Setting up Flow VPN on iPhone, iPod and iPad
You’ve signed up for Flow VPN and received your VPN login details. Here’s what to do next…
Visit our mobile site at https://www.fv.pn/mobile to configure your iPhone and iPad.
Please note: if you’re looking for instructions on using one of our VPN apps please click here
Download a VPN configuration file
This process will enable you to download a VPN profile that will define settings to access your chosen location / route via L2TP, IKEv2 and PPTP protocols.
Start by logging in to your client area to select a VPN server location
…then return to this page and download your configuration file using this button:
Installing your VPN profile
1. Open the configuration file. Please note that your device may only recognise the file if you download the file while using Safari.
2. “Install Profile” – tap ‘install’
3. Enter your passcode
4. You’ll see some warnings – ‘install’
5. Your profile will be installed. To connect, go back to Settings > VPN, select a profile and tap the ‘Connected’ switch.
Manually configure - PPTP
1. Go to Settings > General > VPN
2. Select ‘Add VPN Configuration’
3. Select ‘PPTP’ and complete fields as follows…
Description: Flow VPN
Server: your choice of location, for instance uk.flow.host – you can find the list in your client area
Account: your email address
Password: your VPN password shown in your client area (please note that this is not the password you use to log into your client area)
…then ‘Save’
4. Tap the switch to connect
Next time you want to connect you’ll find a switch has been added to your main Settings page.
Manually configure - L2TP
1. Go to Settings > General > VPN
2. Select ‘Add VPN Configuration’
3. Select ‘L2TP’ and complete fields as follows…
Description: Flow VPN
Server: your choice of location, for instance uk.flow.host – you can find the list in your client area
Account: your email address
Password: your VPN password shown in your client area (please note that this is not the password that you use to log into your client area)
Secret: see ‘shared secret’ in your client area
…then ‘Save’
4. Tap the switch to connect
Next time you want to connect you’ll find a switch has been added to your main Settings page.
Frequently asked questions
Which VPN server will give me the fastest connection?
Ping times shown on the application’s Select Country screen indicate which VPN server has the fastest connection to you, so choosing a server with a low ping time is a good start.
However, when it comes to downloading content quickly there are quite a few variables. What you want is the fastest route from your location to the server that hosts the content you need to access, but it’s sometimes hard to know which connections will be the best.
Which VPN protocol should I use? PPTP, L2TP, or IKE v2?
Some regular VPN users have a clear personal preference. but if not, it probably comes down to using whichever works best for you.
Some wifi and mobile networks don’t support all connection protocols so you might find that you need to try them all to find the one that works for you.
PPTP and L2TP are long-established standards, they’re easy to manually configure and they’ll be automatically created if you choose to download and install a configuration file.
An added bonus of downloading a configuration file for iOS is the IKE v2 profile – this standard is particularly well suited to mobile devices as it’s particularly reliable when switching between wifi and mobile networks. It’s also considered to be more secure than PPTP, but please note that IKEv2 is only supported by iOS v8.0 and later.
Where can I find my VPN account name?
Global VPN shows your account name at the bottom of the app’s main page.
You can also find your account name by navigating to Settings > VPN > and clicking the blue i to see the settings for GLOBAL VPN.
How can I connect via OpenVPN?
To use Global VPN via OpenVPN on your iPhone / iPad you’ll first need to install OpenVPN Connect from the App Store.
Open the Global VPN app and go to Subscription > Reconfigure. Follow the prompts so that your main PPTP and L2TP profiles are installed, then you’ll see the Global VPN configuration web page – click the “Install OpenVPN Config” link and follow the prompts.
When your profile has been installed you’ll be able to connect via the OpenVPN Connect app.
How can I delete a VPN profile from my iPhone / iPad?
To delete a VPN profile from your iPhone / iPad, go to Settings > General > Profiles, tap on the profile you want to remove and you’ll see a Delete Profile button.