OpenVPN Support Forum

When my iPhone5, ios7 (not 5S ) goes to sleep then ovpn connection breaks But in ios 6 ovpn connection worked in the sleep mode. How do I configure the program to ovpn connection is not break in sleep mode?

Hi Lwa,

Can u be more specific? What do you mean when you say the connection "breaks" in iOS 7 and the "connection worked in the sleep mode" in iOS 6?

I doubt your iPhone stayed connected/active on your VPN while in sleep mode in iOS 6. I don't believe that's possible. As I understand it, there are some critical processes (required for any VPN) that Apple does not allow to occur while the iPhone is asleep. I looked for a way to get around the problem for a long time without success...

Hi, redradioflyer,

For test, I take iPhone 4S with ios 6.1.3 and leave it connected for whole night in screen locked mode.
As I can see in server ovpn log - all night my 4S was connected.
iPhone 5 with ios 7.0 breaks ovpn connect after 1 minute of screen locked mode.

I have the same problem, only I'm using an iPhone 4S, so the difference appears to be iOS 7. Lwa, your iPhone 4S isn't iOS 7, is it? Mine worked like a charm before iOS 7, with the VPN reconnecting even if I lost the cellular signal for a while, or if I locked the phone for prolonged periods.

Now, after updating the iOS, loss of signal or even locking the phone for more than couple of minute makes the VPN connection freeze up, shutting down data to the entire phone until I turn OpenVPN off and on again.

I'll get either a "Pausing (network is unavailable)" message (it'll stay that away, even both wifi and 3G available), or "Looking up DNS name" message, "Waiting for server," or I think "Connection timed out." Any of those messages will stay there, and I'll be unable to use anything like email, twitter, etc, until I switch the app to off, then on again.

I spoke to the good people at Witopia, and after some experimenting, they said the problem wasn't at their end (indeed, I noticed I had the same problem with multiple gateways on multiple continents).

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. This is a stellar app, and I hope I can get it working the way it used to again.

Yes, i'm using 4S and keep 6.1.3 ios on it.
On iPhone 5 ios 7 i got same messages, like "Network pause" ets.
4S with 6.1.3 works fine.

ios7 + iPhone 5 User here, I use the openvpn client to connect back home, where I am running a tomato usb build on my router. I see the same issue intermittently. For me it also avoids other apps connecting to the internet. I just tried to replicate the issue and can't get it into the 'limbo' mode.