The mobile experience you've been asking for

Nebula runs on everything from cloud servers to Raspberry Pis, but historically, there has been a bit of a functionality gap on mobile. While desktop and server users get the full power of Nebula’s configuration, firewall rules, and rock-solid connectivity, mobile users got a subset, and had to work around the limitations.

Well, that changes now. The most recent mobile release brings the mobile app to parity with what you’d expect from Nebula everywhere else: persistent connections, full configuration support, custom DNS, and firewall rules. Here’s what’s new.

The most-requested feature for mobile Nebula is here: Always On support for both Android and iOS. Once enabled, your Nebula connection stays active in the background; no more manually toggling the VPN back on after your phone reboots, sleeps or switches networks. Your mobile devices will now stay connected to the Nebula network with the same reliability you’ve come to expect on desktops and servers.

Previously, you were limited to whatever configuration options we had built UI for in the mobile app. In theory, this meant the app would deliver a user-friendly experience for configuring Nebula… but in practice, that meant waiting on us to add support for features that Nebula itself already supported.

Wait no longer: you can now import fully-formed Nebula config YMLs directly into the mobile app. If Nebula supports it, the mobile app supports it. This doesn’t mean we’re going to stop building UI for Nebula’s configuration—but it does mean you can start using new Nebula features right away, even before the UI exists!

One of the most common frustrations was that enabling the Nebula VPN on mobile would override your DNS settings. If you were using something like AdGuard DNS or a Pi-hole, connecting to Nebula meant losing that setup.

With the new update you can now configure a custom DNS resolver for each Nebula site. This is especially useful for internal split-horizon DNS, where you need to resolve internal hostnames over your Nebula network. And if you don’t set a custom resolver, the app will use your system’s global DNS so your AdGuard or Pi-hole setup stays intact when you connect.

The mobile app now includes full support for configuring inbound firewall rules. This unlocks a whole category of use cases: repurpose an old phone as a file server on your Nebula network, run Syncthing for file synchronization, or allow any other inbound connections you need between your devices. All configurable right from the app.

We brought SSO to DNClient Desktop late last year, and we’re working on bringing the same seamless authentication experience to mobile. Stay tuned.

Mobile Nebula v0.10.0 is available now on the App Store and Google Play. Update your app and let us know what you think. We love hearing from our users so if you have any feedback please don’t hesitate to drop us a line.