Defender vpn for my Mac?

Question

Defender vpn for my Mac?

EMS 0

I downloaded MS Defender with my office 365 family subscription. the VPN appears on my phone and tablet. Is it available for my Mac?

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

John Jefferson Doyon 87,535 Independent Advisor

Hi, @EMS

The Microsoft Defender Privacy Protection VPN is no longer available. Microsoft discontinued that feature on February 28, 2025.

Microsoft source:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/defender/end-of-support-privacy-protection-vpn-in-microsoft-defender-for-individuals

If you are seeing a VPN on your phone or tablet, especially an iPhone or iPad, Defender may be using a local VPN for its web protection feature. That is different from the previous Privacy Protection VPN.

Microsoft Defender itself is still available for Mac with a Microsoft 365 Family subscription.

To help confirm what you are seeing:

Are your phone and tablet Apple devices or Android?
In Defender on those devices, does it say "VPN" or "Web protection"?

Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Thanks!

EMS 0 Reputation points

2026-09-15T17:27:38.51+00:00

It seems to me that MS discontinued the VPN for individuals, but not for family subscriptions.

On my apple devices it shows up as VPN that I can turn on or off, but I don't see it on my Mac. And by the way I have a newer 2026 office 365 subscription
John Jefferson Doyon 87,535 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-15T17:56:51.0466667+00:00
Thanks for clarifying. Microsoft’s wording can be confusing here.

“Microsoft Defender for individuals” includes both Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family. The Privacy Protection VPN was discontinued for both plans on February 28, 2025, so a newer 2026 Family subscription does not include that VPN.

Microsoft confirms this here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/defender/end-of-support-privacy-protection-vpn-in-microsoft-defender-for-individuals

The VPN you still see on your Apple mobile devices is different. On iPhone and iPad, Defender's Web Protection uses a local VPN to check links for phishing or malicious websites. That is why iOS still shows a VPN that can be enabled or disabled. It is not the discontinued Privacy Protection VPN.

You would not see that same iOS local VPN feature on your Mac.

To help check what Defender is providing on the Mac:

What macOS version are you using?

When you open Microsoft Defender on the Mac, what protection options are shown there?

Thanks!
EMS 0 Reputation points

2026-09-15T18:01:32.0166667+00:00

Thank you, that clarifies it! Have a good day!
John Jefferson Doyon 87,535 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-15T18:07:45.4633333+00:00

Have a great day too!

If all is resolved, feel free to mark the answer for this thread. Otherwise, if anything related to this issue is still unresolved, please let me know.

Thanks!

Answer 2

Yes. Microsoft Defender is available on Mac as part of a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal subscription.

For the Privacy protection feature specifically:

The FAQ lists macOS as a supported platform for Privacy protection.
Privacy protection is only available if the Microsoft 365 billing country is one of these supported countries: US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, or Mexico.
To set it up, open the Microsoft Defender app and select the Privacy protection tile, then follow the on-screen instructions.

Important:

Microsoft is removing the Privacy protection (VPN) feature from Defender for individuals on February 28, 2025.
It is not available for new or reinstallations of the Defender app, and it will be deprecated for existing users on that date.