Android 16 VPN Bug Causes Silent Disconnections

A persistent bug in Android 16 is rendering VPN apps unreliable on affected devices, silently disconnecting users from secure connections and exposing them to potential online risks without any notification. The issue, first reported to Google in August 2025, has gone unaddressed for seven months despite complaints from multiple VPN providers, including Proton VPN, which publicly urged the company to act on social media platform X in March 2026.

The glitch primarily strikes when a VPN application receives an update while active, corrupting the device's network stack at the system level. This leaves the app unable to access the internet, trapping it in a perpetual "connecting" or "fail to connect" state. Users attempting to reconnect find no error message to guide them, often leading to frustration and misplaced blame on the VPN service itself. According to reports filed on Google's Android Issue Tracker, the problem affects a range of devices running Android 16, such as Google Pixel phones and Samsung Galaxy models with One UI 8, and it is not limited to specific hardware.

Proton VPN, a privacy-focused service known for its no-logs policy and strong encryption, detailed the bug...