Opera VPN iOS
Opera is bringing its free VPN to iOS.
The app, launched Monday, blocks ads in Safari, Chrome, and other apps; prevents trackers from following you around the Web; and lets you access blocked websites. You can change your virtual location by connecting to one of five regions and borrowing an IP address from that area. Right now, you can choose among the US, Canada, Germany, Singapore, or The Netherlands, but Opera said more locations are "coming soon."
The app comes just weeks after Opera added an unlimited and free virtual private network to its browser. Both products were built by SurfEasy, the VPN company Opera acquired last year.
Opera VPN for iOS creates a secure tunnel between you and SurfEasy's servers, making it more difficult for sites to track you around the Web. The ad-blocking feature, meanwhile, promises to save you some time, frustration, and battery life.
On the down side, however, SurfEasy President Chris Houston said the company will likely introduce advertising into the app in the future. "This is just the same as playing a free game that has ads — we get paid by advertisers based on our users' engagement with their ads," Houston wrote in a blog post Monday.
 Users should also be aware that the app collects anonymous data about how you use your mobile device, and Opera will make this information available to third parties.
"It's important to understand that this is not data about what you do with your phone, but rather this is data about how a large group of people use their phones," Houston wrote. "It's very much like taking part in a  survey — there is very little value in your personal answers since your answers may not be representative of the larger population."
Meanwhile, if you're an Android user in need of a free VPN, don't feel too left out. Houston said support for Google's mobile OS is coming soon.