A VPN for the whole house, not just your phone
Most people put a VPN app on one phone and forget the rest. Here is how to cover every device at home at once, and what a VPN will and won't do for you.
What a VPN does at home
Affiliate links. KIX Labs is a NordVPN and NordPass affiliate. If you buy through the links in this piece we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend what we would set up in our own home.
At home, a VPN stops your internet provider seeing which sites you visit, and hides your home connection from the sites themselves. Out and about, on café, hotel or station Wi-Fi, it stops other people on the same network seeing what you do.
It will not stop a scam, and it does not make you invisible. The VPN company can see what your provider no longer can, so the choice of company matters. Free VPNs often pay for themselves with your data.
Why on the router, not on each device
An app on each phone and laptop leaves out everything you can't install an app on: the smart TV, the games console, the doorbell, the speakers. Run the VPN on the home router instead and every device on your Wi-Fi is covered, with nothing to install and nothing for the children to switch off.
Five things we set up
- A router that can run a VPN. Most routers from your provider can't. We use GL.iNet routers, which run one quickly and keep getting security fixes.
- A paid, well-known VPN. We use NordVPN. It runs on WireGuard, which is fast enough for the whole house, its no-logs policy has been checked by outside auditors six times, most recently by Deloitte at the end of 2025, and it has apps for phones and laptops for when you leave the house.
- A kill switch. If the VPN drops, the router stops traffic instead of quietly carrying on without it.
- Encrypted DNS and a filter. The look-ups your devices make to find each website are encrypted, and known scam, malware and tracking sites are blocked for the whole house.
- A password manager for everyone at home. Your phone has one built in. If the family uses a mix of iPhone, Android and Windows, one that works on all of them is easier. NordPass does, covers up to six people on its family plan, and lets you share a login safely with someone at home.
Setting up a VPN on a router is fiddly the first time: the right settings, a kill switch that actually works, and everyone at home knowing what to do when something won't connect. We set it up with you, explain it as we go, and never ask for your passwords.