How to Use Psiphon

Psiphon for Android

You should first verify that your copy of Psiphon for Android is authentic.

Click on a Psiphon APK link from within your Android email or browser to begin the installation. (If you get an error, you may need to enable sideloading.)

When you launch the Psiphon app, it will automatically start connecting to the Psiphon network.

Image showing Psiphon running on Android, on the status panel
  • Psiphon is running in VPN or Whole Device mode. All applications are tunneled through Psiphon.
  • Status Tab is selected
  • To run Psiphon in Tunnel Whole Device mode, you must have Android 4.0+ or a rooted phone.

    This option will be unavailable for non-rooted phones with an older version of Android.
  • Grey: connecting
    Red: not connected
    Blue: connected
  • Shows what version of Psiphon you are currently running

Image showing Psiphon running on Android, on the logs panel
  • Logs of Psiphon activity

Image showing Psiphon running on Android, on the statistics panel
  • Connection duration
  • Data sent through Psiphon
  • Data received through Psiphon
  • Sent data compressed through Psiphon
  • Received data compressed through Psiphon

Once the app has connected to the network, it will launch the built-in Psiphon browser. Psiphon for Android does not automatically tunnel the traffic for the default Android browser or other apps. By default, only the Psiphon browser is tunneled through the Psiphon network.

Image showing the different parts of the Psiphon Android web browser
  • Psiphon is running
  • Switch between open tabs
  • Close current tab
  • Bookmark current page
  • Open new tab

Psiphon for Windows

You should first verify that your copy of Psiphon for Windows is authentic.

Download the client program and run it. When you run it, you should see a security prompt showing that this program is a legitimate product of Psiphon Inc.

Image showing the Windows security warning for the Psiphon executable

Psiphon automatically starts connecting when you run it. While it is connecting, a spinning icon is displayed. You may select one of the following tunnel modes: VPN (L2TP over IPSec), SSH, or SSH+ (SSH plus obfuscation, a randomized layer on top of SSH to avoid protocol fingerprinting).

Image showing Psiphon starting up on Windows

Connection to the Psiphon server is established when the green icon is displayed. In VPN mode, all of your traffic automatically tunnels through Psiphon.

In SSH and SSH+ modes, Psiphon automatically sets the Windows system proxy settings and traffic for applications that respect these settings tunnel through Psiphon. These settings are respected by default by all major web browsers.

Furthermore, in SSH and SSH+ modes, Psiphon offers a split tunnel option where international traffic is tunneled through the proxy and domestic traffic is not. Check the “Don’t proxy...” option to enable split tunneling. When this option is on, unproxied domains are reported in the message area.

Image showing Psiphon connected on Windows

When you close the program, Psiphon automatically disconnects. You can also click on the icon to toggle the connection.