Opera VPN: Making the internet open

A few weeks ago, a friend was rushing to China on a business visit. Now he is known to use social networks using the in-flight internet service, so you can imagine his predicament of having to live without Facebook for the entire trip.

He had reached out asking if there were ways of using a proxy server or virtual private networking (VPN) to access Facebook in China. And he didn't want to access it on his company-provided notebook. We were thinking of paid options such as CyberGhost, when just days before he left, Opera came out with its free VPN app for iOS devices.

We immediately downloaded the app and got tinkering. The app installs a VPN protocol on your device and warns that your browsing activity would be routed through these servers, so if you have any privacy concerns, you should stop here. It connects to the nearest servers and bundles in an ad blocker and tracker. Once that is done, just open your browser/app and access your favourite website/service. A caveat: If you're planning to use this app to hoodwink Netflix into thinking you're somewhere else (and thus open up more content for you), it isn't possible. When I accessed Netflix for the first time while Opera VPN was on, first I was directed to the Korean site; next I switched off the VPN service, logged into Netflix and started the service again. This time Netflix refused to open, saying I was using a proxy.

My friend is back from China and Opera VPN occupies pride of place on his iPhone's home screen. There's just one grouse: The app doesn't support landscape mode yet.