How can we help?

The app will not connect, shows a connection error or stays “Unprotected” — let us go through it in order, from the top.

1. Let the app check the connection for you. “Settings” → “Check the connection”. The app tries every route one by one (X-ray too, if you have it on) and shows which of them does not get through for you, and sends us the report as well. It takes about a minute; the connection is off while it runs. After that it is clear what to fix — and we do not have to interrogate you.
2. Check that the internet works without Mayak. If the app says “The phone has no internet — check your connection” — the problem is the network, not us.
3. Look at the line under the button. “Access has ended” — it needs renewing (see “Plans and payment”). “Maximum number of devices in use” — disconnect an extra device right in the app: “Settings” → “My devices” (the same thing is in your account, in the “Devices” section).
4. Try another country in the list under the button.
5. Press “Disconnect”, then “Connect” again; if that did not help — restart the app.
6. Look at “Settings” → “Connection”: if you turned off “AmneziaWG” or “X-ray”, turn both back on — that gives the app more to choose from. More in the “Backup channel” section.
7. If the direct path never gets through in your network, turn on “Settings” → “Always use backup channel”: the app will stop spending time on detection.

If nothing helped — send a log, it is the fastest route. In the app: “Settings”, right at the bottom — the button “Send log”. From it we see at which step everything stopped, and we do not have to interrogate you. After that describe in words what is happening: with the form in your account or by email to support@mayaknetworks.com.

How the app tries the routes one by one, and why it sometimes takes a moment — “One button, three routes”. How many seconds each step costs in our own measurements — “How long a VPN connection takes”.

If it used to work and now does not — “A VPN that worked yesterday stopped working”: by our journal almost two thirds of failures go away on the second attempt.

If the connection never comes up at all — the toggle dies within a second, “Connecting…” hangs, or an error appears at once — “Why a VPN will not connect”: the five steps of a connection and how each one fails.

If several apps stopped at once, and for people you know as well — “Why VPN apps stop working all at once”: the app itself is rarely the cause, and there is a two-minute check.

If you are still choosing what to use and looking for “which one works right now” — “Which VPN works in Russia right now”: why no such list can exist, the one sign that does tell services apart, and which paths our own connections come up on.

If everything stopped a moment ago and you cannot tell whether it broke for you or for everyone — “Is the VPN down today”: five checks that tell four identical-looking failures apart in a minute, and our own thirteen-minute outage — measured and named.

If Mayak will not install or keeps switching off on a tablet specifically — the causes that only a tablet has.

The app notices this on its own and says so plainly: “There is a connection, but no traffic — reconnect” (in the notification shade — “No traffic — you are not protected”). What to do:

1. Press “Disconnect” and “Connect” — most often that is enough.
2. Look at the very bottom of “Settings”: it says the date your access is valid until. Expired access looks exactly like this — the connection comes up, but traffic no longer flows.
3. Try another country.

If it keeps happening — send a log (“Settings”, right at the bottom — “Send log”) and write to us.

A separate write-up of this symptom, with every cause in order: “Connected”, but no internet.

And if the network is fine and only one app is silent — that is a different trouble: Telegram not working even with a VPN — our measurement from four machines and four reasons why the tunnel is on and the app is still silent.

With Discord the picture is the reverse: it opens completely from our datacentre in Russia, while what people run into takes shape on home and mobile networks — Discord not working: why it happens and what to do, with open data from volunteer tests.

Instagram has its own twist: the roads to it over IPv4 and over IPv6 behave differently, and the service itself may ask you to log in or confirm it is you — Instagram not working even with a VPN: why, with our measurement and six reasons.

It happens: home Wi-Fi lets the connection through, and the carrier’s mobile internet does not. It is neither your phone nor your plan: some carriers recognise protected connections and get in their way. Masking cures that, and in recent builds it is on by itself.

What we measured ourselves (Moscow, July 2026):

• Megafon — without masking the connection did not come up at all: a full minute of “Connecting…”. With masking it comes up and works — nine measurements and what actually decides.
• MTS — the connection came up, but traffic died after two or three seconds. With masking it works — why the established flow is what breaks.
• Beeline — no interference, before or after — where to look instead.
• Yota — that is Megafon’s network (a virtual operator on its towers), so expect the same behaviour. We did not measure it separately — what our measurements mean for Yota.
• Tele2 (also known as t2, also Rostelecom mobile) we have not tested — and we will not claim anything about it. What follows from that, and what you can check yourself — the Tele2 and t2 write-up.
• Rostelecom — not one network but three: home cable, mobile service (which runs on Tele2 towers) and public Wi-Fi. We measured none of them — what is known about them and what you can check yourself.

A different case that only looks the same. If the mobile network opens the government portal, your bank and marketplaces and nothing else, masking is not the issue: that is what it looks like when the carrier is left with a list of approved services only. In that mode our app will not connect over mobile data, while over Wi-Fi it will — what that mode is and what works in it.

What to do.

1. Check whether a second app of this kind is installed. Android keeps exactly one connection of this type. Usually a new one pushes the old one out, but an app allowed “Always-on VPN” in the settings does not give the slot up — and then ours will not come up, and the screen will say “Could not connect”. Turn off “Always-on VPN” for the extra app or remove it — the case in full, plus two more reasons why no app connects.
2. Update the app. “Settings” → “About the app”: if an update is offered, install it. Older builds cannot do masking, and on Megafon and MTS that alone decides everything.
3. “Settings” → “Check the connection”. The app goes through all the ways of connecting (X-ray included) and tells you which one does not work for you. A minute of your time instead of guessing.
4. If the direct route never works on your carrier, turn on “Always use backup channel” (“Settings” → “Connection”). The connection takes the detour straight away, without trying the direct route first: slightly slower, but no waiting.
5. Try another country in the list under the button: routes to different countries differ.

What exactly we measured and why the advice “move it to port 443” does not work — in “Why it will not connect on mobile data but works on Wi-Fi”: a table for three carriers and the decisive measurement.

Did not help — send a log (“Settings” → “Send log”) and tell us your carrier and city: with the form in your account or at support@mayaknetworks.com. We keep our own carrier measurements, and your case will go into them.

If it is the other way round — it will not connect at home over Wi-Fi but works on mobile data — see “VPN not working on home internet”: what the router really does, when the app moves to port 443 by itself and how long that takes.

Choosing a service and unsure how to test it on your own SIM? Five checks before you pay.

Related: A VPN for mobile data: what matters when there is no Wi-Fi.

The connection is unstable: it lags, drops, breaks mid-call. First look at which path you are connected through: next to the status on the main screen there are sometimes the marks “Backup” and “Via Russia” — both paths are slower than the direct one, and that is expected. What you can do:

1. Change the country: tap “Ping” above the country list and pick the one with the lower latency.
2. Open “Connection details” — the ping is shown there, and the speed appears if you turn its display on in the settings; with those numbers it is much easier for us to help.
3. If it breaks when switching between Wi-Fi and mobile internet — the app brings the tunnel up on its own, and a short break at the moment of switching is normal.

And before you call the connection slow, check the measurement itself: two of our own back-to-back runs on a mobile network differed by a factor of five. Why that happens and how to measure honestly — in “Why speed tests show different results”.

And one more thing if you are comparing protocols: speed comes from the route, not from the protocol. We measured the same tunnel over IPv4 and over IPv6 to the same exit: from one of our sites there is no difference between the protocols at all, from another IPv6 lags, and on a mobile network it wins. The numbers and the explanation are in what it depends on and how to check it yourself.

Why a tunnel drops on its own we took apart using our own measurements: in 143 of 158 connection self-checks the phone was holding the app on a battery leash, and that is the most common cause — “VPN keeps disconnecting: the phone is usually to blame, not the network”. The same article covers silence inside the tunnel and switching networks.

If it drops regularly, start with “Settings” → “Check the connection”: the app goes through every route on its own and shows which one is shaky for you, and sends us the report. That replaces half of the correspondence.

If it drops often, send a log as well (“Settings”, right at the bottom — “Send log”) and write to us — we will look at the diagnostics.

Usually the network is not to blame. When the screen goes dark, Android puts apps to sleep to save the battery and may unload Mayak Networks from memory — in a lift, in the metro or simply in your pocket. Protection falls away at that moment, and the phone is left without internet until you open the app again.

This is cured by one system setting — the always-on connection. Then the phone itself holds the protection: it brings it up after sleep and after a reboot, without waiting for you to open the app. The setting lives in Android itself, not with us — we cannot turn it on for you, but we can take you to the right screen.

1. In the app: “Settings” → the section “Protection” → “No protection — no internet”. The button will open the right Android system screen.
2. There pick Mayak Networks and turn on the always-on connection (on different phones the item is named slightly differently; next to it there is usually also a block on connections that bypass it — worth turning on too).
3. If the button did not open the screen, go there by hand: phone “Settings” → “Network and internet” → the always-on connection item.

In the same “Protection” section it is worth turning on “Auto-connect”: then the app will bring the last working connection up on its own when the phone is switched on.

Related: VPN not working on Android: what to check on the phone itself.

It happens both with a website in the browser and with a separate app — a messenger, a social network, a video service. The order is the same:

1. Check that the connection is really established (the app shows “Protected”, not “Unprotected”).
2. Open the website again or refresh the page — sometimes the browser holds an old session.
3. Try another location: some services are only available from a particular region. Russian services need a Russian location, foreign ones — a foreign location; which ones you have is visible in the list of countries.
4. If it is a Russian bank or government services — they need your real address: turn on the “RU Apps” preset on the app’s main screen, and such services will go around the tunnel.
5. Clear the browser cache or open the website in incognito mode.

If the website does not open with any location — write to us, giving the website address and the country you chose.

When the service answers not with silence but with words — “Country, region, or territory not supported”, “unavailable in your region”, error 1009 — that is the service itself refusing, and no setting cures it: our measurement of seven AI services from four addresses shows who answers how, and how that refusal differs from a problem with the road.

And if you get a “verify you are human” page instead of the site — that check is aimed at the address, not at your country: in our measurement of twelve sites the refusal was the same from all four addresses, the Russian one included.

YouTube will not open or play with the connection on — three different pictures and a five-minute check.

WhatsApp: messages with a clock, calls that do not ring — what broke (the phone, the network or the road) and what our measurement showed.

The app says what exactly is wrong — start from that:

• “Wrong email or password” — these are the same email and password as for your account. Forgotten them — tap “Forgot your password?” right in the app or recover them on the login page; the code arrives by email, check the “Spam” folder too.
• “Confirm your email on the website” — open your account and enter the code from the email we sent you at registration.
• “The password is correct — a code is needed…” — you have two-factor authentication on: enter the code from your authenticator app or one of the backup codes.
• “Your session has expired — log in again” — an ordinary thing after a password change, just log in once more.
• “Maximum number of devices in use” — disconnect a device you do not need in the app (“Settings” → “My devices”) or in your account, in the “Devices” section.

The order is the same for a lost phone and for “there is something unfamiliar in my device list”. Go top to bottom — each step is stronger than the one before.

1. Revoke the device. In your account, section “Devices” — the “Delete” button next to it. A revoked device stops connecting immediately and its slot in your plan is freed. The same thing is in the app: “Settings” → “My devices”.
2. Change the password. If an email is linked — “Profile and login” → “Change password”, the code goes to that email. If there is no email — the password is changed right in your account, asking for the current one.
3. Turn on the one-time code at login. Account, “Settings” → “One-time code at login”: after that a password alone is not enough. This is the only step that prevents a repeat.
4. Link an email if you had none. Without it the account has two keys only — the number and the password — and losing both leaves nothing to recover with.

Your account number does not change through any of this — it stays yours. If you cannot log in at all, or the device list looks wrong, — write to us and give the account number: we will find you by it.

Your account is anchored to the account number, not to the email. The number — nine digits in the form 472-918-563 — is your name with us: you sign in with it, support finds you by it, and it never changes. The email is a convenience, not the anchor.

Use password recovery on the login page — or right in the app: “Forgot your password?” on the login screen. The email with the code goes to the address you gave at registration; check the “Spam” folder.

If no email is linked to the account (you registered without one or received the account as a gift), there is nowhere to send the code. While you still remember the password — log in with your account number and password and link an email in your account, in the “Profile and login” card: after that recovery will work. If the password is already forgotten — write to support and give your account number.

The email is linked but you no longer have access to it (the mailbox is closed, lost, or it was a work address). There is nowhere to send the recovery code, and this is the case we settle by hand: write to support@mayaknetworks.com and give your account number — it is shown in the app under “Settings” and in your account area. If you still remember the password, do it now: sign in with the number and change the email in the “Profile and login” card while you still can.

The code arrives within a minute or two — both on the registration screen and on the password reset screen. Under the field there is a line “No code?” and a button “Send again”: for the first minute it is inactive and shows a countdown — that is spam protection, not a fault.

1. Check the “Spam” folder — emails with the code sometimes end up there.
2. If this is registration and the code still does not arrive: you may have registered with this address before — in that case a code is never issued, deliberately (that is how we stop people from checking other people’s addresses by guessing). The link under the field says exactly that: “You may have registered before — in that case recover your password”.
3. Made a typo in the address? The confirmation screen has a link “Enter a different one” — it takes you back to the form with the address already filled in, so you can correct it.

The simplest way is right in the app: “Settings” → “Delete account”.

Through your account: scroll the page right to the bottom, to the section “Danger zone”, and press “Delete”. You will need your password and the checkbox “I understand this cannot be undone” — that is the confirmation that it is really you deleting it. The final button is called “Delete account permanently”.

What is deleted immediately and irreversibly: the account, the linked devices, the issued connections and their history, the subscription. They cannot be restored. Money for the remaining days of the subscription is not returned by itself — you can get the unused days refunded by asking support (how it works); write before you delete, since the letter needs your account number from the account area. Technical logs (the fact of connections, without the contents of your traffic) are kept anonymised for as long as the law requires and do not allow the account to be restored.

If you cannot log in to your account — write from the address the account is registered to, at support@mayaknetworks.com.

Most often this is not a fault in the app but the system: Android closes apps that are “asleep” in the background to save the battery. The connection breaks at that moment, while the screen still looks as if everything is fine.

What helps, in order:

1. Allow background work: phone “Settings” → “Apps” → Mayak Networks → “Battery” → remove the restrictions (different manufacturers name the item differently: “Autostart”, “Don’t save battery”, “Unrestricted”).
2. Update the app to the latest version — some of these breaks are already fixed.
3. If it closes immediately on launch — reinstall it: delete it and install it again from the website. Your account and subscription will not suffer, and you log in with the same email and password.

That did not help — send a log: “Settings”, right at the bottom — “Send log”. From it we can see what exactly happened before the app closed.

Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO have their own battery settings — what to check on Xiaomi; on Samsung Galaxy — what to set in One UI.

A little extra drain while the connection is on is normal: the phone encrypts and decrypts all the traffic. A little extra data goes out too — about a tenth on top in our test, and around 3 MB a day for an idle connection (the numbers, and how to measure your own). But noticeable heating and fast discharge are NOT normal, and they usually have a specific cause.

1. A weak signal. In a network with one bar the phone heats up on its own, and the tunnel amplifies the effect: packets are lost and sent again. Check whether it repeats in a good network.
2. The connection keeps coming back up. If the status in the shade jumps between “Protected” and “Disconnected”, the drain grows sharply. That is a separate problem — see the answer “The connection drops or is slow” above.
3. It may not be us at all. Look at phone “Settings” → “Battery” and see who is first in the drain list. If Mayak Networks is not near the top — the cause is another app.

If the drain is clearly abnormal — send a log (“Settings”, right at the bottom — “Send log”) and write to us with your phone model: that way we can see whether it repeats for others on the same firmware.

If you are registered — write from your account. Open the “Support” section in your account: choose a topic, describe what is happening, press “Send”. The whole correspondence stays there — our reply arrives in that section, and you can answer it without starting a new request. It is an ordinary form — it works on a phone where email is not set up, and on someone else’s computer. The plan, access period, number of devices and app version are attached by us, so there is no need to state them. The reply goes to your account’s email, usually within a day.

If you do not have an account yet or cannot log in — write by email to support@mayaknetworks.com. If you have an account but cannot get into your account — write from the address it is registered to: that way we will know straight away whose account it is.

What to attach when it is “cannot connect”. A log: in the app go to “Settings”, right at the bottom — “Send log”. From it we can see at which step everything stopped. The log is a technical connection journal, and the contents of your traffic are not in it (what exactly is sent is written in the Privacy Policy).

1. The simplest way is the store. Open the app page on Google Play and press “Install”. Then steps 2–4 are not needed — go straight to step 5. The two channels are incompatible: a build from the store cannot be installed over one downloaded from the website, or the other way round — the signatures differ; to switch channels you have to uninstall the app and install it again.
2. Or download the file. Press the button “Download APK” on the home page or open the link from your account. A file will download: .apk.
3. Open the downloaded file. It is usually in the “Downloads” folder — tap it.
4. Allow the installation. If Android says that installation from this source is not allowed, tap “Settings” and turn on “Allow installation from this source” for the browser or the file manager, then go back and confirm the installation.
5. Get past the Google warning. Android may show a window “App blocked to protect your device” with the note “Play Protect has never checked apps from this developer”. That is not a virus report: this is how Android greets any program installed from outside the store. Tap the grey line “Install anyway”. The large blue button “OK” at the bottom, on the contrary, cancels the installation.
6. Open the app after installation.
7. Log in — with the same email and password you set at registration (the same account you created at registration).
8. Choose a country and press “Connect”. On the first connection Android will ask for permission to create a secure connection — agree to it.

The APK is signed with our key — during an update the app checks the signature, so you always install the genuine version.

If the install will not go through and the phone only says “App not installed”, the reason is never on the screen — we took five such refusals apart on our own file, with the system’s own words.

How the two sources differ, what the app asks of the phone and which Android settings break any secure connection — set out in a separate article.

Not sure which path is yours — Android with Google Play, without it, or iPhone — and what is special about Samsung, Xiaomi and Huawei: A VPN for your phone: how to choose and set it up.

If the phone has no Google Play at all — as on Huawei models released after May 2019 — the file from our site is the way in: VPN for Huawei and Honor: how to install it without Google Play, with our test on Android with no Google services.

Installing on a tablet — what to know about an Android tablet.

Related: Happ on Android: where to download it, how to add a subscription, and how it differs from Mayak's app, Downloading a VPN for Android: where it is safe and how to check the file, The best VPN for Android: eight checks on your own phone.

1. “Install anyway” — this inconspicuous grey line is what continues the installation. That is what you need to tap.
2. “OK” — the large blue button looks like the main one, but it cancels.

This is a warning from Play Protect — Android’s built-in check. In full it reads: “Play Protect has never checked apps from this developer”. It says exactly what it means: Google has not met this program before. No virus was found in it — Android shows this window for any app installed from outside the store.

What to tap. The window has a grey line “Install anyway” — that is what continues the installation. The large blue button “OK” at the bottom looks like the main one, but it cancels the installation. Tap exactly the grey line — it is above the button and looks like ordinary text.

If there is no “Install anyway” line in the window. On some phones the check has to be turned off for a moment: open Google Play → your profile icon in the top right → “Play Protect” → the gear icon → turn off scanning apps. Install Mayak and turn the scanning straight back on: it protects your phone, and there is no need to leave it off.

How to make sure the file is ours. The file from the site is signed with the “Mayak Networks Release” key; its SHA-256 fingerprint:
CA:50:24:79:F2:66:53:5E:77:D3:2A:D8:56:E9:AC:03:B1:5D:97:75:20:DA:C6:CB:C8:DC:25:42:29:D9:34:AA
You can check it on a computer with apksigner verify --print-certs file.apk from the Android SDK. A different fingerprint means the file is not ours — do not install it. The app from Google Play is signed by Google, so its fingerprint differs, and that is normal.

It did not work — write to us, we will help and advise for your phone.

These are the details of your Mayak Networks account: the same ones you set when registering in your account. There is no need to create a separate password for the app.

The login field accepts an email or an account number — nine digits in the form 472-918-563, written in your account and in the app (“Settings”). If the account has no email, log in with the number: it is the same name in your account, in the app and in a conversation with support.

To change the password, go to your account, the “Profile and login” card: the “Change password” button. If an email is linked, we send a code to it — that is how we make sure it is you and not whoever got hold of an open tab. If there is no email, the password is changed right there, using the current password.

We have one app of our own so far — for Android. Our iPhone app is in development, and you can connect on iPhone right now — through a third-party app and the “Subscription link” from your account (the “Connecting by link” card): the server list arrives by itself, and the app reads your access period from the same link. We verified two such apps with a live connection: Happ and INCY. ⚠️ The real Happ (publisher Flyfrog LLC) is not in the Russian App Store right now (checked on 22 September 2026): you will need an Apple account of another country, and a search for “happ” in the Russian store shows similar apps from other publishers. A subscription link is the key to your access, so do not paste it into an app you cannot identify. INCY (publisher LLC ITDEV) is in the Russian App Store, and it is free: install it, copy the “Subscription link” in your account and paste it into INCY. These are not our apps, and we do not answer for how they behave later; check the publisher before you paste the link.

On Windows and Mac we have no apps of our own yet. The third-party Happ desktop app takes the same subscription link. Every connected device takes a slot of your plan — whether it is our app or somebody else’s.

There is a second way too: your account issues a config file for the AmneziaWG app. On a Linux computer it works for us; on iPhone we have not verified it with a live connection — the item below is honest about that. For iPhone the subscription-link way described above is simpler. All six systems step by step — on the page “Where to tap on your device”.

What a subscription and a key for Happ are, why free keys die fast, and how to add the link to Happ step by step — Happ subscription and keys: where to get them and how to add them. And if Happ worked and stopped connecting — what it shows by itself and in what order to look for the break: Happ not working: why, and what to do. Which iPhone apps the Russian App Store has right now, which it lacks, and how to tell the real one from a look-alike — Which VPN works on iPhone in Russia. What to install on a computer running Windows, Mac or Linux, and how an app differs from a browser extension — A VPN for a computer or laptop. On Windows — which file to download and five steps; on a Mac — Happ or INCY and what to do if macOS will not open the file.

Is the computer a laptop that travels with you? Someone else's Wi-Fi, a hotel login page, sleep and internet from a phone: A VPN for a laptop.

Related: Happ VPN on PC: where to download the real one and how to connect on Windows and Mac, Happ on iPhone: why you cannot find it in the Russian App Store and what to install instead, INCY: what the app is and how to add a subscription to it, VPN not working on iPhone: six checks on the phone itself, A VPN for a computer in 2026: what works on Windows, Mac and Linux right now, VLESS: what it is and what security, sni, flow and encryption mean in a key.

Our own app is for Android, but the config file is issued to everyone. Your account has a “File for Linux” card: choose a country, press “Get the file for Linux” — and you get a file .conf and a QR code.

Where it definitely works: a Linux computer with the AmneziaWG client (amneziawg-tools) — we checked that with a live connection. Version 3.0 or newer is required: the config contains header protection, which older clients do not understand and will simply refuse to open.

Where we do not promise anything yet: iPhone, Mac and Windows. Our config includes protection against traffic recognition (AmneziaWG 3.1 parameters), and the third-party Amnezia apps on those systems do not accept it yet — the tunnel may not come up at all. Want to try — write to us: we will advise you and say honestly if it will not work. On iPhone, connect with the subscription link instead — the item above.

⚙️ Do not change the MTU line in the file — it is computed for the link the config was issued for and already accounts for the masking parameters. If you are configuring WireGuard somewhere else and see light pages open while heavy ones hang, it is almost always MTU: where 1420 and 1360 come from and how to measure your own limit.

🔧 What the remaining lines of the config mean (Jc, S1–S4, H1–H4, I1) and which of them must match the server is explained in “How to set up AmneziaWG”.

📶 A router running OpenWrt takes the same file — seven steps and what we tested: “A VPN on a router”.

The file contains a secret key — keep it like a password. The key does not stay on the server, so the same file cannot be downloaded again: every new config for a country disables the previous one. One config takes up one device of your plan — like another phone. The same file on two computers will not work: the connection will start breaking for both.

🔎 The file used to connect and now does not? In order — “Amnezia not working: what to check in your config”.

Related: Amnezia VPN on a PC: how to install it on Windows, Mac and Linux and add a config file, Where to download Amnezia VPN: the official site, GitHub and the stores, and how not to install a fake, How to set up Amnezia VPN: your own server or a ready config, on a phone, an iPhone and a PC.

Since version 0.7.26 Mayak Networks works on TVs and set-top boxes running Android TV: the app shows up on the TV home shelf next to the others, and everything in it is done with the remote — the frame around the selected button is visible on either theme, and the panels that slide up from the bottom on a phone open fully expanded on a TV.

Two ways to install it: from Google Play on the TV itself, or the APK from this site (a TV downloads files the same way a phone does — with a browser or a file manager).

Create the account beforehand — on your phone or in the personal cabinet — and simply sign in on the TV. Signing up on the TV itself needs the “prove you are human” check, and that only works where Google services are present; TVs sometimes lack them, and the fallback route — a browser — is not always there either. You do not have to type a password with the remote: the TV shows a code and you confirm it from your phone or in your personal cabinet — step by step in our article about TVs.

A box with plain Android, without Android TV, works too if it runs Android 7.0 or newer: Mayak installs from Google Play or as a file from our site. Since version 1.0.0 Mayak shows a code for signing in from your phone there too, if the box has no touchscreen. If the box claims a touchscreen, the email or account number and password form opens — then it is easier to type them with a keyboard plugged in. Which box will do, and what about operator boxes, SberBox and Yandex — in the TV box article.

SberBox and Salute TV sets: Mayak installs as a file through your Sber account at apps.sber.ru, firmware 1.81 or newer. Step by step — in the Sber article.

TCL and Haier: in their catalogues for Russia the TVs run Google TV or Android TV, and Mayak installs as described above; on Google TV look for it through Search or on the Apps tab. Step by step — in the TCL and Haier article.

Xiaomi and DEXP: in Xiaomi's Russian catalogue the TVs run Android TV, and Mayak installs as described above. DEXP TVs run different systems, Salute TV among them: the path depends on the app store on the TV. How to tell the system — in the DEXP and Xiaomi article.

TV Station and TVs on YaOS (Yandex TV): there is no Google Play, Mayak installs as a file from a USB stick through the File Manager; Yandex does not allow this on a device bought on an unpaid subscription and describes no such way for the Module with Alice. Step by step — in the Yandex TV article.

The TV does the rest exactly like a phone: picking a country, the “RU Apps” preset (Russian services outside the tunnel), connection details and auto-connect on start-up (“Settings” → “Protection”).

Sony, Philips, Kivi, Toshiba, Thomson and other Android TV or Google TV sets: how to tell your system and install Mayak.

No Google Play, or Mayak is not in it: how to install an APK on a TV from a USB stick — the stick, a file manager, “Unknown sources” and the “App not installed” error.

Choosing a service for a TV and weighing paid against free: seven checks — an app for your system, sign-in without a keyboard, plan slots, a no-card trial.

Before the first connection Android asks for permission in its own system window. Some TV boxes ship a stripped-down firmware without that window — SberBox Top is one of them. Mayak then has no one to ask and shows this hint.

First: if another secure-connection app is switched on on the box, turn it off and press connect again.

Otherwise the permission is granted once from a computer on the same Wi-Fi network as the box. After that Mayak connects on its own.

1. Turn on debugging on the box. On regular Android: Settings → About → tap “Build number” several times → in “Developer options” turn on Wi-Fi or USB debugging. For SberBox and “Salute TV” sets Sber describes its own way: sign in to Sber Studio (developers.sber.ru/studio) with the same Sber ID as on the box; if your space has no project yet, create an empty one (SmartApp menu → Native App, any name, no need to publish) — without it the section does not appear; then Settings → Service settings → SmartApp tab → My devices → Add device: the “device number” from the box’s “About” screen (case-sensitive) and its type; then switch on the ADB function and wait about a minute (Sber’s guide, in Russian).
2. On the computer download Android SDK Platform-Tools from Google, unpack it and open a command prompt in that folder.
3. Run, one after the other, with the box’s address from its Network settings:
   adb connect 192.168.1.23
adb shell appops set mayaknetworks.app ACTIVATE_VPN allow
   If the box asks whether to trust this computer, allow it.
4. Open Mayak and press connect.

Once Mayak connects, turn debugging off (on Sber devices — the ADB function in Studio): the permission stays, and the box is no longer open to network debugging. It is the same mark the system window sets when you press “OK” in it. Stuck on a step? Write to support with what you see on the screen, and we’ll work it out together.

What we checked: on an Android 9 emulator the command sets the permission as it should. On an actual SberBox Top — no: we do not have one.

We have no app of our own for routers, but a router can connect with the config file from your account (the “File for Linux” card, details).

Required version: AmneziaWG 3.0 or newer. All our lines run AmneziaWG 3 with header protection (in the file it is the HeaderProtectionKey line). Firmware that only knows AmneziaWG 1.x or 2.0 will not accept such a file, and we do not keep lines on the older version: their disguise is weaker. How to tell your router is ready: look for “AmneziaWG 3” or “header protection” in the changelog of its firmware (or of its AmneziaWG package). Once it is there, our file will fit. What we know today:

• OpenWrt 24.10.8 with the AmneziaWG package for OpenWrt (awg-openwrt) built on 22 September 2026 or later — accepts our file. Checked with a live connection on 24 September 2026 in a virtual machine (OpenWrt 24.10.8, not on a hardware router); packages for 25.12.5 exist too, but we have not tested that release. Two findings from the test: if you delete the interface, reboot the router, or it stays without internet; if you delete the device in your account, the whole home is left without internet until the tunnel on the router is switched off (the server handles the end of access the same way; we have not tested that separately). The seven steps are in the router article.
• Keenetic and Netcraze: the main firmware (5.1.x, the latest being 5.1.6 of 24 September 2026) knows AmneziaWG 2.0 without header protection, so it will not accept our file. In the developer channel, KeeneticOS 5.2 Alpha 11 of 25 September 2026, Keenetic reports support for ASC 3.1 parameters — per the description it should accept it; not checked live. A Keenetic with Entware (the awg-manager package) should accept it according to its documentation; not checked either. A version table and the steps are in the Keenetic article.
• Routers running Xray (Passwall2 on OpenWrt, XKeen on Keenetic) can take a subscription link: add “A device with its own link” in your account and paste the link into the router. We tested Passwall2 with Xray 26.x in the same virtual machine: the router and a computer behind it went online through our server. The stock Xray from the OpenWrt repository (25.1.30) did not start with Passwall2 — install Xray from the Passwall repository. XKeen on Keenetic is not tested.
• TP-Link, ASUS, Xiaomi, MikroTik, GL.iNet on their stock firmware — not yet.

A router takes one place on your plan, like any device. Want to try? Write to us: we will help with the setup and tell you honestly if it does not work.

TVs on their own systems (Samsung Tizen, LG webOS) cannot install our app. TVs and set-top boxes running Android, on the other hand, we do support — see above for how it works.

What is actually left for a Samsung or LG owner: which path works, what it costs, why tethering from your phone will not help and a router will only under the condition above — set out step by step in a separate article.

Nearly all Hisense TVs for Russia run VIDAA (its new name is HomeOS): also a system of its own, not Android. How to check yours and what to do — in the Hisense article.

An LG TV on webOS: there is no Mayak app for it, and there are two working ways — an Android TV box and a router. Steps, conditions and what we did not test — in the LG article.

Related: Happ on a TV: which TVs have it, how to pass a subscription, and when an own app is simpler, VPN on a TP-Link router: stock firmware, OpenWrt and other routes.

Mayak Networks tells you when a new version is out — what happens next depends on where the app came from, and that part matters.

• You downloaded the APK from this site. The app offers to update — agree, and it installs the fresh version over the old one, keeping your data and login. You can also download the new APK here by hand.
• You installed it from Google Play. The app tells you a new version is out and opens the Play listing — the store does the update. Our APK from this site will NOT install on such a phone: the two channels are signed with different keys.

You can ask at any time: “Settings” → “About the app” → “Check for a new version”. The number of your current version is right above that button.

If Google Play does not offer the update yet, it is still on its way to your phone — the store rolls new versions out gradually. Check back a bit later.

1. Install the app and open it.
2. Press “Create account” — the app makes up the password for you, and all you have to do is confirm that you are human. Your login becomes the account number, shown large on the screen. To start using the service, confirm your email — it opens 3 free days; you can link it later, in your account. Write down the number and the password — without them there will be nothing to restore access with.
3. Choose a country (or leave the automatic choice) and press “Connect”.

If you already have an account — “Log in” on the same screen: both an email and an account number will do. And if it is more convenient from a computer, an account can be created in your account — then just log in to the app with the same details.

The first connection to a new location may take a couple of seconds longer — the app is bringing up the secure tunnel.

🧭 How an app, a subscription link and a config file differ, and whether phone Settings will do without an app — “How to connect a VPN on a phone or computer”.

You choose the country in the app, on the main screen: the “Pick a country” list right under the connect button. Which countries are available to you is shown by that list — it changes, so we do not duplicate it in the help centre. A foreign location is for access to foreign services, the Russian one is for going out in Russia. Mark the one you need. Which one is faster is shown by the “Ping” button next to the list title: it measures the latency to each country’s server.

These are two different cases, and the app tries to say which one it is.

• The list arrived, but is empty. Usually not for long — refresh the list in a minute. If nothing changes, look into your account: it happens that access has not been opened yet or the term has ended — and then there are no countries either.
• The list did not load at all. Then the countries are most likely fine — it is the loading that failed. Check that the internet works without Mayak, and try again in a minute.

If it does not get through in a minute or in an hour — write to us.

If you are abroad and need to get into a Russian service that only opens from a Russian IP — choose the location “Russia” when it is in the list of countries. Your traffic will reach the internet from a Russian address, and services such as online banks, government services and Russian streaming will work again as if you were at home. If it is not in the list, it is not connected at the moment; write to us, and we will tell you when it appears. Which Russian sites in our test opened only from a Russian address, and which turned even that away — the write-up on our blog.

The other side of this — when Russian apps go directly, bypassing the tunnel, and everything else goes through it — is described below, in the answer “Russian services directly”, and does not depend on the list of countries.

The app is not tied to a country: all it needs is internet — mobile, hotel Wi-Fi, any. Your account, plan and devices stay the same, nothing has to be moved or re-issued.

Worth knowing beforehand:

• Russian services from abroad. Banks, Gosuslugi and other services that only work “from the inside” open up if you pick the Russia location — see “What the ‘Russia’ location gives you”.
• Install the app in advance. On the road there may be no convenient moment, and installing and signing in need internet.
• Roaming is about your carrier’s money, not about us. We do not add traffic on top of what you spend anyway; watch your carrier’s plan.
• We promise nothing about countries with heavy network filtering. Our measurements were made in Russia; China, Iran and the like we have not tested and will not claim anything about. If you go — write and tell us how it went: such reports are valuable to us.

If it does not come up on the spot — “Settings” → “Check the connection”, and then “Always use backup channel”: it is meant exactly for networks where the direct route does not work.

If you move from Wi-Fi to mobile internet or the other way round, the app brings the tunnel up again on its own — there is no need to turn the connection on by hand. A brief break at the moment the network switches is normal.

Russian apps — banks, government services, marketplaces, Russian streaming — can go directly, bypassing the tunnel, from your real address: they often refuse connections from foreign IPs. The rest of your traffic stays inside the secure connection.

It is turned on with the preset bar on the app’s main screen: switch on the toggle of the preset “RU Apps” — it is sent by our core and already contains the list of Russian services. The bar is shown by default; if you hid it, bring back the item about presets on the main screen in “Settings”.

The list of Russian apps updates itself, and there is nothing to type in by hand. The setting is applied on the next connection: press “Disconnect” and “Connect”.

If you are in Russia, the set may already be on. On first launch the app checks which country you go online from, and if it is Russia and you have not touched the switch yet, it turns the set on itself and tells you so. You can turn it off in the same place you turn it on.

If you need to send some app of your own around the tunnel, open “Settings” → “Split tunneling” and mark it.

Why Russian services refuse to let you in with the connection on, and how a site in the browser and signing in from abroad differ — a piece in our blog.

Related: Split tunneling: how to send only the apps you choose through a VPN.

It depends on the plan: “Start” — up to 3 devices, “Family” — up to 5, “Max” — up to 10. One subscription works on all your devices at once. The app is for Android (phones, tablets and Android TV sets). On iPhone the third-party Happ app works with the subscription link from your account — but not in the Russian App Store, where Happ is absent and INCY (publisher LLC ITDEV) works instead, checked on 22 September 2026. On a Linux computer, a settings file from the same place. Our own iPhone app is in development, and we have no apps of our own for Windows and macOS yet; the same Happ app exists for them. Every connected device takes a slot of your plan — whether it is our app or somebody else’s.

What exactly is bought — a subscription to access for an account rather than a key, how a device is counted and what to do when you change phones — set out in a separate article.

We count devices, not addresses. You can sign in to the same account from different networks and different IP addresses: a phone changes its address every time it moves between Wi-Fi and mobile data, or between cities, and we tie nothing to it. The only limit is the number of devices in your plan. A second account is not needed for that: one subscription serves all your devices, and to share access with your family there is a separate way without paying twice.

If the connection suddenly breaks, the phone will go to the internet directly by default. To stop that, Android has a system mode that blocks the internet while there is no secure connection (in the phone settings it is labelled “always-on VPN” — that is what Android itself calls it).

Turn it on like this: “Settings” → the section “Protection” → “No protection — no internet”. The button will open the right Android system screen: there turn on the always-on connection for Mayak Networks and the block on connections that bypass it (on different phones these items are named slightly differently). Together with auto-connect (see below) this means traffic never leaves without protection at all.

The same system screen cures another trouble — the connection dropping while the phone is in your pocket: why that happens and what to turn on.

The flip side: with this mode on, Mayak switched off leaves the phone with no internet until the mode is turned off on the same screen — how to turn a VPN off without losing the network.

Related: Always-on VPN and “Block connections without VPN”: what they are and how to turn them on.

“Settings” → “Auto-connect”. The app will bring the last working connection up on its own when the phone is switched on — from the config saved on the device, without waiting for the network. Connect by hand once, so that the app has something to restore.

In some networks (more often mobile and corporate ones) the ordinary connection path does not get through. The app notices this on its own and tries the ways one after another, from the fastest to the most cautious: first directly over IPv6, then the usual path, then X-ray, then via Russia, and the backup way last. On the way you will see short lines saying which path it is trying right now. When a path that works is found, a mark may stay next to the status: “X-ray”, “Via Russia” or “Backup”. The connection works, but it may be slower than the direct one. That is normal and usually temporary.

The line “Trying the usual path…” is a separate matter: it means not a backup path but a second attempt at the same direct path. The app first reaches the server over a newer-style address (IPv6), and if there is none or it does not get through — over the familiar one. It is the very same server, and no mark appears next to the status afterwards.

What X-ray is. It is the second protocol in the app (the first is AmneziaWG). To an outside observer X-ray looks like an ordinary visit to a website, so it gets through even where the main way does not come up. The app switches to it on its own, and you do not need to do anything. X-ray is in app version 1.0.0 and newer.

Two switches. “Settings” → “Connection” has two rows: “AmneziaWG” (“Main protocol: direct, via Russia and the backup channel”) and “X-ray” (“Second protocol, looks like an ordinary website”). Both are on by default — that way the app tries everything in order.

• Turn “AmneziaWG” off, and the app connects over X-ray only; the “Always use backup channel” row turns grey because it belongs to AmneziaWG.
• Turn “X-ray” off, and only the AmneziaWG ways are left.
• You cannot turn both off: the app will say “At least one protocol must stay on. Turn the other one on first.”
• “AmneziaWG” is off and the country you picked has no X-ray yet — the app says so and offers a “Turn on AmneziaWG” button; such countries are marked “no X-ray” in the list.

Unless you have a particular reason, leave both switches on.

If the direct path never works in your network, turn on “Settings” → “Always use backup channel”: you will not have to wait for detection every time.

There are two numbers labelled “ping” on the main screen, and they measure different routes — so they are not supposed to match.

• “Ping: N ms” under the button is the latency inside the secure connection: that is how long your own traffic takes to reach the server through the tunnel. It is live — the app keeps refreshing it while the connection is up.
• The numbers in the country rows (they appear after you tap “Ping” next to the card title) are the latency outside the tunnel, straight to each country’s server. It cannot be otherwise: to compare countries you have to measure the road to each of them, not the detour through the one you are connected to right now.

That is why the numbers come out different: the packets take two different roads with different company along the way. The number under the button is usually the smaller one, and that is not a measurement error: we compared both roads with the same method, to the same server, six packets each a second apart — 55 ms inside the tunnel against 79 outside it. The reason is that a bare ping is a service packet, and networks often let it through last, while inside the tunnel the very same request travels as ordinary data. A gap of a couple of dozen milliseconds is normal, not a fault; on your network it may be larger or barely visible.

Which one to use: the country numbers to pick a country, the number under the button to see how the current connection feels. If it suddenly triples compared with its usual value, see “The connection drops or is slow”.

“Settings” → “App lock”. Then the app will ask for your fingerprint, face or device PIN when opened — whoever gets hold of an unlocked phone will not see your account, the settings or the config. It does not affect the connection itself. The phone must have a screen lock set.

“Settings” → “Use IPv6”. Brings IPv6 where your carrier does not provide it. The “IPv6” badge on the main screen lights up only when it really works. If something has stopped opening — turn it off and reconnect.

Note: this switch governs not only the addresses inside the tunnel but also how the app reaches the server. With it on, the app first tries the newer address path — with some carriers that is both faster and less congested. Turning it off costs you that attempt: the connection still works, but with some carriers it may become slower.

“Settings” → the “Network” section → the row with the current mode (while the filter is off it reads “No filtering”). Four options: no filtering (an ordinary fast resolver), ads and trackers (blocks them in apps and in the browser), kids mode (the same plus adult websites and safe search) and your own DNS server — one or two public IP addresses, if you already have your own resolver or a corporate filter.

The setting is shared by the whole account: it will also apply on another phone, on a TV and in the Linux file (download it again), and you can change it in your account as well. A new profile takes effect on the next connection.

Which ads the filter cuts and which it does not (in YouTube and social feeds they stay) — our measurement and a step-by-step guide.

Related: VPN without ads: why free ones show them and how to choose.

Pull down the Android shade → “Edit/pencil” → drag the tile Mayak Networks to the others. After that connecting and disconnecting take one tap, without opening the app: the last working connection comes up. If the app has never connected yet, the tile simply opens it.

Everything we write to you is in the app, in the section “Messages” — the bell in the top right corner of the main screen; the number on it shows unread ones. Payment receipts, the “access is ending” warning, invitations to shared access and support replies all arrive there.

The notification shade shows only a short headline — without the amount, the date and the rest. This is deliberate: a notification on a locked screen is read by strangers too, while the full text opens inside the app.

Between 23:00 and 09:00 messages arrive silently — with no sound, but visible in the shade.

You decide yourself what to show: “Settings” → “Notifications” in the app — or the same switches in your account, in the “Messages” section. “Access and money” cannot be turned off — that is how the service works, and we are obliged to warn you. “Service” and quiet hours can be changed from either place. “News and offers” are OFF by default; they can be turned off in your account too, but turned on only in the app: we accept consent to the mailing where it is written next to it what you are agreeing to.

If the account has an email address, we also send the important things by email. No email — then the app is the only channel, and it is better not to turn it off entirely.

“Settings”, right at the bottom: the date your access is valid until and how many of your available devices are in use. A month before the end a countdown appears, and three days before the line turns red — so that it does not become a surprise when you try to connect.

Right after the payment the confirmation arrives in the app, in the section “Messages” (the bell on the main screen): the amount, the plan and the date access is extended to. It stays there — you can read it again a week later.

The history of all payments is in your account, the “Plan and payment” card. If the account has an email address, we send a confirmation there too.

The money was taken but access was not extended — write to us from your account (“Support”) and give your account number: we will find the payment by it at once.

Plans in roubles: “Start” — 300 ₽/month (up to 3 devices), “Family” — 500 ₽/month (up to 5), “Max” — 700 ₽/month (up to 10). 3 days free on two devices once you confirm your email, no card required. More details — in the section “Plans”.

What you get for this money and what you do not — five questions worth asking any service before you pay, and our answers. That is what you pay us for the service; it has nothing to do with the discussed carrier fee for foreign traffic.

How to choose a service by a checklist, with no ranking — what it lives on, what it stores, how to pay and how to cancel.

How to convert the price to a year and to one device, and what to check in any subscription before paying: How much does a VPN cost per month, and what is included.

Related: The best paid VPN: how to check it before paying, A cheap VPN: how to find one without overpaying, A VPN for a year: is paying upfront worth it?.

There is no need to buy a second account and no need to share your password. The slots of your plan can be handed out to people close to you: each of them gets their own account with their own login, and only you pay — it uses up your device limit.

How to do it: in your account open “My group” → “Invite a person”. There are two ways:

• by link — send it any way you like; the person opens it, creates an account (or logs in to theirs) and confirms the invitation. The link is one-time and has an expiry, and it is shown once — copy it straight away;
• by account number — if the person already has an account. Everyone can see their own number in your account and in the app: nine digits in the form “472-918-563”. The invitation will appear in their account, and they confirm it.

No link appears without the person’s consent — they have to press “Accept” themselves. The consent screen shows them plainly what the person who pays will see: the number, the devices, the times of the last connections, the exit country and the traffic volume. And, in a separate list, what neither we nor the payer see: which websites and apps the person opens. We do not store that at all. Site names are resolved by an outside DNS server, but the request reaches it from our node, not from the person: details in our policy.

Slots can be passed on further if you allow it with a checkbox: for example, you gave five slots to your daughter, and she kept two and handed three out to her own people. In total there are three levels below you.

You can take slots back or break the link at any moment, and your account tells you the price in advance: how many devices will move to your plan and how many will be disconnected. The person’s account stays alive — the number, the email and the support correspondence are all in place, but they will only be able to go online by paying for their own plan or joining a group again. They can also leave the group themselves.

⚠️ The whole group’s access rests on your subscription: when it ends — theirs ends too. Every member can see in their own account whose plan they are on and until what date, so that it does not look like “it broke for no reason”.

A company buys places — one place for one device — and hands them out to its employees. Each employee keeps their own account with their own login; the company only pays for their devices.

How to start: in your account open the “Company” section and set the company up. It gets its own account number — it starts with the Latin letter C (for Corporate), for example “C‑472‑918‑563”. If you type the Cyrillic letter that looks the same, we understand that too. This number is used to top up the company account and to name the company to support; you cannot sign in with it — every person has their own personal nine-digit number.

The company account is topped up the same way as a personal one, and places are paid from it: 10 devices or more, for 1 or 3 months. The renewal is charged from the company account automatically on the last day of the term; reminders come in advance.

Inside the company you can create departments and departments inside them, and give each a share of the places. A department manager sees and hands out only their own branch; they cannot raise their own department’s quota — the manager one level up or the company’s main manager does that.

You can invite an employee by account number, by email or with a link and a PIN. They join only by themselves: they read the terms and press “Join”. The terms say it plainly: the manager sees the employee’s devices that the company pays for, how much traffic they use and when the person registered. Details in our policy.

After joining, the person’s devices move to the company’s places. If they have their own subscription, it keeps running on its own term. There is no trial with a company invitation — the company pays for access.

If the company has not paid for the term, employees’ devices move to their own places (their own plan or a family group) by themselves and come back after payment — no need to reconnect. An employee can leave the company at any moment; the company’s places are switched off for them at once.

A company is deleted on the main manager’s request in the “Company” section — we get in touch and confirm. A company that has never had money in it, the main manager deletes by themselves.

The trial is 3 days on two devices once you confirm your email, and no card is needed. After that — in your account: the “Plan and payment” card, choose a plan and a term and press “Pay”. A secure payment page will open — a Russian card, SBP or cryptocurrency (USDT). Access is extended as soon as the payment is confirmed, usually within a few seconds.

There is also a wallet there: you can top up your balance with an amount from 50 to 10,000 ₽ at a time and pay for the plan from it.

How much it costs, what people pay with and what you do not need in order to pay (a foreign card, a messenger account, a live connection) — set out step by step in a separate article.

You do not have to create a website account at all: our Telegram bot sells the same plans — it issues an account number for you, so there is nothing to register, and payment happens right there. The bot sends you a link into your account. Such an account has no trial: the trial is opened by a confirmed email, which you can add later in your account.

A card issued outside Russia will not go through — pay in cryptocurrency (USDT). Our payment provider takes Russian bank cards, SBP transfers and cryptocurrency (USDT); there is no PayPal or wire transfer. The trial needs no card at all, so you can try the service first — and someone with a Russian card can pay for your account, because the plan belongs to the account, not to the card. If you are outside Russia and want to pay, write to support@mayaknetworks.com and say where you are paying from.

3 days free on two devices (for example, a phone and a TV), no card required. Confirm your email, install the app and use it — payment is only needed when you want to continue.

Those 3 days are opened by a confirmed email. Until it is confirmed there is no access: confirm the mailbox and they open.

How free trials work in general, where the catch is and what to test in the free days — VPN with a free trial: 3 days, no card, once you confirm your email.

Related: Free VPN for iPhone: three kinds of free and what to check in the App Store, Free VPN 2026: how to choose one and check it.

Related: VPN without registration: is there one, and at what cost.

Open your account, the “Plan and payment” card: choose a plan (“Start” / “Family” / “Max”) and a term, press “Pay”. Access is extended as soon as the payment is confirmed.

Moving to a more expensive plan in the middle of a paid month means paying the difference: what is left of the old plan is credited, and you only pay the difference.

Auto-renewal is turned on and off in the same place, in your account, with a separate toggle. It takes money from your account balance — not from a card; we warn you about the charge in advance.

Yes, for the unused days. You can withdraw from the service at any time — that is your right under Article 32 of the Russian Consumer Rights Protection Law. The money does not come back by itself: write to support@mayaknetworks.com with your account number from your account area and the payment date. We will refund the cost of the full days left from the day you write: the price of the period is divided by the number of its days and multiplied by the number of days left. The access paid for by that payment is switched off when it is refunded. The money goes back to the card or account you paid from; how long it takes to arrive depends on your bank.

A mistake on our side is a different matter — a double charge, money taken with no access appearing, or a payment for a period you had already paid for: write to support and we will refund such a payment in full. You can start for free, with no card — the service is easy to try before you pay, and we ask you to do exactly that. The terms are in section 4 of the offer — that document is currently available in Russian only; if anything in it is unclear, write to support and we will explain it in English.

If the money is stuck with a previous provider that stopped answering, we have nothing to do with it and cannot return it — but what you can do depends on how you paid, and exactly one thing moves to a new provider: your list of devices. Set out separately in “Your VPN stopped working: is it gone, and what moves with you”. How to stop subscription charges from another service, and what Russian law says about refunds — How to cancel a VPN subscription and get your money back.

Related: A VPN for a day or a week: is it possible, and what does it cost.

Every account has its own invitation code. The code and the invitation link are in your account, in the “Invite a friend” card — together with the counters: how many people came, how many of them paid and how much money has already been credited.

How it works:

• your friend enters your code when they register — there is a field for it both in the app and in your account. A code can be applied within 14 days of registration and only once in the life of an account; you cannot apply your own code to yourself;
• applying the code credits nothing to anyone by itself — it only links the two accounts;
• your friend pays for a plan and stays paid for 31 days. After that they get 50 ₽ and you get 100 ₽ to your account balance.

The reward is money on the balance, not days: the balance pays for any plan. There are up to 10 credits a month for the person inviting; the invited person is not affected by that limit — they get one reward and it is already paid for by their own money.

If your friend gets the payment refunded before the reward matures, there is no reward at all. If they get it refunded after — we take the credited money back from both balances; we never push a balance below zero.

There is a field for the code on the registration screen: if it has not filled in by itself — type it in by hand. An APK downloaded from the site carries no marker at all: the file is the same for everyone, there is nothing to put the code into.

We do not record the contents of your traffic — which websites you open. Technical logs are kept to run the service and keep the connection quality. What exactly we collect and why is described honestly in the Privacy Policy (in accordance with Federal Law No. 152-FZ).

Why the service costs money at all, and what users of free ones pay with instead — see “What you really pay for a free VPN extension”.

What your provider, a site and the service itself see with the tunnel on, we recorded on a real connection, and next to it listed, point by point from the policy, what of that we store — “What is a VPN, in plain words: what a site and your provider see”.

Traffic is encrypted with modern protocols (AmneziaWG 3.1, based on WireGuard®), so that the connection stays stable even in difficult networks.

How AmneziaWG differs from WireGuard, and why masking is not “stronger encryption”, is explained in “AmneziaWG vs WireGuard”. To check your own connection — four checks in a minute.

What someone else’s network — hotel or cafe Wi-Fi — does and does not see, we measured ourselves with a traffic dump: “Public Wi-Fi: what the owner of the hotspot sees”. Without the tunnel all four site names went out in the clear; from inside the tunnel, none did.

What a VPN service itself sees, what “no logs” means and why free ones are risky — by signs you can check.

AmneziaWG is a protocol based on the fast and reliable WireGuard® with extra protection against traffic analysis. Plain WireGuard has a recognisable connection pattern; AmneziaWG changes it, so Mayak Networks holds the connection where an ordinary tunnel no longer gets through. The speed and the low battery use are kept.

In your account, in the “Settings” section, there is a filtering choice:

• Off — an ordinary fast DNS.
• Ads and trackers — advertising and tracking domains are not resolved, so ads disappear in every app at once, not only in the browser.
• Kids mode — the same plus adult websites and enforced safe search.
• Your own DNS server — if you already have a filter of your own (NextDNS or an AdGuard account, for example), enter one or two of its IP addresses, and configs will be issued with them. A server name will not do: at the moment of connecting there is nothing to turn it into an address. Home network addresses (192.168.…) will not do either — they are unreachable through the tunnel.

The filter works at the DNS level: there is nothing to install. The setting is applied on the next connection — reconnect in the app. If some website you need has stopped opening after you turned it on, set it back to “off” and reconnect.

Torrents and other file sharing (P2P) — not allowed. Not out of greed: almost all of that traffic is somebody else’s films, music and games, and rights-holder complaints arrive at our addresses — the service answers them, not you. We do not look inside your connection and do not intend to; but on a justified complaint access is suspended — that is what the Terms of Use say too. We try to write to you and sort it out first.

Games — yes. One thing worth knowing: any tunnel adds latency, and the further the chosen country, the more of it. For competitive games pick the nearest location and watch the ping inside the game rather than the download speed. When a tunnel saves a game from packet loss and when it only adds delay, and what our test showed — a piece in our blog. And if your character keeps snapping back in a match while websites open fine — how to check for packet loss.

Video and streaming — yes. There is enough speed: our own measurement on a mobile network gave over 100 Mbit/s. If a particular service will not let you in — most often it is about the country: try another location in the list under the button. If that does not help — write to us, we look at such cases one by one.

And when a video keeps buffering although a speed test shows tens of megabits, that is a different story, and it is almost never about the width of the channel: where the bottleneck is and how to check it in five minutes.

How rights holders get services themselves to shut off access to piracy sites, using a US bill as the example — US bill on VPNs and piracy sites: what H.R. 10364 says and what it means for Russia.

Mayak Networks is a tool for privacy and connection protection. The user is responsible for complying with the laws of their own country.

It is a separate app — with a purple icon and the name “Mayak Networks Dev”. New versions come out there first: testers look at them, and only what has been checked goes to the website and to Google Play. We hand the build out by invitation — if you were not invited, there is no reason to install it: the normal app is the checked version.

The build is raw, and that is the whole point. It may fail to connect or lose the connection out of nowhere — precisely so that this happens to a tester and not to people. Such a case is not an accident, it is the channel doing its job: tell us about it, that is the help we need.

The normal app does not go anywhere. Dev is installed next to it, not over it: there will be two icons in your app list — a dark one and a purple one. If dev breaks — you open the normal app and carry on, with your own login and settings.

1. Download the file — mayak-dev.apk. There is no need to remove the normal app first.
2. Install it like any APK. The steps are the same as in “How to install Mayak Networks on Android”: Android will ask for permission to install from this source, and then show the Play Protect window — what to tap there is covered in a separate answer.
3. Look for the purple icon. The phone trims the captions under icons (“Mayak Netw…”), so the colour tells the builds apart faster: dark — the normal one, purple — dev.
4. Log in with the same account — email or account number, as usual. No separate account is needed.

After that dev updates itself, inside its own channel: updates of the normal app do not reach it, and dev builds do not reach the normal app.

Dev gets along with either version. It has its own package name, so it sits happily next to the build from the website and next to the one from Google Play. The website build and the store build, on the other hand, still cannot be installed over one another — their signatures differ (this is covered in “How to install…”); dev is not affected by that limitation.

One phone, two apps — and for us these are two different devices: each takes its own slot in your plan. That is by design: otherwise the two builds would share one record and get in each other’s way when connecting.

Count it up in advance. Dev takes one slot. Trial access (2 devices) → 1 left: the normal app on the same phone — and that is all, there will be no room for a TV. “Start” (3 devices) → 2 left, “Family” (5) → 4, “Max” (10) → 9.

Not enough room — write to us before installing. For testers we assign a separate plan, “Beta tester”: 20 devices, nothing to pay for it. It cannot be bought and it is not in the plan list — we assign it by hand.

In the device list both builds are named the same. The caption of a row is the phone model, not the app name, so you cannot tell dev from the normal app by the name: go by the time of the last connection. We know it is awkward; that is how it is for now.

To go back, just open the normal app. It has not gone anywhere: its own login and its own settings are still in place.

The builds keep their data separately. The login, the chosen country and the list of apps that go directly, outside the tunnel, are dev’s own. They cannot be moved from one build to the other — for Android these are two different apps.

Finished testing — remove dev and revoke its device. Until the device is revoked, the slot in your plan stays taken even if the app is already deleted. Revoke it in your account, the “Devices” section, the “Delete” button next to the row; the same thing is in the app: “Settings” → “My devices”.

If dev broke — send a log from it (“Settings”, right at the bottom — “Send log”) and write to us. That is exactly the kind of failure the channel is there to catch.