Is the Phone Guardian free VPN safe?

Reputable “paid” commercial VPN services have no vested interest in your internet traffic beyond statutory obligations imposed by the authorities in whose territory in which they operate.  From a regulatory and technical perspective, this is no different to your ISP or mobile phone operator.  Reputable commercial VPN services are fully and profitably monetised by service subscriptions.

By contrast, free or “low cost” VPN operators are funded differently.  Clearly, these VPN operators have cost overheads that must be fully funded; such services are often funded through commercial advertising served via the VPN connection, or traffic analysis and data mining - this data being sold-on to other interested parties. Dishonest VPN operators may attract business with express intention of misusing your data - or to facilitate criminal activity.

If you have any doubts whatsoever as to the safety of using third-party VPN Apps or connections, or lack the technical knowledge or expertise to objectively assess the risk profile, you would be best advised to avoid using them altogether.

Consider that much of your network traffic is already encrypted, by default, using TLS/SSL. That said, there are some network protocols (such as DNS) that do not have benefit of encryption - and this traffic can be intercepted, monitored or maliciously manipulated. This risk can be mitigated using DoH, DoT or ODoH protocols.

DoH and DoT are natively supported by iOS/iPadOS, but are not exposed via iPad settings; to configure and use these protocols you will need to use a third-party App - such as DNSecure. ODoH is also natively supported - but is only available to iCloud+ subscribers using Apple's Private Relay function.

Providing that your iPad has been kept up-to-date with system software updates, you should not be concerned for your iPad being directly compromised by malware. Due to the sandboxed system architecture of iOS/iPadOS, unless jailbroken, your iPad is not susceptible to traditional malware infection per-se. However, as with all computer systems, there are still vulnerabilities and exploits to which you remain vulnerable.

For older devices, no longer benefiting from regular security updates, the risk of an unpatched vulnerability being exploited increases. Regardless of the installed version of iPadOS, there are useful mitigations that can be used to significantly reduce your exposure to risk.

If you have given your personal details to a malicious website, this may be the cause of attempted fraud. If necessary, change account passwords (including your AppleID Password) if you suspect that they may have been compromised. If you have cause to believe that your AppleID has been compromised, follow the advice outlined here:

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

If you have exposed your Credit Card details, you may wish to contact the Card Issuer - who may cancel and reissue your Card as a precaution.

Threat Mitigation

Other than malicious websites that will attempt to capture information that you willingly enter, the majority of threats to which you will be invariably exposed will surface via web pages or embedded links within email or other messaging platforms. Browser-based attacks can be largely and successfully mitigated by installing a good Content and Ad-blocking product. One of the most respected within the Apple App Store - designed for iPad, iPhone and Mac - is 1Blocker for Safari.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/1blocker-for-safari/id1365531024

1Blocker is highly configurable - and crucially does not rely upon an external proxy-service of dubious provenance, often utilised by so-called AntiVirus products intended for iOS/iPadOS. Instead, all processing by 1Blocker takes place on your device - and contrary to expectations, Safari will run faster and more efficiently.

Unwanted content is not simply filtered after download (a technique used by basic/inferior products), but instead undesirable embedded content is blocked from download. The 1Blocker product has also introduced its new “Firewall” functions - that are explicitly designed to block “trackers”. Being implemented at the network-layer, this additional protection works across all Apps. Recent updates to 1Blocker has introduced additional network extensions, extending protection to other Apps.

A further to improve protection from exploits is to use a security focussed DNS Service in preference to automatic DNS settings. This can either be set on a per-device basis in Settings, or can be set-up on your home Router - and in so doing extends the benefit of this specific protection to other devices on your local network. I suggest using one of the following DNS services - for which IPv4 and IPv6 server addresses are listed:

Quad9 (recommended)

9.9.9.9

149.112.112.112

2620:fe::fe

2620:fe::9

OpenDNS

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

2620:119:35::35

2620:119:53::53

Cloudflare

1.1.1.1

1.0.0.1

2606:4700:4700::1111

2606:4700:4700::1001

Security focused DNS providers intentionally "sink hole" known bad or malicious websites and resources - this providing an additional layer of protection beyond that provided by your device and its Operating System. These DNS services will, when used alongside 1Blocker or other reputable Content Blocker, provide defence in depth.

There are advanced techniques to further “harden” iOS/iPadOS (such as using DoH, DoT and DNSSEC). Apple has introduced its new Private Relay to its iCloud+ subscribers - in part employing ODoH (a variant of DoH) as an element of this new functionality. If you have subscribed to iCloud+, and have a device capable of running iOS/iPadOS 15.x or later, this feature is included. 

Don’t use VPNs unless it is for work or school.

Uninstall it.