Apple's iOS 27 found to break NordVPN's scam and phishing protection and it isn't the only privacy tool impacted

Date:
Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:15:16 +0000

Description:
Connectivity Assist conflicts with NordVPNs real-time protection, NordVPN says

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Apple's latest iOS update has been found to undermine NordVPN's anti-phishing tool The feature that causes the issue, Connectivity Assist, is turned on by default as part of the update According to NordVPN, the issues could have been prevented Apple's new iOS 27 operating system update is undermining NordVPNs anti-phishing tool, leaving users exposed to privacy vulnerabilities, the VPN has warned .

Connectivity Assist, a Wi-Fi Assist feature included in Apples twentieth operating system release, conflicts with NordVPNs real-time protection, preventing it from working properly, the provider has found. Whats worse? The tool is enabled by default, meaning users may not even know. What's more, other privacy tools on your phone may also have been compromised. The problem with Connectivity Assist (Image credit: NordVPN) Connectivity Assist
optimises your Wi-Fi connection by supplementing slow or unreliable Wi-Fi connections with mobile data, detecting connection issues, and redirecting requests to your mobile operators DNS servers instead.

However, when NordVPNs anti-fraud protection blocks a phishing site, Apple
may also interpret the failed connection as a Wi-Fi issue and switch to
mobile dataoutside the VPNs protectionthereby compromising the functionality of the NordVPN tool. You may like Apple and Google are hosting hundreds of dangerous VPN links here is why your device is at risk The privacy myth crumbles: Inside the iCloud+ flaws threatening Apple's most valuable promise NordVPN's antivirus tool blocks 94% of phishing sites in latest independent test

The only option currently available to ensure full protection is to disable Connectivity Assistant, so it cant switch to mobile data when real-time protection blocks a website.

Alternatively, you can choose only to enable real-time protection when using
a VPN by disabling NordVPNs always on option - but this still leaves them unprotected when using mobile data - just now by choice.

People are being made to choose between two things they shouldn't have to choose between, and there's no good way for us to fix it, Laura Tyrylyte,
Head of Public Relations at NordVPN, tells TechRadar. Can this be prevented? Could Apple have helped resolve these issues before the release? Perhaps, according to the VPN representative. Apple knew the feature interferes with DNS-based filtering before it shipped, Tyrylyte notes. Their own support page tells people running an ad blocker to switch Connectivity Assist for that network. Somebody spotted the conflict, it just didnt get fixed.

Users of Pi-hole, Firewalla, and other DNS-based filtering tools had previously reported the same behaviour, and Cloudflare's WARP also stopped blocking malicious sites following the update, NordVPN stressed. What to read next Apple's Private Relay tool can leak users' IP addresses NordVPN expands scam text protection to all Android users worldwide Thousands of iOS and Android VPNs are hiding behind fake websites and useless privacy policies here's how to spot them

Apple engineers have suggested alternative solutions in the forums, but these only work if users configure the DNS settings themselves, notes Tyrylyte.

Deciding to treat deliberate filtering as a failed connection is a choice somebody made. They could have written it the other way: if a user-installed DNS service decides to resolve or block the query, leave that judgement
alone, Tyrylyte adds.

Instead, the problem got handed to users, who now need to end up fielding the support tickets for something we cant change, she stresses.

NordVPN states that this is not the first time a change made by Apple to the network has compromised a security feature on iOS, with the VPN having to inform users.

In 2023, Apples VPN API contained vulnerabilities that disrupted NordVPN operations. Both times users ended up having to pick between an Apple feature and their own protection, and both times Apple was the only one who could
have prevented that, Tyrylyte says.

Apple makes the call, and we find out what the call was when the release lands, she stressed.

Whoevers responsibility this is, one thing is for certain: it is users who stand to pay the highest price when tools quietly stop working. And reporting the issue in the press as a solution seems a poor substitute for preventing the problem in the first place.

Apple is yet to respond to a request for comment. Today's best NordVPN deals NordVPN 2 Year 2.59 /mth View at NordVPN NordVPN 1 year 4.09 /mth View at NordVPN NordVPN 1 Month 11.09 /mth View at NordVPN



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-services/apples-ios-27-found-to-break-nordvp ns-scam-and-phishing-protection-and-it-isnt-the-only-privacy-tool-impacted


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)