Galaxy S7 - OpenVPN Connection Only When Phone is Charging

[cchuey01]

I installed and configured OpenVPN Connect client on my Galaxy S7 and it works perfectly... but only when I am charging the phone even though the battery is FULL. I am perplexed. If the phone is not connected to a charger, then no traffic is transmitted by the OpenVPN Connect app. OpenVPN Connect indicates the VPN is "Connected" during this issue (before timeout) but there is no data being transmitted. Is there a hidden setting somewhere for enabling the network only when the phone is charging?

I originally setup OpenVPN for UDP 1194. I noticed when my phone was NOT charging I was unable to use the VPN even though OpenVPN Connect showed the status as "Connected". I checked the logs on the phone and noticed numerous "udp send error operation not permitted" messages. When I plug my phone into charger then everything works fine (NOTE: battery is FULL).

I then decided to setup OpenVPN for TCP since I thought maybe this was a weird UDP issue with Galaxy S7. I do not receive any error messages in the log, but the connection does not work unless the phone is plugged into a charger (same issue as the UDP configuration).

I would really appreciate any thoughts/advice on how to handle this issue. Thanks

[cchuey01]

I stumbled across the solution for my issue. I enabled the Galaxy S7 "Power saving mode" which is what drops the OpenVPN connection when the phone is not charging. I found a youtube video that describes how to retain "Power saving mode" and select specific apps not bound by the power saving mode: https://youtu.be/HsBh_KGsxAI

This fixed my problem.