What Is A VPN? The Ultimate Guide for Parents 2025
These days the impact of technology on our everyday lives is very high especially when it is about children. At a very early age, children are receiving their internet-capable device and that is becoming devastating for them. In most cases, teachers set such homework that requires the use of the Internet. A VPN, the virtual private network is on a mobile device to connect to work-related servers or guard privacy related to everyday use. Using this also evade parental controls. So, that is a concern for parents as the parental controls will not work on the child’s device and hence, they will become prone to various hazards.
What Is A VPN?
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) can be defined as a service that enables you to access the web safely and privately. This is possible by routing your connection through a server and hiding your online actions. Usually, children make use of a VPN because they’re trying to beat whatever parental controls you’ve put in place. Your child can download a VPN app and get to the internet and cut through the restrictions. That implies VPN creates a tunnel between the kid’s iPhone and the VPN server. Further, they build a tunnel between it and the internet. There is nothing that can get into the VPN server in the middle as “the internet” sees the VPN server as the source and not the user, which helps in protecting the privacy.
How Can I Figure out If My Child Is Using A VPN?
The best way to find out whether your child is using a VPN is by asking them directly whether they are using it or not. If you suspect something which puts you in doubt that your child is using a VPN then you should start by looking at your kid in the eye and asking if they’re using a VPN and if they are doing so then also ask them what is the reason behind that.
Suppose your child is using an iPhone then you can go to the main screen, from swipe right to expose a search bar at the top. There you have to type in “VPN” and see if anything shows. After that, you need to visit the App Store on your child’s device and determine if they’ve ever downloaded a VPN app. You must touch the magnifying glass at the bottom of the App Store and type “VPN” in the search bar at the top. You can then search for any apps that have the download cloud next to then. This shows that the app you download at some point, even if it’s no longer on the device.
How Can I Prevent My Child from Using A VPN?
Similarly, when the child is using the Android device, then touch the icon from the main screen that houses the apps on the device. You can even go to the Google Play store and investigate then search for “VPN.” You must click through a few VPN apps and look for any that have buttons that say, “Uninstall” and “Open,” which implies that the app is on the phone, somewhere.
The last way to find out whether VPN is running on the device is to look for the VPN icon, running on the device. If it is an iPhone, you’ll see the letters “VPN” in the upper left corner next to the cell signal whereas when it is in an Android device, if you swipe down on the home screen, you’ll find the notification that a VPN is running on the device. When it is about the Android devices, then there is a notification on the lock screen that a VPN is running. Android goes out of its way to ensure the user knows a VPN is running, as it may show that a potential privacy violation if the VPN is running without permission. When you are aware that the child is using a VPN then you will want to prevent the child from using it at any cost. Here are the things that you can do:
- Don’t make assumptions. Yes, children are likely to be naughty, but first, give them a chance to tell you why.
- Assuming they downloaded the VPN for malicious reasons, delete it.
- Remove VPN from App Store (Apple) or Google Play (Android).
- Consider getting parental control applications to monitor installed applications.
Therefore, the VPN can prevent you from viewing online activities of your children. But if you make use of the tool like iKeyMonitor, then it will inform you as soon as VPN is downloaded on the device. It will even help you to control the browsing activities. Besides that, you can even block the inappropriate apps and games which can cause harm to your children. You can also check out the apps that are being downloaded on the device. In this way, you can protect your children from online hazards.
Tags: virtual private network, VPN, VPN is downloaded on the device, VPN is running without permission
Category: Learning & How to, Parental Control Tips