Google has known about a bug that breaks VPN apps for 7 months, leaving users exposed with no warning or error, just a VPN app that stopped working in the background.
If you're using ANY VPN on Android, you can help us by getting Google's attention to fix it.
We first reported this bug to Google in September 2025.
Others like @mullvadnet and Wireguard reported it even earlier, in August.
Google's response? "I don't see anything unusual."
Here's what's actually happening ⤵️
The bug corrupts Android's network stack at the system level after a VPN update, causing users to blame their VPN provider.
Restarting the app doesn't help, with the only fix being a full device reboot or VPN app reinstall, something which most users never figure out.
This affects several VPN providers on Android 16, and only Google has the access to diagnose it properly.
After 7 months of waiting, we're now asking publicly: Google, when are you fixing this?
Or we could stop the grift & circle jerk. Release your source code so we can make secure email a real standard. Stop releasing to the play store entirely & teach people to install their own apps safely.
Start initiatives to teach children about public private keys, identity verification, trust, & best practices.
Be a man proton.
Or are the normie dollars making you salivate? With fascism on their doorstep, you do have more customers, better bank on their ignorance…
@rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones
Proton: "hey google is ignoring this issue, lets make them fix it"
You: "you are not 1000% perfect, Proton! Man up! Greedy fucks!"
@rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones
Dont let perfection be the enemy of good.
Or something like that.
@ItsePerkele @protonprivacy @semitones
Or, and this is a wild concept... we can hold everyone accountable. Crazy, I know.
@rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones
Sure. But cant do everything at once.
@ItsePerkele @protonprivacy @semitones
Skill issue
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones
Since you have the skills, I look forward to your open source VPN, email service etc.
I also look forward to your initiatives that teach children about public private keys, identity verification, trust, & best practices.
@ItsePerkele @rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones
Rudeness aside. There is a compelling reason to ditch google as fast as possible. Security and personal control. We need to rapidly shift the center from a market focus on helpless users who want to be fed and diapered to people that want to own their own lives before we get lobbied and legislated out of existence.
@oldoldcojote @rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones
Yup I don't disagree with any of that. I've degoogled myself pretty well. I do watch youtube every now and then through Revanced app. I'll buy a Jolla or some such phone as my next one, but my biggest issue is being dirt poor at the moment. Can't do any upgrades until the situation improves.
But other than degoogled android and youtube, I don't use google services.
@ItsePerkele @oldoldcojote @protonprivacy @semitones
Hell yeah, every bit helps. Capital is a serious barrier and keeps some of us from participating in boycotts further exemplifying how broken things are. Keep it up. Social consciousness and all that bs, hope you have a smooth day out there.
@rusty__shackleford @oldoldcojote @protonprivacy @semitones
Its pretty funny how much stuff I've learned in the past year alone, just because I wanted to completely get off the Mr. Corporate Death Machine. I switched to Debian, ditched Discord for IRC and like mad man decided Weechat would be the client to go to. I've been looking into self hosting all my silly bullshit. I'm getting tired of reddit and missing the good ol' mid 2000's forums, so I'm looking into that as well.
By the time I get off the medical and get a job, I'll hopefully have studied enough to start doing shit.
I'm thinking of going the low/old tech approach. Seems like a fun project to do. Buy a used PC, throw a linux and a few hard drives on it and set it up as a server. etc.
@ItsePerkele @oldoldcojote @protonprivacy @semitones
Self hosting is no joke, great to see that level of passion, just got into IRC myself but I'm thinking of hosting xmpp.
On a similar journey, these are books I'm reading (modern c unrelated):
Suggested I get hands on experience at this point, so I'm taking the advice, looking at openwrt, this video uses pfsense/ opensense if I remember right:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=_IzyJTcnPu8
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=_IzyJTcnPu8
I want to get mail running, then deploy akkoma.
@rusty__shackleford @oldoldcojote @protonprivacy @semitones
My experience is literally 30min's of doing HTML 27 years ago and 1 hour lesson of "how to code" 30 years ago, taught by the local nerd who happened to know how to do the "hello world" lesson.
So I do have some catching up to do... lol
Proton
Semitones
Okuna
John Doe
Rusty Shackleford
Perkele
Cedar Fen Farm
Cedar Fen Farm
WILLIAM B PECKHAM