AirVPN on an old Android device (CM7)

[maskthedrillbit 0]

Hello, I signed up for an account and am trying to get it working with an old CM7 based Android device. Please do not tell me to upgrade my device unless you are willing to send me a better device yourself. I don't have the money.

 

That out of the way, I can't find OpenVPN for Android on Play (and I think it wouldn't work anyway, since CM7 is 2.x.x), and OpenVPN Connect is "not compatible with my device."

 

CM7 does have a built in VPN menu. I'd like to use UDP if possible but as long as my privacy is protected on random wifi I'll be a bit happier than not.  The options are:

 

• Add PPTP VPN
• Add L2TP VPN
• Add L2TP/IPSec PSK VPN
• Add L2TP/IPSec CRT VPN
• Add OpenVPN VPN (OpenVPN SSL VPN)

The OpenVPN settings want a server, a user authentication checkbox, a CA certificate, a user certificate, and a DNS search domain. When I tap the cert items, they bring up an empty dropdown box so I'm imagining I'd need to add the certs to my device through a different part of the settings menu.

 

Any help?

[Staff 9973]

Hello!

 

Android versions older than 4 lack API to support OpenVPN.

 

However, it is possible to run OpenVPN compatible clients in devices running older Android versions, but only if such devices are rooted and modded. We do not provide support to root and mod a device and we take no responsibility for any caused damage/brick if it occurs, we're sorry, but you can find plenty of information on the WWW.

 

Our Configuration Generator will generate any possible file you will need in case.

 

Note: OpenVPN or OpenVPN wrapper must be compatible with OpenVPN 2.1 or higher to support all the needed OpenVPN directives). Additionally, TLS Auth, server and client certificates double authentication and client key must all be supported.

 

In the Configuration Generator, tick "Advanced Mode" and then tick "Separate certs/keys from .ovpn file". In addition to the .ovpn configuration file, in this way you will get four files:

 

user.crt: the client certificate

ca.crt: the CA (server) certificate

ta.key: the TLS Authorization key

user.key: the client secret key

 

Kind regards

[maskthedrillbit 0]

Android versions older than 4 lack API to support OpenVPN.

 

However, it is possible to run OpenVPN compatible clients in devices running older Android versions, but only if such devices are rooted and modded. We do not provide support to root and mod a device and we take no responsibility for any caused damage/brick if it occurs, we're sorry, but you can find plenty of information on the WWW.

 

Thanks - any particular links you know of which you don't support? The device is already rooted and running CyanogenMod 7, so I just need to know either where to look (if this involves terminal, etc) or if there are any good apps that happen to work with Android 2.x.x that also happen to support AirVPN.

 

Thanks!

[maskthedrillbit 0]

Any ideas?

 

The phone has too little RAM to run Tor in the background so I'd really like to use AirVPN on open wifi and my carrier's network.  Thanks in advance.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

so I'd really like to use AirVPN on open wifi and my carrier's network

 

I began to work on an unofficial AirVPN app for Android but there are some reasons I stopped.

1. Android is well served with OpenVPN clients (official OpenVPN, OpenVPN for Android by Arne Schwabe, etc)
2. I would serve Android 4.0+ users only like every other app (technically, it's 3.0+)
3. I never coded apps which require root privileges (referring to OpenVPN on 2.3-)
4. I'd rather contribute bug fixes to an official Github repo to let AirVPN coordinate changes and features officially than making it myself and letting you in the dark of what you need to expect in the upcoming versions. The appearence may even differ from what AirVPN wants the user to see.

Some time ago I contacted AirVPN and asked about their plans. An AirVPN app was indirectly planned after the release of an OSX client (because it was more requested).

[maskthedrillbit 0]

Were there no other <2.3 or <2.4+ apps that required root privileges that you were aware of? I'm happy to pay for one if it works but I don't want to waste my money.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

Were there no other <2.3 or <2.4+ apps that required root privileges that you were aware of?

 

When I discovered AirVPN I already had Android 4.1.2 installed on my phone, therefore searching for a Gingerbread version of OpenVPN was superfluous.

 

I'm happy to pay for one if it works but I don't want to waste my money

 

I thought you didn't have the money..?!

[maskthedrillbit 0]

Heh. The $$ for VPN service and the $$ for a new device are a ways apart on the scale, especially when one has a principle against buying subsidized phones or signing contracts with carriers, ever.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

After some searching I found an app leveraging L2TP support on Android to mimic a TUN interface; because of that an actual TUN driver is not needed, therefore, you don't need root. I don't know about the security of this setup, though. Also I can't test it right now because I don't have a (working) Gingerbread phone here.

It was commercial in the past but the devs decided to release it for free. But it's still proprietary software.

 

Try it out and report, please. I might have found Gingerbread support for AirVPN here.

 

FeatVPN for OpenVPN

[maskthedrillbit 0]

I will try it out, this time with the free trial and not prepaying and report back.