This Android 16 Bug Could Break Your VPN Connection

Are your VPN apps acting weird recently? Well, there appears to be a bug in Android 16 (One UI 8) that quietly breaks your connection without any warning. As such, VPN users could be left exposed, believing their connection is secure when it’s not. Google has been aware of the issue for several months, but it has not yet pushed a fix.

Your VPN app may stop working in the background on Android 16

Proton VPN recently said (via Android Authority) that the Android 16 bug corrupts the network stack at the system level. This mainly happens when users update their VPN apps while they’re running. As a result, the app stops working in the background without displaying any error message. While restarting the VPN app doesn’t fix the issue, it can restore functionality after a device reboot or an app reinstall. Of course, this isn’t a permanent solution.

Proton VPN also said that Google has known about the bug for seven months. The provider reported this bug in September 2025. It looks like the Mountain View giant has made little progress in fixing it. In fact, the employee replied with the message: “I don’t see anything unusual.” Other VPN providers, such as Mullvad and WireGuard, also reported the issue on the Google Issue Tracker.

“In Android 16 after updating a VPN app the system may end up in a state where the VPN app is no longer able to reach the internet. In this erroneous state the VPN app is blocked from accessing the internet in anyway. This ends up being very confusing for the users as they can’t connect using the VPN and then are unable to reach the internet since it is stuck in a connecting state/fail to connect”, the comment reads.

Samsung has pushed Android 16-based One UI 8 to almost all eligible Galaxy phones. So, the next time you update your VPN app, it’s worth double-checking that your VPN is still working. If it isn’t, try restarting your device.