App Unable to function through VPN

Hi @irewoulfe ,

Thanks for reporting. I'll have to take this to our dev team to investigate further. As far as I'm aware, we don't put restrictions on the app relating to VPNs, so I'll have to dig into this a bit deeper.

Based on the app version numbers, it sounds like you're working with the Android version. But it would be useful to have more info that I could take back. For example, which VPN provider are you using, and is it the same between your desktop and phone? Also, what symptoms are you seeing - error messages, screens, etc?

I just tested on my Pixel 6 Pro running Android 13 (August 5 security update) using each of the following VPN services:

Google Fi VPN

Google One VPN

Private Internet Access

Bitdefender VPN

While connected to each VPN I confirmed I could do all of the following from the SimpliSafe app (v 5.12.1):

Livestream a camera

Set alarm to Home

Set alarm to Off

Refresh Settings

View Timeline

I'm not sure if y'all have resolved this issue or not but if I can help troubleshoot or provide additional info to get others up and running, please let me know.

I can confirm that even now - January 2024 - SimpliSafe cameras do not work with VPNs.  This is utterly unacceptable and total incompetence from a so-called "security" company.  I was on the phone with an agent for nearly an hour and she could not figure out how to resolve this.  What's even more disappointing is that this issue has apparently existed for months based on this thread and SimpliSafe's so-called "engineers" apparently have ignored the problem.

If any agent of SimpliSafe would like to actually help resolve this problem, they are free to contact me.  But it is beyond clear at this point that SimpliSafe customer support has no idea how to solve this problem.

This may be useful or not....

I use Apple and had just experienced this issue as well.

I use NordVPN and have reached out to their product support.  We will see what the response is.

Contacted SimplySafe, they said nothing is wrong. 

I can say, with VPN off, I can connect. VPN on, I cannot.

Somebody does not want to play well with others in the sandbox and I don't know enough to say who it is.

Not sure if it is a SimplySafe Issue or a NordVPN issue. 

I cannot say exactly when, but I noticed it as of yesterday.

I have Nord and mine now stops working since last few days 

As of yesterday evening, 2/21/2024, my SimpliSafe app on Apple IOS will not work with NordVPN. As others have stated, when NordVPN is off, everything is fine.  When on, nope. It appears that SimpliSafe updated their app on 2/21/2024.  NordVPN updated theirs a week ago. Everything was OK until the SimpliSafe app was updated. It's ironic that to protect my home I have to compromise my online security.

Well, I did at least get a response from Nord:

"Thank you for your letter.
 
We want the issue gone as much as you do. But, to help us solve it faster, we need you to provide us with some additional information.
 
Here’s what we would like to know:
 

• If you’re getting any error message(s), please attach a >screenshot< to the reply;
• Have you tried disabling the >CyberSec/Threat Protection Lite< feature in our application settings?
• Let us know if you’re using any type of antivirus, ad blocker, or different VPN software alongside NordVPN, as they might be interfering with our service.

 
Also, please visit dnsleaktest.com while being connected to NordVPN and perform these steps:
 
1. Take a screenshot of the IP address that is shown on the main screen of the website;
2. Click "Extended test", wait for the test to fully finish, and take a screenshot of the IP addresses shown in the result.
 
This information will help us identify whether there are any issues with your connection.
 
Waiting for your reply!"

Unfortunately, I am not sure of when I will be able to attempt it or, be able to undo what they are asking me to do. 

I am just good enough to foul things up really well.

Resolution. I also tured off NORD threat protect and SimpliSafe app works.  The NORD VPN is still working.  

I think people that started throwing sand at SimpliSafe need to not be so triggered.   SimpliSafe has Security concerns to protect our data too. Where do the attacks come from? VPNs.  Like Nord and express. The Nord threat protect light is an issue on the Nord side. And you VPN users should also know threat blockers like porn blocks also stop working on VPN. And where is the greatest threat on the internet?  Porn sites.  So get over yourselves and realize internet security has many layers and often when running VPN, it’s the VPN either doing the blocking or letting it in by killing your filters. 

Same symptom for the last several weeks from a user here in Northern Virginia using doorbell camera only and NordVPN. Tried ALL the usual troubleshooting steps many times.

Connectivity seems to be a weak link in the SimpliSafe product, which is why I still use only the doorbell. Based on the connectivity issues I've had, I don't want to buy a SimpliSafe base station.

That said, when it works, it works very well. 

Thanks to the contributions on this thread, I found turning off NordVPN's "Threat Protection Lite" feature has resolved the issue. Please note that until recently this feature and SimpliSafe have worked fine together since I bought the doorbell camera several years ago. (Yes, I update the SimpliSafe and NordVPN apps regularly.)

Tech Support wrote: "One component of one VPN service is preventing the SimpliSafe app from working. The scope of the problem..."

Great--sounds like SimpliSafe Tech Support now has more clearly defined the issue and has a target for resolving it. We look forward to being able to use VPN features and wish you success in fixing this issue! Thanks for your work.

Yep — I had the same issue with SimpliSafe & NordVPN - one day SimpliSafe worked and the very next day it did not.

 SimpliSafe tech support told me they were aware of the situation & were working on it.

NVPN tech support suggested turning OFF threat protection lite — that fixed the problem with SimpliSafe now working again (but, of course, I have no NVPN threat protection.)

I used to have a Pixel (Android) smartphone. The Android NVPN app allowed “split tunneling” that basically turned off NVPN for selected apps/sites.
This is what iPhones would need to allow SimpliSafe to work with threat protection lite turned on.

However, NVPN tech support replied “Unfortunately, we do not support the Split Tunneling feature on IOS devices and we cannot provide any estimation of when this feature would become available.”