VPN alternative with Raspberry Pi and the Wireguard iOS app

I’ve been playing around with a raspberry pi for the past year or so, and am really getting value for money. The pi itself cost me around $70 with case and fan, and I added a spare drive I had lying around for storage. Next to some docker containers I installed Wireguard on it to be able to VPN into my network securely and ssh to different machines easily.

Last week I discovered that the iOS wireguard app has a working “on demand” feature that can start the VPN automatically when I am not on my wifi (bit late in discovering it but as long as it works)

It can connect automatically on wifi networks, cellular networks or both, and you can set exceptions in the app. So now instead of subscribing to an external VPN provider I use my raspberry pi wireguard connection when I’m out and about, and save the cost for a 3rd party wifi.

As I’m not in the US I’m less worried about my ISP and my data (they’re not allowed to do much with that at all over here) So getting a secure VPN I control to my home network and out onto the internet from there is perfect for my needs

Just wanted to share this, as it;s a very low cost solution for a real world problem

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Some routers, for example several ASUS models, can run a VPN server too:

https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1008713/

Then you don’t even need to buy a Pi (but they’re useful, for many things!)

ASUS currently only supports OpenVPN, but they are working on adding Wireguard to several AX models.

I have a Synology router that did that previously for me, problem was I could not get auto-connect to work reliably for me. With the Wireguard setup that works 100% of the time.