There are many reasons for which you’d want to use a proxy server on your iOS device, one of the most important ones being privacy and the ability to access online content that’s normally blocked in your region. Luckily, iOS makes it easy to set up a proxy server on your iPhone or iPad.
However, keep in mind you will need the details of the proxy server in order to configure it.
How to set up a proxy server on your iPhone or iPad
Launch the Settings app and head over to WiFi.
Tap on the WiFi network you’re currently connected to.
Scroll down and at the bottom of the screen, you will find a section for HTTP Proxy. By default, it’s disabled but you do have the options to set it to ‘Auto’ in which case it will automatically detect the proxy, or ‘Manual’ if you want to configure everything yourself.
If you choose ‘Auto’ your iPhone will use the Web Proxy Discovery Protocol to determine if a proxy is required on the current WiFi network and automatically set it up if such is the case. Businesses and school networks often use this feature. If a proxy is not required by your current network, nothing will happen when you select ‘Auto’.
However, you can also use the ‘Auto’ option if you have an automatic proxy configuration script, also known as a .PAC file. You simply need to select ‘Auto’ then enter the address of the proxy auto-configuration script into the URL field. The address of the file is usually provided by your proxy service provider or network administrator.
You can manually enter the address and port of your proxy server, in which case you need to use the ‘Manual’ option. Simply enter the server and port in the dedicated fields. If the proxy server also requires a username and password you can enter them as well once you enable the ‘Authentication’ option. The credentials are typically provided by your proxy service provider or organization.
As you can see, it’s easy to set up a proxy server on your iPhone or iPad. Assuming you did everything correctly, you should be able to use the Internet without any errors. On the other hand, if you are getting various network error messages from apps, you should return to the HTTP Proxy section in your WiFi network’s Settings page to ensure you entered all the details correctly.
Share this post if you liked it and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to stay up to date with the latest apps, games, guides and everything Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.
