We confirm that iOS 16 does communicate with Apple services outside a VPN tunnel

From the same comment thread:

> I know what you're asking yourself and the answer is YES. #Android communicates with #Google services outside an active VPN connection, even with the options "Always-on" and "Block Connections without VPN."

Not saying that makes it right, but perhaps the discussion should be not be focused on Apple specifically.

For those looking for a workaround, you can get a VPN router in my case, a GL.iNet Mango[0] router.

The great thing: even if the VPN connection drops, it doesn't leak your real/naked IP, and also /all/ traffic on an iOS device has to pass through the VPN. No special exceptions for Apple traffic!

The only caveat is you have to carry this when traveling, which means if you're traveling light, carrying this around could be burdensome. If you are at home most of the time though, such a router is invaluable...

[0] https://www.amazon.co.uk/GL-iNet-GL-MT300N-V2-Converter-Pre-...

I first saw this come up about the Private Relay service. It didn’t make sense to me to worry about it then, because hiding Apple traffic from Apple achieves nothing.

If it’s affecting third party VPNs, I’d like to know more about why Apple made the choice to do this. I want to be able to assume that a VPN tunnel so configured is capturing everything in or out of my phone. If that’s not happening, I’d like to understand why.

I use a VPN for all the reasons in the VPN ads... So does this mean hackers can/will steal my identity and drain my bank account?

VPN was never designed for tunneling all traffic. It was designed to get you virtually into a private network to allow access to computers there. There was never a promise of “full tunnel” by design. So what’s the brouhaha?

Twitter making a big deal out of mostly nothing again. Everybody grab their privacy pitchforks.

In reality, it really doesn't matter much. If Apple wanted to snoop on you, they have every tool available. I assume that everyone who uses an iPhone is logged into iCloud? In that case, nothing you do can't be seen by Apple.

I use an iPhone because I trust that Apple isn't going to sell any of my data or use my data to harm me. I can't say the same about Android.