Support Center / Download and setup / How to manually set up OpenVPN on Android

How to manually set up OpenVPN on Android

Our Android app allows you to choose between the OpenVPN, WireGuard®, and Stealth protocols. If enabled, Smart Protocol will choose the best option for you. We strongly recommend using our Android app on your Android or Chrome OS device. 

You can download our Android app from the Google Play Store, or you can download our Android app’s APK from the open-source app repository F-Droid and GitHub (Android only).

Download the Proton VPN Android app

Learn how to change VPN protocols on our Android app

How to set up Proton VPN as an Android VPN

Download your chosen app

Note: To avoid undesired behavior and bugs, we strongly recommend using one of the following applications:

Download configuration files to your device

Note: Below we describe how to download config files directly onto your device, though you can also send config files to your device via email or USB transfer.

1. Sign in to your Proton VPN dashboard at account.protonvpn.com/login

2. Select Downloads.

3. Select OpenVPN configuration files section and choose:

  • Platform: Android 
  • Protocol: UDP (recommended) / TCP if you experience slow VPN speeds (this utilizes port 443)
  • Select the config files you would like to download. These config files determine the type of Proton VPN server you can connect to. (Secure Core, Country, Standard server, or Free server)

Click Download for the specific server you wish to connect to, or scroll to the bottom of the page and select Download all configurations. (If you select Download all configurations, you will need a program to extract the zip file.)

download configurations protonvpn android

Note: You can also perform the above steps on your PC and send the OVPN config files as attachments to your email address that you can access on your Android device.

Set up OpenVPN on Android

Note: The instructions below are for OpenVPN for Android. If you’re using another application, you will follow similar steps but there will likely be slightly different user interfaces.

In the OpenVPN for Android app, tap the Import button in the top right corner, then select the OVPN files you downloaded previously.

openvpn for android no profile

Tap the Save button to finish importing the config file.

import file to openvpn

To add more connections simply repeat the above steps with different configuration files. Note: Secure Core servers are marked as xx-xx-01.protonvpn.com.xxxxxxx.ovpn.

Connect to Proton VPN

1. Tap on the newly added profile to connect.

2. Tap OK when you see the below prompt for Connection request.

3. When prompted for the username and password, enter your OpenVPN credentials and hit connect.

Openvpn password credentials android

4. For more information on your OpenVPN credentials and where to find them, see here.

Note: To use our NetShield DNS filtering feature, append the suffix +f1 to your username to block malware, or +f2  to block malware, ads, and trackers (for example 123456789+f2).  

5. A new screen will appear detailing the connection attempt. When you see Initialization Sequence Completed and a key icon appears in the top status bar, you are successfully connected.

openvpn log

Disconnect from Proton VPN

1. Tap the profile you are currently connected to (Indicated by Connected:SUCCESS […] underneath the profile name).

2. Select Disconnect on the confirmation window.

disconnect from openvpn

3. Once you have disconnected, the profile will now show No process running.

Post Comment

89 comments

  1. pourquoi

    Neither OpenVPN Connect nor OpenVPN for Android work in conjunction with ProtonVPN on Samsung Galaxy Note8 (Android 8).

  2. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello, please contact our customer support team as we need more detailed information about your situation. https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  3. pourquoi

    Actually, it works on Galaxy Note8. I had mismatched the ProtonVPN user name with the credentials for the connection. Thanks for your help !

  4. Dizzy

    I would like to use Proton VPN on my Android phone, but I live in China, which means that I can’t access the Google Play Store. Is it possible to download the apk file from somewhere else so that I can sideload it onto my phone? (Note: it is no just that the Google Play Store is blocked in China. Almost all phones bought here don’t have the Play Store app, and it can’t be installed even if you can find a copy to download.)

  5. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Dizzy, Please contact our customer support team and we will provide with the required tools to try out our services in China. https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  6. Alex

    I’ve an issue with ProtonVPN for Android, similar to reported by John, connection is not responsive after locking phone while connected to Internet via WiFi. I’ve tried to set connection as “Always-on active” in VPN connections section of phone Settings, it doesn’t seem to change anything. If I use different OpenVPN client (OpenVPN for Android) everything is fine.

    Steps to reproduce:
    1. Be sure phone is using WiFi network connection (not cellular carrier data connection, there is no issue on cellular connection). I’ve noticed the issue on my home WiFi network. Have not checked on any other WiFi networks, but I guess it doesn’t matter.
    2. Connect to server using ProtonVPN app, doesn’t matter which one. I connect to AU servers (both with Secure Core option and without it, I guess it doesn’t matter as well).
    3. Lock phone. I press Power button to switch off display and lock phone. But it is fine if you just wait a minute for auto lock. Locked here means that it will require password to unlock phone after waking up. Probably password lock is not really related to the issue, just going to sleep mode matters.
    4. Wait some time (I believe waiting for 5 minutes is enough). Unlock phone.
    5. Connection is in connected state, key symbol is shown in tray. There is upload activity according to ProtonVPN app but *no download* activity. All messages in ProtonVPN log have old timestamps (e.g. around the time phone was locked).

    Environment:
    1. Android 7.1.1
    2. Phone: Blackberry KeyOne, BBB100-1, firmware build AAV119
    My guess is that there is some network state change on WiFi network that is not handled by ProtonVPN. Hope this will help to nail down the issue. I’ve switched to OpenFPN for Android for now and can live with it.

  7. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Alex, thank you for the steps to reproduce the issue. We have delivered the information to the developers and will do our best to see how to solve it. We appreciate your time!

  8. carlos francavilla

    Same issue as Alex, vpn not downloading activity after unlocking the phone, i am running proton vpn app version 1.22. on Samsung S7 with Andoid 7.0 security revision march 2018, i don not change wifi and cellular and the issue is always in the wifi without any lost of signal. Don not receive any message will the phone is locked.

  9. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Carlos, please contact our support staff and we will do our best to help you out with the android connection loss issue! https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  10. John

    I really like the android it works very well, the only issue is that after some period of time, the connection becomes very slow/unusable (or goes to sleep) if I simply reconnect to another server all is well – is there any way to avoid this?

  11. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello John, as much as we tested , we could only reproduce it when we are stepping away from wifi signal until it gets low and barely stays connected. Is this a similar case to you? Please contact our customer support team about it. https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  12. Thierry

    Currently trying ProtonVPN for Android. Everything works great when connected to my home Wi-Fi but as soon as I am on the go and use data from my cellular data provider all apps are telling me I have no internet connection. Am I missing something?

  13. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Thierry,
    May we ask, do you swtich from wifi to cellular and then loose internet on apps, or can you connect to our vpn servers with cellular and evn then loose internet?
    Please contact our support with more detailed information.
    https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  14. Pedro

    Hi
    Installed and running fine.
    One thing did not understand though:
    “Use secure core”…?

    Thanks

  15. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Pedro,
    Secure core is a feature of our applications that provides extra security layer by bouncing your connection through two VPN servers. If you have any further questions or issues that you`d like to be addressed, feel free to write us a message here:
    https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  16. Harold Filet

    Hello, I just found this app a few days ago and it’s great. But it seems to block local traffic (to a LAN server on the same subnet 192.168.x.y). I have to disconnect from the VPN to access my LAN.
    Is there a way to automatically start a user defined default config ? (a one click start solution)
    On my phone, the setting “Start with Android” fails to connect. Maybe it starts too soon and it sould wait longer for network availability before sending an error message.

  17. ProtonVPN Team

    Hey Harold, our app uses IKEv2 protocol which does not allow connections on a local network by design. You can try using OpenVPN Connect app instead, OpenVPN protocol usually does allow connections in the local network.

  18. nightflow

    Works great on ChromeOS devices that have Google Play Android support. I’m using it successfully on an Asus Chromebook Flip 2 C302CA-DHM4 w/ the Android ProtonVPN app! Also run ProtonVPN on a variety of platforms without problems including OpenVPN on macOS High Sierra.

  19. Tomy

    when will proton vpn have a app for android tv box would be great and the best

  20. ProtonVPN Team

    Hey Tomy, optimizing it for Android TVs is quite low on our to-do list, but we will see what we can do about it.

  21. ted

    it suddenly stopped on Android .. i’m in UAE, dose this has anything to do with VPN IPs block ? anyone reported that protonvpn servers can’t be reached from UAE ?

  22. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Ted, there is a possibility that our hostnames were blocked. However, there are a few things you can try out, please contact us via https://protonvpn.com/support-form and we will provide you with a few methods that might work.

  23. John Parker

    Why isn’t the ProtonVPN apk for android downloadable from f-droid or some place other than the Google play store? Google is one of the biggest enemies of privacy in the world so how can you be sure they don’t tamper with ProtonVPN?

  24. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello John, we do provide Android app .APK file, just simply write us an e-mail via https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  25. Harold Filet

    Although it is not (yet?) available on f-droid, you can download it from yalp store which is on f-droid. And it’s running without complaining the missing google play store/services/framework on my phone (using an alternate custom ROM).

  26. Norman

    Hi. I’ve an extra SIM (Swiss telecommunications company). It’s possible to configure ProtonVPN on a Wifi Broadband like the Huawei E5885, or a Netgear AirCard 810?

  27. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Norman, these devices do not support VPN natively, so you will have to connect to VPN on each of your devices individually.

  28. Vivek S Panicker

    Hi, could you advise on the configuration for Chrome OS? I tried to manually import CA and configure various server IP, nothing is fruitful.

  29. ProtonVPN Team

    Hello Vivek, we have not tested our Android app on ChromeOS. However, maybe you will find this thread on our subreddit useful, one of our users has reported that certain versions of ChromeOS are able to run our Android app without issues: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonVPN/comments/7sju41/how_to_use_protonvpn_with_a_chromebook/

  30. Tom

    First of all, thanks for your VPN software, overall it works great on WIFI and on 4G.
    For me there’s one exception though. When trying to connect when i’m on one certain WiFI-network, connection fails and i get ‘Gateway unreachable’ and ‘Peer not responding’. Opera VPN does connect without any problem. Is there a way to fix this?

  31. Snorgel

    Hi,
    I have noticed, Google Play Services and Google Play Store are not routed via the ProtonVPN but instead these services try to connect outside theVPN. Is there a reason why?
    Thanks.

  32. ProtonVPN Team

    If you don’t want to use Google PlayStore, we can provide you with Android app .APK file, just simply write us an e-mail via https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  33. George

    Hello,
    Does the ProtonVPN app tunnel traffic from all the android apps automatically when we connect or we need to configure something more? Like the allowed apps on the openVPN for android app where we can choose which apps we want to use with the VPN?

    Thanks

  34. ProtonVPN

    Hey,

    All of the services that rely solely on internet connection are tunneled once you are connected to a VPN server. We do not support split tunneling at the moment, so your internet connection is completely tunneled and encrypted.

  35. Bruno

    How can i configure VPN file to use in android. I have a free account but i cant download any country files like the instructions showed on this page https://protonvpn.com/support/android-vpn-setup/

  36. ProtonVPN

    hi bruno, country config files include the basic servers and thus are available to paid subscribers only. If you want to set up on android, download the server config files for US, NL and JP free servers

  37. Jon

    Does not work on UAE.

  38. Jim Bradrick

    Please also consider developing an extension for Chrome OS.

  39. Kian

    Some features I would like in the Android App:
    Android TV Support
    Connect to Fastest Server Option
    Connect on Android Boot
    Auto-connect
    Connect only to Secure Core Servers Option

    Are you guys planning to implement any of these? :)

  40. ProtonVPN

    Hi, yes the Android app will almost include all of these: Fastest server connection, Connect on Boot and connecting to preselected servers such as secure core or similar.

  41. Kian

    Is there a way to download the country file for Secure Core servers only so that I can connect to the fastest secure core servers only? I want to use your privately own servers only and want to be able to connect to the fastest one on demand.

  42. ProtonVPN

    Hi Kian, with Secure Core, the fastest server will in majority of times be the connection with closest geographic proximity for both entry and exit node. E.g. if you live in Sweden, the SE >> FR connection would most likely always be the fastest.

  43. Kian

    Is your Android app going to work with Android TV devices as well? Please make this happen, it shouldnt be much more work either.

  44. appuser

    This service looks really excellent. I’m waiting for an Android app. I hope one is available soon.

  45. plon

    Will there be an Android-App in some time?

  46. ProtonVPN

    Yes, this is currently in development.

  47. gbrlhtclcq

    UK config file for Android not working (could not resolve domain gb.protonvpn.com), had to change the server to uk.protonvpn.com.
    Otherwise happy till now :-)

  48. Jason

    I’ve tried downloading to my phone each of the configuration files from all the servers in the list and they all fail with an “unrecognized error”. The support docs don’t seem to have an answer for this issue. I did choose the “Android” radio button.

  49. Jay

    Every profile I try to import into OpenVPN for Android fails to save with a message about bad backslash usage.

  50. Litvan

    Too bad it doesn’t work when you have 2way auth on your account since you only get the option to enter your login info and your initial password, it never prompts for the 6-digit 2-way auth code, nor for the mailbox password (for decrypting)

    [us-30.protonvpn.com] Peer Connection Initiated with [AF_INET]209.58.142.159:1194
    AUTH: Recieved control message: AUTH_FAILED
    SIGTERM[soft,auth-failure] recieved, process exiting

  51. Litvan

    never mind.. sorted, I just didn’t pay attention to the openvpn login info that’s a lil obscurely placed in the middle of the page instead of being emphasised with colour/size ect :)

  52. ProtonVPN

    The password you are using is incorrect, you have to use the OpenVPN password. Details here: https://protonvpn.com/support/vpn-login/

  53. Neon

    I managed to get this working using the guide, thanks!
    I have a question though – is it ok to leave OpenVPN connected indefinitely or is it better to disconnect when not in use?

  54. Anonymous

    What a shame – was working great on Android for a few days, but now has just stopped connecting and constantly gives auth fail errors.
    Changing username and password does not help.
    Time to look elsewhere….

  55. ProtonVPN

    check out our checklist for auth failures here: https://protonvpn.com/support/vpn-auth-fail-solution/

  56. AK

    Its been a long time now.. any news on when the VPN is going to work on the openVPN connect app. I really need to work on my phone. I dont want to switch my VPN so soon.

  57. ProtonVPN

    hi it works on the OpenVPN Connect app now as well. Be sure to download the latest config files from the account.protonvpn.com/download section and select `Android` as your OS. This will generate config files which are also compatible with OpenVPN Connect

  58. Andresmc

    I’m having issues connecting my android phones. The connexion is denied, but I can make it with my laptop

  59. Al

    seems I cant download the ovpn files. every time i go to the link at the bottom as the page says https://account.protonvpn.com/download takes me to a log in page and back to my account page without downloading anything.

  60. ProtonVPN

    The downloads can be found in the download section on the left after you log in

  61. Murat

    hi I keep getting :SIGTERM[soft,auth-failure]received,process exiting … and cannot establish connection on OpenVPN for Android… i have tried several config files same result

  62. ProtonVPN

    please make sure you’re using the openvpn credentials and not your account credentials on android. If that doesnt help, try resetting your pw. If the issue still persists, please drop us a line via protonvpn.com/support-form

  63. RM

    I have changed my login id and it started to work.

  64. kinh

    لا يعمل مع الاندوريد
    فشلx509

  65. ProtonVPN

    please make sure you have selected the android platform when downloading configuration files from account.protonvpn.com > left side Download > Config generator

  66. Ssantiago

    Me costeo trabajó, ponía el usuario y contraseña de protonmail pero son las otras

  67. Sygurd

    It’s really weird but I can’t confirm “connection request”. “OK” button is not clickable. “Cancel” works fine.

  68. user

    Any chance of getting a browser extension of yours?

  69. Robbert

    I am running Lineage ROM. It has built in support for VPN. I cannot find setup instructions for this. Do I really need to install a separate app for this? Inconvenient to say the least.

  70. ⒶF

    Agreed. My phone has VPN support out of the box, which would be nice to be able to use with Proton VPN so I wouldn’t have to install yet another third party app.

  71. Solhat

    Among download config-files I cannot see those related to Russia (ru), Ukraine(ua), etc. Does this mean I cannot use ProtonVPN from above countries? Thanks for detailed answer!

  72. ProtonVPN

    hi you can see all our server here protonvpn.com/vpn-servers

  73. Num

    I imagine as soon as you’re going steady with the desktop releases or even simultaneously with those releases that you’re going to deploy proprietary mobile versions. Right?

  74. ProtonVPN

    yes, mobile applications are currently in the works, no fixed release date yet. stay tuned

  75. Radu

    Hi,

    I’m trying to connect older Android (4.4.2) , by using OpenVPN for Android, and I get AUTH_FAILED on all 3 servers I tried. I have alpha-numeric ID and pass (same used for email). Any suggestions?

  76. Radu

    SIGTERM[soft, auth-failure]

  77. Radu

    please ignore, it works now

  78. ProtonVPN

    hi radu, just to confirm, you are using the openvpn credentials and not the ones for your protonmail account? Have these crendentials worked for you on any other device before? If the issue persists plz also drop us a line via https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  79. hermes

    The same thing happens to me: AUTH: Received control message: AUTH_FAILED
    Neither in adroid in my mobile nor in the laptop with ubuntu 16.04 does not work. But in windows it works by putting the same user and pass. Why does not it work in other environments?
    What a disappointment I have taken with prontovpn :(

  80. genericunimport

    “Got unrecognized line from management:ERROR:Options warning: Bad backslash (‘\’) in TCP:0: remember that backslashes are treated as shell-escapes”

    I’m using the config files provided by the link in this support article and the “Open VPN for Android” app I downloaded from the Google Play store. I don’t know if the error is server-side or in the config file itself, but I can’t connect to the VPN from my phone at all.

  81. ProtonVPN

    hi if this issue persists, please drop us a line via the support form https://protonvpn.com/support-form

  82. Philip Golan

    “OpenVPN server certificate verification failed: PolarSSL: SSL read error: X509 – certificate verification failed, e.g. CRL, CA or signature check failed”

    https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMc5J2Lhm2URHS3hx_qptaKOqYLVu7TF_UGR5bz

  83. ProtonVPN

    Hi Philip, be sure to use the “OpenVPN for Android” as opposed to the “OpenVPN Connect” application. Currently the “OpenVPN Connect” app has an issue with intermediary certificates which we make use of. A workaround will be available in the near future.

  84. Lutz

    Hi, when will this workaround be availiable?

  85. ProtonVPN

    OpenVPN Connect is now supported. Be sure to download from the dashboard at account.protonvpn.com > Downloads and select Android as your OS. The generated files will be compatible with OpenVPN Connect

  86. Philip

    This way does not currently tunnel ipv6 traffic and allows it to pass in the clear. This means that if you visit a site that has an ipv6 address, the traffic will not be protected by the VPN.

  87. David

    Will this work with free protonmail users?

  88. Chapa

    I think it won’t. With my free account it won’t let me download the config files.

  89. ProtonVPN

    make sure to check the server config download and check under United States, Netherland and/or Japan

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