Can't delete VPN profile on iPhone? Here's how to do it

If you’ve been around, you probably know and appreciate that VPNs are superheroes when it comes to online privacy protection. Throughout the years, technology has evolved to the point where tiny, handheld devices have more power than desktop computers. Almost.

Our point is that you can perform a lot of operations on your phone, including browsing the Internet. And truth be told, there’s probably more personal data on your phone than on your desktop PC.

For this reason, specialists have thought of developing VPNs that work on your phone seamlessly. You just install them as you would any other app, log into your account, and connect to a server.

Your phone might ask you if it’s okay to create a configuration profile for the VPN, and you’re all set.

However, as with many other mobile services, VPNs might trigger some inconveniences. For instance, you might be (apparently) stuck with unwanted VPN configuration profiles on your iPhone.

And that kinda takes away the fun from your pristine operating system and puts a dent in the flawlessness of your device. Although it won’t impair your iPhone‘s functionality too much, that unwanted configuration profile can be quite annoying.

So let’s take a closer look and see how we can fix it.

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How to remove unwanted VPN from your iPhone?

1. Unlock your iPhone
2. Locate the VPN app you want to remove
3. Touch and hold the app’s icon until it starts jiggling
4. Tap the x button in the upper-left corner of the icon
5. If prompted, confirm your action by hitting the Delete button

Note that most of the time, removing an app will also remove any data that’s associated with it. So, basically, removing a VPN should also delete the configuration profiles that it might’ve created.

How to delete VPN configuration profiles on your iPhone?

1. Unlock your iPhone
2. Go to the Settings app
3. Access the General category
4. Select the Profiles* option (also called Profiles & Device Management)
5. Tap the VPN configuration profile
6. Select the Delete Profile option
7. Type your device’s password if your iPhone asks for it
8. Select Delete once more
9. Restart your device

* – the Profiles option is visible only if your VPN uses configuration profiles and you have them set on your iPhone

This fix is intended to be used whenever residual data remains after deleting the VPN apps. Sometimes, removing the app isn’t enough to make the configuration profile disappear as well.

Although there’there’s little it can do to affect your iPhone‘s functionality, attempting to create a configuration profile with the same name might not work.

For instance, if you’re trying to reinstall the app and the old configuration profile is there, you might have a difficult time making it work.

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However, if you’re not convinced or just need to browse some more options, check out our best VPNs for iPhone recommendations.

VPN configuration profiles on your iPhone are easy to remove

All in all, we hope that you encountered absolutely zero issues during the removal of VPN profiles on your iPhone. Usually removing the VPN app does the trick.

However, certain VPN apps are either poorly designed, intentionally programmed to be hard to remove or even set to preserve some settings in case you decide to install them again later.