Hotspot wont work while blokada enabled

[MyPhoneNumber]

Hello,

First of all I want to say this new version of blokada has an amazing u/i u/e. I use to have an android phone and loved the V3 but V4 was a mess. V5 is even better than V3! What a great job!

I am currently using an iphone 7 plus running software version 14.2 if that makes a difference. I have to use hotspot on my phone to access internet on my computer for business. I travel a good bit.

When blokada is enabled and I turn hotspot on, the phone appears to let it. The wifi name will show up on my computer but when I try to connect it will connect but say no internet,secured. If I disable blokada while the hotspot is on without turning hot spot off it the computer will continue to say no internet. The only way to connect to the internet through the hotspot is to turn hot spot off after blokada is turned off, then turn hotspot back on and reconnect to the hot spot. - This took me many hours and much frustration to figure out.

If blokada is disabled, then I connect my computer to the phones hotspot, so that internet is working on the computer then try to enable blokada then blokada never activates. It will try, then fail and say "ooops could not establish the VPN. Please restart your device, or remove blokada VPN profile in system settings, and try again."

I believe in V3 I could connect to the hotspot and use blokada at the same time. Maybe the problem is the difference in android vs IOS.

First choice: Make it so blokada can run and the device can be used as a hotspot at the same time. Second choice: Make blokada identify when a device has connected to the phone as a hotspot and automatically disable blokada during that time until the phone is no longer being used as a hotspot then re-enable blokada automatically. Third choice: Provide some warning of the steps needed to successfully use the phone as a hotspot after having blokada enabled. I had no idea that blokada wouldn't let me use the hotspot and no idea that I needed to turn the hotspot off after disabling blokada then turn the hotspot back on for it to let me use the phone as a hotspot. This debugging took several hours.

Secondary request: First choice: be able to list DNS to use. I personally use 176.103.130.130 and 176.103.130.131 (adguard) they block ads that blokada list may miss.

Second choice: Wildcards support. that is the only way you can block the double click google tracker and ads on the crackle app

Third choice: be able to select to use custom DNS only when connected to 3g. I believe I saw a note somewhere this was implemented in the android beta. But we need it for IOS.

Forth choice: Whitelist list URL support. The ones I use are listed below. https://github.com/anudeepND/whitelist https://ep.nayemador.com/core/filter/whitelist

[peterroth]

Hi,

I'd like to answer for the hotspot issue: it worth to know what VPN was invented initially: to connect to a company's network and access the shared resources (files, e-mail servers, etc) while the employee (user) was abroad. When you were connected to the company's network, you gained access to the shared resources there, as you were sitting in the office. Now, if you set a hotspot while you are connected to a VPN server, the connected device (the client, who connects to your phone) can access the same resources that you can access: the same files, shared folders, e-mail server, and able to upload things into the network as well (if permission is granted). The underlaying OS won't know if you are connected to a company VPN server or you use this function only to ensure your data is secured. Hence, the manufacturer may set the hotspot won't work while the VPN API is in use or was used recently. Some manufacturer makes it possible.

[MyPhoneNumber]

Thank you for your time for the history of why VPN was created and the reason some phones wont allow the hotspot to work while blokada (as is) is active. Would you mind providing clarity on the three questions which were unclear to me.

1) is it absolutely necessary for blokada to use the VPN resource? 2) can blokada be programmed to detect if phone is being used as a hotspot, and if so, automatically disable blokada during that time then re-enable blokada when phone is no longer being used as a hotspot? Possibly give user the option to enable this option if their phones manufacture doesn't allow the hotspot to work while the VPN API is in use? 3) Is there a way to program blokada to give user a heads up when they try to use hotspot, that having blokada enabled may prevent them from using hotspot, and that if they want to use hotspot they may have to disable blokada first then disable hotspot then re-activate hotspot?

[peterroth]

Hi, 1.) Yes, it's necessary to be able to filter the hostnames the apps try to reach out. 2.) Yes, it would be possible. 3.) Not really, because we don't know which manufacturers allow and which ones deny to use the VPN API while the hotspot is on.

[joubbi]

I have the same issue. It would be helpful if you could implement number 2, or at least have a notification that informs the user that the hotspot is not going to work, if it's enabled.

I have an iPhone 12 Mini.

[MarcAnt01]

Hey @peterroth iPhone 7 user with iOS 14.3 here. I use my phone daily as an hotspot, since I don't have a wifi, so it's very uncomfortable to turn blockada on and off every time since the hotspot won't work on iOS devices. My question is: isn't it possible to automatically switch the vpn off as soon as hotspot is enabled?

[ecster]

Hi all, I have the same issue. While discussing the history of VPN, I wonder if the developers of Blokada might consider split tunnelling: allow the hotspot traffic to bypass the VPN (or at least give users the option to enable this, even if it decreases security). At least on my device, I can just deactivate Blokada without having to switch the hotspot on and off, and connected devices will get access to the internet. Wondering if I can build an IFTTT thing that deactivates Blokada when the hotspot is on and reactivates it when it's switched off (although I also have the hotspot on all day pretty much...)

I have a Samsung Galaxy S10e, Android 11 (LineageOS 18.1)

[leandroprz]

I'm experiencing the same issue. As said above, at least a warning should be there. I spent days debugging the issue until I realized it has to do with Blokada.