A tablet breaks differently from a phone: it is often without a SIM, lies for hours with a dark screen, lives on an old version of Android, and a Huawei one may have no Google Play at all. Here are only the causes that follow tablets; the general step-by-step guides we link to.
In short. First, find where it broke. It will not install — check the Android version (7.0 or newer is needed) and Google Play. It installs but will not connect — does the internet work without Mayak: a tablet without a SIM has no path other than Wi-Fi. It drops with the screen off — most often Android puts the app to sleep to save battery; the battery settings and the always-on connection cure it. “Protected” but pages will not open — check that your access has not ended: a tablet forgotten on a shelf often wakes up without the trial.
We make Mayak. Our own app is for Android; it has Settings → “Check the connection”, which names the cause in words, including when background work is restricted. What we tested and what we did not, we write down as it is. 3 days free after you confirm your email, no card needed. The trial is free and needs no card; without an email it is 1 day.
🍎 On iPhone, Mayak works through the subscription link from your account page. The real Happ (publisher Flyfrog LLC) is not in the Russian App Store — searching that word there brings up look-alike apps from other publishers. INCY (publisher LLC ITDEV) works instead: checked on 22 September 2026.
It will not install: an old Android or no Google Play
The Android version. The site says our app needs Android 7.0 or newer. A tablet on Android 6 or older cannot install it — neither from the store nor from a file. The version is shown in the settings, in the section about the tablet.
No Google Play, or Mayak is not in it. What the store shows your model is decided by Google. Install the app as a file from mayak.ws/dl/app: the steps are in the article on installing on a tablet. The store and site versions do not install over each other: to switch, remove the first.
A Huawei tablet. Many have no Google Play. The file from our site installs on EMUI and HarmonyOS up to version 4 inclusive, and does not on HarmonyOS 5 and newer: that system does not install Android apps by itself. The details are in the Huawei and Honor article.
It will not connect: a tablet without a SIM, and the network
The first question: do sites open without Mayak? Turn it off and load any page. If it does not open, the trouble is in the network itself, not in the app: no VPN adds internet where there is none.
A phone has a fallback — mobile data: Wi-Fi did not let it through, so you switch to the SIM. A tablet without a SIM has no such path, so a network that does not let our connection through shows at once, and it is the only Wi-Fi you have. What you can do:
- Give the tablet another network, for example share the internet from your phone, and connect again. If it works, the cause is the earlier network.
- Pick another country in the list; and if in your home network the direct path never passes, turn on “Always use the backup channel” in the app's settings.
- Public Wi-Fi with a sign-in page (a hotel, a cafe, a train) — press “Log in” on its page first: explained here.
How a connection goes through five steps and how to tell where it broke is in the article “Why a VPN will not connect”; the home network is covered by a separate article.
It drops with the screen off: battery saving
A tablet lies with a dark screen more often than a phone: on a charger, in the kitchen, in the car. By default Android restricts the background work of apps, and for an app that holds a tunnel that takes away exactly what it runs for: the app does not “crash”, the system puts it to sleep, and after a while the connection is dead even though the icon is still there.
How common this is, we know only from phones. Between 7 and 31 August 2026 our app recorded 158 connection checks from real phones: in 143 of them background work was restricted; of the 17 checks where something was wrong, eight named exactly that as the cause. It is not user statistics, and we have no figures for tablets, but the mechanism in Android is the same. The numbers and caveats are in the article on drops.
What to do. Remove the background restriction for Mayak in the battery settings for the app. The item is named differently: “Unrestricted”, “Don't restrict”, “Background work” — look for it by meaning, and the settings search finds it by name. The app has Settings → “Check the connection”: if background work is restricted it will say so and take you to the right screen. Also turn off the tablet's power-saving mode if it is on.
Vendor skins. Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, vivo and OPPO have their own lists and rules on top of the system switch, and until the app is added to them the skin will put it to sleep by its own rules. The exact items differ between system versions, so we do not invent them: see the manufacturer's help — Huawei and Honor (both in Russian).
Check it on your own tablet. One attempt on your network says more than any article. We ask for no payment details for the trial. A confirmed email opens the access — 3 free days on two devices. An email is optional: without one the trial is 1 day.
A tablet lying around must keep protection: the always-on connection
If the tablet is switched on, falls asleep and wakes up, and the protection is gone afterwards, a pair of switches helps: “Always-on VPN” in Android itself and “Auto-connect” in Mayak. Turn on both: the system switch alone gives a running service and no connection.
- “Always-on VPN”. In Mayak: Settings → Protection → “No protection — no internet”. The button opens the right Android system screen; there turn on the always-on connection for Mayak. The names differ a little between tablets.
- “Auto-connect”. Settings → Protection → Auto-connect, and connect by hand once: the app needs something to restore.
The neighbouring item, “Block connections without VPN”, has a price: with it the tablet cannot open the sign-in page of a hotel Wi-Fi, and any fault on our side turns into no connection at all for you. More in the article on drops and in the help.
The tunnel is taken or the access has ended
Another app already holds the tunnel. Android lets only one VPN connection work at a time. If the tablet has another such app, especially with “Always-on VPN”, it may take the connection away again and again: turn off “Always-on VPN” for everything you do not use. The signs are in the article on connecting.
The access has ended. The most common cause of “Protected, but pages will not open”, and on a tablet it is more noticeable: you install it “for later”, and the trial is 3 days once you confirm your email. Open Settings in the app and look at the bottom for the date the access runs to; the line “Access has ended” under the connect button says the same. The other causes of this picture are in a separate article.
All the plan's slots are taken. A tablet takes a slot, like one more device. If the line under the button says “Maximum number of devices in use”, disconnect the extra one in the app: Settings → “My devices” (the same is in your account page, Devices section).
A wrong date and time
A tablet that lay discharged for a long time may show the wrong date and time. Protected connections check certificate validity against the device's clock, and with a badly wrong clock they cannot be established. Turn on automatic date and time from the network in the settings. We did not reproduce this on a tablet: it is a general property of protected connections, not our measurement.
A five-minute order of checks
- Turn Mayak off and open any site. If it did not open, fix the network or give the tablet another one (sharing from a phone).
- Check the access: Settings in the app, the date at the bottom.
- Disconnect and connect again, pick another country if needed: the app will try its paths anew.
- It did not install: Android 7.0 or newer, Google Play or the file from our site.
- It drops with the screen off: remove the background restriction, turn off power saving, turn on “Always-on VPN” and Auto-connect.
- Still nothing: write to us, contacts are in the help: give the tablet's model, the Android version and the step where it broke.
What we do not know
- How often this happens on tablets specifically. The numbers above are from phones; we did not run Mayak on a tablet screen.
- The exact menu items of your brand. They differ between system versions; we give the meaning of a setting and the manufacturers' help, not invented paths.
- How the sleep mode of a specific model behaves. How long the connection survives in the background on your tablet only one attempt will show.
- How often a wrong date and time broke connections on tablets. It is a general property of protected connections; we have no measurements of our own.
- iPad. We have no app of our own for it, it is in development; what works there was checked on iPhone — the article.
Short answers
Why is my VPN not working on my tablet? Most often one of these: no internet before Mayak (a tablet without a SIM, a network with a sign-in page), Android puts the app to sleep with the screen off, the access has ended, or Android is older than 7.0. The order of checks.
Why does the VPN drop on my tablet when the screen goes dark? The system puts the app to sleep to save battery. Remove the background restriction and turn on “Always-on VPN” and Auto-connect: how.
A VPN for an Android tablet: where do I start? With installing: how to install Mayak on a tablet.
Why does it not work on my Huawei tablet? Check whether it has Google Play and which system it runs: on HarmonyOS 5 and newer the file from our site will not install. More.