How do you set up a VPN on an iPhone, and how do you turn it off again?
Summary
Most people set up an iPhone VPN through the provider's App Store app; company and school phones often get a configuration profile instead. With an app, you approve an iOS prompt to add VPN configurations on the first connection, confirm with your passcode or Face ID, and you're done. To turn it off, go to the app. Some apps can't be disconnected from Settings at all, and some reconnect on their own when you join a network.
The one-time prompt
The first time a VPN app tries to connect, iOS asks for permission. Mullvad's help page shows the dialog word for word: "'Mullvad VPN' Would Like to Add VPN Configurations. All network activity on this iPhone may be filtered or monitored." You tap Allow, then confirm with your passcode, Touch ID or Face ID. NordVPN describes the same steps.
You can't connect without it. Proton VPN says that if you tap Don't Allow, you'll be asked to Add VPN Configurations every time you try to connect. The warning sounds alarming because it's accurate: once allowed, the app does sit in the path of your traffic. That's why the choice of provider carries so much weight.
Work and school phones: configuration profiles
Organizations often deliver VPN settings as a configuration profile. According to Apple, when you download a profile from a website or email, the Settings app shows "Profile Downloaded" or "Enroll in [organization name]," and you install it from there. A downloaded profile is deleted automatically if you don't install it within 8 minutes, and only one profile can wait to be installed at a time.
If the phone is enrolled in a device management service, an administrator can install profiles with no action from you. So a VPN you don't remember adding on a work phone may have been pushed by IT.
Turning it off
For a quick break from the VPN, open the app. How that works varies.
NordVPN has a Pause button on the main screen that lets you pick a duration, plus a Disconnect option that ends the session completely. With auto-connect on, NordVPN notes that even a full disconnect may reconnect by itself "when you join a network."
Mullvad is stricter. You disconnect in the Mullvad app, and Mullvad says you won't be able to do it from Control Center or the VPN settings screen.
If a VPN keeps coming back, that's usually by design. Mullvad turns on Connect On Demand in the iOS VPN settings to prevent leaks. Company setups can do something similar: Apple's per-app VPN settings include a rule that connects the VPN automatically when a linked app starts network communication.
Deleting the configuration is a separate step
Disconnecting leaves the VPN configuration on the phone. To remove it, Proton VPN's instructions are to open Settings, tap VPN, tap the ⓘ next to the configuration, and choose Delete VPN. NordVPN's app also has a Reset VPN profile option for its own configuration.
On a work phone, IT may have locked the VPN on so you can't turn it off. That enforcement is covered in our kill switch article.
Sources
- https://mullvad.net/en/help/using-mullvad-app-on-ios
- https://support.nordvpn.com/hc/en-us/articles/19451338152849-How-to-download-and-install-the-NordVPN-app-on-an-iPhone-or-iPad
- https://support.nordvpn.com/hc/en-us/articles/20315016492305-How-to-disconnect-from-NordVPN-servers
- https://protonvpn.com/support/ios-vpn-configurations
- https://protonvpn.com/support/ios-vpn-setup
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/102400
- https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/applayervpn-payload-settings-dep0323d652d/web
Related on this site
- Where should you download a VPN app, and does a free download mean the VPN is free?
- What do you actually do to start using a VPN, from signing up to knowing it works?
- What does a VPN kill switch actually stop when the connection drops?
- Should you set up a VPN on Android with an app or by hand, and how does always-on VPN work?
- Business VPN pricing: what teams actually pay per user
Written by Kaz (pen name). Published September 28, 2026. The facts above come from the vendor and standards pages listed under Sources. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.