else?

Is your iPhone yours to manage, or is it being managed by others?

What happened around the time of the disconnectivity?

Any add-on security apps or add-on anti-malware apps loaded?

It absolutely CAN be the VPN. A VPN connection can reroute you to any node anywhere in the world, and you have no control over where the VPN’s termination is. If the VPN terminates in a different country than where you are located the access rules for apps in that location will apply, rather than your actual location.

elwood290 wrote:

Yes it was my VPN as well. Thanks so much for posting. I worked and worked to get on Zelle. Fianlly. It's seems crazy VPN is supposed to keep hackers out not me and my apps.

No, the massively advertised and over-hyped and widely-known-credentials-making-decrypting-the-VPN-traffic-entirely-feasible VPNs are supposed to collect and log and track all your data and your network activities. I suspect some providers might be intercepting and decrypting already-VPN’d traffic, too. Commercial VPNs are a different part of the same massively-advertised anti-malware user-data-collection swamp.

I’m far more inclined to trust and to use the Apple VPN that’s arriving later this year, where I’m concerned about the first part of the network path.

But for now, and between a local coffee shop that can barely keep their Wi-Fi going, and a commercial VPN provider seemingly perfectly positioned to harvest my data, I’m going to update my connections to SSL/TLS and HTTPS, and “trust” the local Wi-Fi over an entity seemingly purpose-built to harvest everybody’s data.

Katelynk1 wrote:

Me too! I don’t know how to fix it, and it only works with certain apps like Bitmoji and Pinterest. Help! I have an Iphone 11

Did you try removing the add-on VPN client app, or add-on anti-malware app, and running your test again?

eje69 wrote:

…This just started happening to me, only with two apps (my weather app and my bank app, annoyingly)…checked to see about the VPN situation (I don't have any and cannot find where to delete "hidden" ones that a few of you seem to have found…I have an iPhone 8 Plus iOS version 14.6…

Update your iPhone 8 to 14.7.1 (current), as a starting point, and test again.

The VPN apps being discussed are add-on apps intended for use by those that wish to have their network activities monitored and logged, while ~negligibly increasing security the first few hops to the internet.

(This add-on VPN app as differentiated from a VPN that’s used for and necessary to connect into the private network of an associated organization, and that generally does further secure network traffic against eavesdropping.)

Thank you so much for replying. I did update my phone and tried again and it's still happening. The weather app says "check your internet connection" and the bank app says "network connectivity error". Any other ideas?

Only thing left—short of discussions with the app vendors and Apple—is resetting your iPhone network.

Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings

Above assumes no VPN in use, and no profiles loaded, and no ”weird” DNS server settings in use.

Hopefully your problem has been solved.

For all others this might help:

Some of my apps (mostly games like PUBG) would no longer connect to servers.

Solution was to turn off Private Adress under the wifi settings.

Lukshmi wrote:

I have the same problem- started suddenly with no trigger. I can’t connect to what’s app or Facebook messenger ..

Any other ideas? Thanks!

Per other chatter posted here in ASC, WhatsApp and related are reportedly having a service outage right now.

Facebook Face-planted.

Try again later.

The DownDetector reports shown confirm the chatter, and the trend indicates the issues are being resolved over at Facebook.

Mary7mack wrote:

I am having issues connecting to different apps. Doesn’t matter is I’m connected to WiFi. Reset my network settings. Ensured No VPN connection.

Your phrasing here can be inferred to mean that there is an add-on VPN app installed here.

If you have a VPN add-on installed, remove the app entirely, restart the iPhone, and try again.

If no VPN app was installed, update your iPhone to current—that's 15.0.1 at present—and try again.