A VPN (virtual private network) is an essential tool nowadays, regardless of which device you use. With the increased popularity of VPNs has come an increased number of VPN providers vying for your business. That makes finding the best one to suit your needs difficult. To help you sort out the right provider for you, we’ve committed to extensive research and testing of VPN services that cater to Mac owners in our guide to the top VPN services for Mac.
With the Internet abuzz with privacy concerns and the potential changes coming to net neutrality, you’ve likely heard about VPNs before. When used correctly, a VPN can greatly strengthen your online privacy, assist in keeping your personal information secure, and even spoof your location in the world – allowing you to access websites or services that would otherwise be off limits due to region-locking.
Indeed, one of the most popular reasons to use a VPN outside the US is to get access to blocked online content, such as foreign Netflix libraries. With a VPN you can watch BBC iPlayer while outside of the UK, or access US Netflix from the UK, for example.
While Macs are generally considered to be more secure than PCs, VPNs are still useful for Mac users because it affects the connection between your Mac and the Internet, rather than the computer itself.
If you subscribe to Apple’s iCloud+ you may be thinking you don’t need a VPN to hide your location and identity. Apple’s update for iCloud subscribers includes iCloud Private Relay, which sounds a bit like a VPN because it encrypts your web-browsing traffic and sends it through a relay to hide your location, IP, and any information about what you were browsing.
However, iCloud Private Relay is not a VPN because you aren’t able to choose an IP address or a region, and you won’t be able to make it look like you’re coming from
