Norton 360 Turns Off All Other VPNs

Continuing the discussion from Auto VPN Turns Off All Other VPNs:

Since about April 2024, Android Norton 360 changed its behavior so that it automatically closes ANY VPNs if connected to a secure Wi-Fi network. Previously, when Auto VPN was selected, Norton would control just the Norton VPN, turning it on for public or unsecured Wi-Fi networks, and turning it off when it detected that a VPN is no longer needed. Now, whether Auto VPN option is selected or not, no VPNs - including third party VPNs - are allowed to keep running if connected to a secure Wi-Fi network. Norton keeps checking to be sure that ALL VPNs remain turned off. The effect is that I can’t run any other VPN, such as PIA or Blokada, for more than 30 minutes or so without Norton closing it. (There are numerous reasons to use VPN technology on a secure Wi-Fi network, so Norton should not be preventing use of other VPNs.)

I submitted logs on July 21, although the updated Community forum and archiving of existing topics may have made the thread links invalid.

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Thanks for posting back and for your patience waiting for the new forum update.

The link you posted does still take you to the original thread. And now you have submitted the logs, I’ll notify my contacts.

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Hi MickMickle,

Our engineering team has prepared a fix for this issue, which we expect to be included in the upcoming 5.95 release.

Ivan

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Thanks, Ivan. I look forward to the fix. My temporary workaround has been to uninstall Norton 360, then partially reinstall it without setting up the Norton VPN feature. I’ll be glad to have all the features again.

Hi Mick,

The v5.95.2 started a staged rollout on Gplay 2 days ago (now at 10% rollout to Production). Please check Google Play and see if it’s available to you. The rollout will increase in the coming days.

Let me know how it works and if the issue is resolved.

Thank you!

Ivan
Supportability Team

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Thanks for the heads up, Ivan! I checked Google Play but it’s not available to me yet. I will check periodically. When I do get v5.95.2 installed, I’ll definitely test it out to see if it fixes the issue, and I’ll give you feedback.

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Ivan,

I have updated to v5.95.2.240829125, and Norton 360 does now appears to allow other VPNs (specifically, Blokada) to run when Auto-VPN is turned on. However, it will take me a few days to test with unsecured Wi-Fi networks.

Manually turning on Auto VPN will turn off Blokada as to be expected. But it no longer continually kills Blokada every time it tests to see if the connected Wi-Fi network is secure. Thanks!

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Good news. Thanks for posting back.

Just a quick final confirmation that the issue was fixed for me. When my Android phone connects to a public Wi-Fi, Auto VPN turns on its VPN, and after leaving the public Wi-Fi, Auto VPN turns off its VPN. And Blokada, emulating a VPN to block ads, remains activated afterward. To my surprise, a pleasant side effect of fixing the issue is that the Blokada VPN continues to be turned on even while the Norton VPN is running. (My understanding had been that Android only allowed one VPN at a time to run.)

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