I have an iPhone. I just purchased a pixel 7 to use for some social media accounts and I’d like for them to remain private. I don’t like making cringy reels when friends and family follow me😭. This phone will have no data so only wifi. It’ll be used on the same wifi as my normal phone with my personal social media. I will turn off location services (although they might be negated anyways because it will have no data/service). So, if I’m not wrong, my home wifi is the main link. Do phone VPNs even combat this dilemma or are they exclusively for internet searches?
First things first, Once you make an account on a social media platform, you basically say bye-bye to your privacy. Understand that part clearly. Now There are some things you can do to make your experience a little bit better and somewhat private, that is by navigating the account settings of that particular socailmedia platform and making your account private, check what data you share, who can access that information and if there is an options to turn it off.
This does not guarantee your privacy though, the company can still access, collect and distribute your data.
As for VPN, it just gives you a secure path to navigate, acting as a mask to hide your location. Nothing else.
Just stop. There’s an overwhelmingly large amount of people who have been told through ads and YouTube sponsors that you NEED a VPN to have privacy online, and that without one you are unsafe.Truth is, you don’t. A lot of YouTubers don’t even know what VPNs actually do, so don’t believe everything they say.
If you just want your social media to be private, you don’t need any monthly subscription. There are privacy settings that you can freely deactivate, such as “recommend people from your contacts list” or “use location data to recommend people to follow”. Social media does not, in any way, use your IP to recommend you to others. What actually does though are mutual connections. So don’t be surprised when your whole family starts to follow you after you follow your close cousin on your “personal” account.
Case in point, I have two Twitter accounts, my main for friends and family, and a side account for memes/shitposting with closer friends. I’ve never had any issues w/o a VPN. There’s no need to waste your money on a VPN for this (let alone a whole separate phone for Christ’s sake), just use common sense.
There are practical uses for a VPN. You can use it to access region-locked websites, if you’re paranoid of people snooping on what websites you visit if you’re using public or shared (e.g workplace) wifi, or if you are streaming movies and are worried about IP holders sending you a mean letter by mail. But “privacy on social media” is NOT one of them.
Your face on the internet is your face on the internet. Your surroundings on the internet is your surroundings on the internet. Don’t want people to attach you to the account then the best bet is not to do what you’re wanting.
A VPN will not help you in this case. Also, free apps are “free” as in they don’t cost you a monetary transaction, but you are exchanging telemetry in exchange for their “free” service. So you need to re-evaluate your expectations. Then dive back in with proper expectations set.
VPN only helps mask your location or home router. AFAIK no VPN will mask your phone “id” or browser cookies i.e. they do not help with internet searches.
For social media, assuming you are using a browser and not an app, browser in private/incognito mode should be enough, but of course as soon as you log in that particular social media service will know who you are.
Do not install any social media apps, especially facebook (and maybe whatsapp if same number as facebook), they will track who you are at all times.
Throw the Apple in the bin and get an Android…problem solved
Thanks for the insight!
This is relieving! Thank you for the insight. Glad to know I don’t need to jump through hoops. Yes, perhaps the ads and misinformation have worked on me 
90% chance that suggesting people by email/phone number/contacts list is something that can be disabled on their privacy settings. I’ve also never heard of any social media using IPs to link people, there’s probably some EU regulation that forbids this. Buying a VPN to make a second account to share memes with close friends is just a waste of money.
Thank you for the insight! I’m just referring to Instagram honestly. But they seem to put in an extra effort to link people. I signed up on a different iPhone that had been wiped, used different number, email, and backup and some friends/family found me pretty quickly. I didn’t try turning my location off nor did I stress registered region. Both are great ideas. A VPN would be an extra precaution I suppose
Thst is not how incognito or private browsing works.
Just tell us you didn’t read the post…
Please, elaborate on what and why, enlighten us
Unless I misunderstood the question, social media apps know who you are by checking your id or cookies left from the last time you logged in. Incognito browsing clears those cookies, e.g. log into facebook, go incognito, it will not know who you are.
What am I missing?
First 4 words… but am I wrong?
I work in cybersecurity, and a VPN is an extra layer of protection. If you want total privacy (even from your ISP) then a VPN will help you accomplish that. Yes most websites are https, but it only takes 1 redirect or wrong click to get routed to another http website or unsafe website that uses JavaScript exploits.
Not to mention anyone can use free apps like wireshark and nmap to get your IP and ISP and other info if they are on your network or scanning your network
Cache and cookies are persistent while on the website. They are not deleted until you close the browser.
Read the next 6 words after that…
Okay, so?
I also work in a related CS field and what you said, although true, does not have anything to do with the case at hand. We’re talking about OP thinking to buy a VPN so that his friends and family don’t get connected with their Instagram profile.
Ironically, what you are saying about wanting privacy from your ISP, is something that I mentioned in my list of “valid reasons” to use a VPN on my original reply (as in, getting a “mean letter in the mail” due to streaming implies IP holder contacted your ISP which gave them your info), which you called “100% wrong”.
Nobody is talking about malicious parties using Wireshark nor nmap to identify you, we’re talking about whether VPNs are necessary or not to have a personal/private social media profile, which in my humble opinion, they’re not.