Hello there, I know that FaceTime is supposed to have end to end encryption meaning that only me and the receiver should be able to decipher the content. Would using a VPN compromise this in any way, would the content be visible to the VPN provider? Thank you!
It’s no different than looking at a website that uses SSL (https)
No, but here’s the bad news: iOS (probably also macOS) circumvents the active VPN for various system core and background connections. The active VPN is used for foreground connections but the video and audio streams of FaceTime always go besides the VPN tunnel. Also, FaceTime maintains both a Wifi as well as cellular connection to achieve seamless handover (when leaving WiFi/signal getting to weak) so both your WiFi and cellular IPs are exposed.
Thanks for the response, I’m a layman so I just wanted to ask, in what regard?
Thank you for the reply, what does this mean in practicality? Does it mean that the content of the call itself remains secure, but there’s a risk of IP being accessed if someone was to target me?
Well, SSL is end-to-end encryption also and SSL is used on all websites that are identified with https. Your connection to any website that is prefixed with ‘https’ is secure, whether you have a VPN or not. VPN only serves to mask your location via encryption between you and their server and then it goes out on the same internet as everything else (ie: vpn encryption ends at the endpoint server). This is why all the rhetoric about VPN ‘security’ is largely a bunch of B.S. It’s more about location masking than security.
The call itself is not less secure. Someone who provides WiFi to you or other users of an open public WiFi could see and track metadata (not the content of the call but the fact that there is a call, how long etc).