A free VPN for iPhone comes in three kinds, and the word “free” in the App Store covers very different things: a free service that pays its way with something other than your money; a free app with no servers; and the trial of a paid service. Below: how they differ, what to look at on the App Store page before installing, and what is free with us. We do not list or compare other services. Everything here is as of 4 October 2026.
In short. A free VPN for iPhone is either a service that pays for servers with ads, limits or your data, or a free client that has no servers at all (that is how INCY works), or a trial. Before installing, open the App Store page and look at four things: the publisher, the App Privacy section, the developer's privacy policy, and whether there is a paid subscription inside. With Mayak the trial is free — 3 days on two devices after you confirm your email, no card; on iPhone it works through a subscription link in the free INCY app.
We build Mayak — a private network that lives on subscriptions. We have no free-forever plan, only a trial. This article is about free options in general; only one section is about us. 3 days free after you confirm your email, no card needed. The trial is free and needs no card; without an email it is 1 day.
🍎 You are on an iPhone: the Mayak trial works in the free INCY app from the Russian App Store — how to add the subscription.
Three kinds of “free” on iPhone
| What it is | Who pays for the servers | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| A free service | Ads, a paid version without limits, or users' data | What the service lives on: the store page and the privacy policy show it |
| A free client | Nobody: the app has no servers; a provider supplies them with a link or a key | Where the servers will come from and who runs them |
| A trial | The service, counting on you to pay later | Whether a card is needed and what happens when the trial ends |
The confusion starts because all three sit in the App Store next to the same Get button. The button tells you the price of the app, not what access to servers costs.
How a free service pays its way
Servers and bandwidth cost money every month, and if you are not paying, someone else is. There are three ways: ads in the app; limits (traffic, speed, time or choice of countries) with a paid version offered to lift them; and data — about what you open and from where. The first two are fair if you can see them straight away. The third is the hardest to notice, so it is checked on paper, not by feel.
That does not mean everything free is bad: free plans from paid services can be perfectly fair — the source of money is visible there. Documented cases are covered in “Paid VPN or free” and “Why a free VPN is risky”; here — only what is specific to the iPhone.
What to look at on the App Store page before installing
The iPhone has an advantage: a lot is visible before you install, right on the app's page. Five checks take a couple of minutes.
- The publisher. The developer's name is under the title, and in the Information section it appears as Provider. Well-known names in the Russian App Store are surrounded by look-alike apps from other publishers: a search for “happ” in our measurement on 23 September 2026 returned 17 apps, and none came from the publisher of the real Happ (how to tell). All of the phone's traffic will go through such an app, so the publisher's name matters more than the stars.
- App Privacy. In this section the developer states what data the app collects: whether it is used for tracking, whether it is linked to you or not. Above the section Apple notes that this information has not been verified by Apple. So it is the developer's claim — useful, but not a guarantee.
- The developer's privacy policy. The link is in the same section. Look for direct answers: is data sold, who is it shared with, is a connection history kept. No answer is an answer too.
- A paid subscription inside. “Free” on the button does not rule out a subscription inside the app: trial days with a charge through Apple afterwards, a paid version without limits. Read the description to the end — the terms are usually there.
- What the app asks for after installation. Permission to add a VPN configuration is the normal routine for any app of this kind. Access to contacts, photos or location is not needed for a secure connection; if it asks, ask yourself why.
A free client: the app is there, the servers are not
Some free iPhone apps are not services but clients. They know how to connect, but what to — you decide by adding a subscription link or a key from a provider. One example is INCY: it is free, available in the Russian App Store, and its page says plainly that it “does not provide servers”. WireGuard, AmneziaWG and Outline work the same way — they are free and accept settings of their own kind (what else is in the store).
A free client is an honest thing: you do not pay for the app itself. But the question “where do I get servers” does not go away. Free keys from public lists mean someone else's server carrying your traffic, and they do not last long (why). How to add a subscription to INCY step by step is in “INCY: what it is and how to add a subscription”.
A trial: free, but for a while
A trial is the most direct way to test a service on your own iPhone and network without paying anything. Two questions decide whether it will really be free:
- Is a card needed? If the trial is set up as an App Store subscription or with a card attached, charges will start when it ends — unless you cancel in time.
- What happens at the end? Without a card there is nothing to charge: access simply ends, and the choice of plan is yours.
How trials work in general and what to test in the free days is in “VPN with a free trial”.
Mayak on iPhone: what is free and what is not
- Free — the trial. 3 days on two devices after you confirm your email. We do not ask for a card for it, so there is nothing to charge when it ends.
- Free — the client. We do not have our own iPhone app yet; it is in development. On iPhone Mayak works through a subscription link in INCY — it is free and available in the Russian App Store; we tested it with our link with a live connection on 22 September 2026. Happ works too, but the real Happ is not in the Russian App Store.
- Not free — access after the trial. We have no free-forever plan. Plans differ by the number of devices: Start — 300 ₽ a month for up to 3 devices, Family — up to 5, Max — up to 10 (what it costs and what is included). You pay in your account area with a Russian card or via SBP, not through the App Store.
- What we live on. Subscriptions. Our privacy policy says it plainly: we do not sell data and use no advertising trackers and no third-party advertising or analytics modules.
- What we do not promise. That it “always works”: your network is your own. In the mobile whitelist mode Mayak will not connect.
Try it free on your own iPhone. Create an account, install INCY, open the “Connecting by link” card in your account area and add the link. We ask for no payment details for the trial. A confirmed email opens the access — 3 free days on two devices. An email is optional: without one the trial is 1 day.
What we checked
- INCY's App Store page — 4 October 2026: free, publisher LLC ITDEV, the “does not provide servers” line, the App Privacy section with Apple's note that the information has not been verified by Apple.
- Look-alike apps for “happ” — our check of the Apple catalogue on the night of 23 September 2026.
- INCY with our link — a live connection on an iPhone, 22 September 2026.
- Our plans, trial and payment — from our help centre, 4 October 2026.
What we don't know
- How other free services behave. We do not measure or rate them; the signs above are what anyone can check for themselves.
- Whether developers tell the truth in the data section. Apple does not verify it, and neither do we.
- What the App Store will look like tomorrow. The store changes: check the publisher on the app's page before installing.
- How your network behaves. That can only be tested on your iPhone — which is what the trial is for.
Quick answers
Is there a free VPN for iPhone? Yes, of three kinds: a free service, a free client without servers, and the trial of a paid service. The first is paid for with ads, limits or data. The table.
Which free VPN should I download on iPhone? We neither recommend nor criticise other services. Choose by the store page: publisher, data section, privacy policy and any subscription inside. Five checks.
Is a free VPN on iPhone safe? It depends on what the service lives on. If the source of money is visible neither on the store page nor in the privacy policy, you are paying — just not with money.
Is INCY free? Yes, the app is free. But it has no servers: a provider gives access with a subscription link.
Can I try without a card? With us — yes: 3 days on two devices after you confirm your email; we do not ask for a card.
A free VPN for iPhone without sign-up — does that exist? Sign-up is needed wherever the servers and the access term live. With us an account is needed: it holds the subscription link and shows the term. No card is needed for the trial.