• AmneziaVPN rolls out version 5.0.3.0 across all apps
• It brings new XRay-core, TProxy, and minor user updates
• It includes upgrades for Self-hosted and Premium users

Anti-censorship Amnezia VPN has released a new app version that improves stability, introduces an updated Xray-core, and brings updates for both self-hosted and Premium users.

The move comes after the VPN provider spent months strengthening its security measures to counter the attacks launched by Russian organisations that specifically targeted the best VPNs operating in the region.

Version 5.0.3.0 is available on all devices (version 5.0.3.1 for Android); users can download it from the Amnezia website, GitHub, and the Android and iOS app stores.

Amnezia VPN 5.0.3.0: what's new?

Rather than a major update with dramatic new features, the new version emphasises general clean-up, maintenance and connection stability.

For example, the XRay protocol, the core component of the proxy that allows users to bypass censorship, has been updated from version 1.3 to 1.4, in line with the adoption of a newer protocol system in the new version.

Additional support for the TProxy container has also been introduced. The Linux support is useful for routing traffic through the VPN at the transparent proxy level, essentially allowing Linux systems to make the traffic appear as if it originates from the user, thereby making it more difficult to block WireGuard connections.

The update also enables self-hosted users to set up a proxy for Telegram by directly going to the “Self-hosted” section to install it.

For Premium users, the VPN has also improved performance when connecting via the VLESS anti-censorship routing protocol.

Additional fixes addressed Android warning log levels, alongside self-hosted default values, links, and other minor issues that have been corrected.

In terms of user changes, the new release includes a Google Play billing library, which was added as a small feature component to handle In-App Purchases (IAP), and a new country was added to the supported dataset, overall boosting the user experience with minor tweaks.

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Relentlessly updating

Amnezia's efforts to combat censorship had largely focused on previous updates, designed to strengthen its anti-detection capabilities in response to the Russian government's increasingly sophisticated Internet censorship regime.

In June, the open-source VPN said it fixed a bug in its AmneziaWG protocol that had previously left its infrastructure vulnerable to a coordinated cyberattack, allegedly carried out by Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor (RKN).

In August, the VPN focused again on security by updating its anti-censorship protocol, AmneziaWG, introducing greater variability in traffic patterns to increase the VPN’s invisibility against new detection methods. During the same month, the provider also strengthened its blocking capabilities with a 'mandatory update' for Premium and Free users.

The move came after a crackdown by the government blocked access to more than 20 widely used privacy services, with the scale of the attack suggesting that Roskomnadzor is continuing to boost new sophisticated ways to filter VPNs.

These governmental repressive measures are making it increasingly difficult for citizens to access the free internet. Additionally, the more repressive these attacks are, the more they seem to influence citizens' perception of VPNs as an everyday tool they need, rather than the opposite.

Indeed, research recently showed that they are developing new forms of collaboration to use VPNs, and view the associated costs as just as essential as those for mobile Internet and routine bills.

• Apple's latest iOS update has been found to undermine NordVPN's anti-phishing tool
• The feature that causes the issue, Connectivity Assist, is turned on by default as part of the update
• According to NordVPN, the issues could have been prevented

Apple's new iOS 27 operating system update is undermining NordVPN’s anti-phishing tool, leaving users exposed to privacy vulnerabilities, the VPN has warned.

Connectivity Assist, a Wi-Fi Assist feature included in Apple’s twentieth operating system release, conflicts with NordVPN’s real-time protection, preventing it from working properly, the provider has found.

What’s worse? The tool is enabled by default, meaning users may not even know. What's more, other privacy tools on your phone may also have been compromised.

The problem with Connectivity Assist

Connectivity Assist optimises your Wi-Fi connection by supplementing slow or unreliable Wi-Fi connections with mobile data, detecting connection issues, and redirecting requests to your mobile operator’s DNS servers instead.

However, when NordVPN’s anti-fraud protection blocks a phishing site, Apple may also interpret the failed connection as a Wi-Fi issue and switch to mobile data—outside the VPN’s protection—thereby compromising the functionality of the NordVPN tool.

The only option currently available to ensure full protection is to disable Connectivity Assistant, so it can’t switch to mobile data when real-time protection blocks a website.

Alternatively, you can choose only to enable real-time protection when using a VPN by disabling NordVPN’s ‘always on’ option - but this still leaves them unprotected when using mobile data - just now by choice.

“People are being made to choose between two things they shouldn't have to choose between, and there's no good way for us to fix it,” Laura Tyrylyte, Head of Public Relations at NordVPN, tells TechRadar.

Can this be prevented?

Could Apple have helped resolve these issues before the release? Perhaps, according to the VPN representative. “Apple knew the feature interferes with DNS-based filtering before it shipped,” Tyrylyte notes. “Their own support page tells people running an ad blocker to switch Connectivity Assist for that network. Somebody spotted the conflict, it just didn’t get fixed.”

Users of Pi-hole, Firewalla, and other DNS-based filtering tools had previously reported the same behaviour, and Cloudflare's WARP also stopped blocking malicious sites following the update, NordVPN stressed.

Apple engineers have suggested alternative solutions in the forums, but these only work if users configure the DNS settings themselves, notes Tyrylyte.

“Deciding to treat deliberate filtering as a failed connection is a choice somebody made. They could have written it the other way: if a user-installed DNS service decides to resolve or block the query, leave that judgement alone,” Tyrylyte adds.

“Instead, the problem got handed to users, who now need to end up fielding the support tickets for something we can’t change,” she stresses.

NordVPN states that this is not the first time a change made by Apple to the network has compromised a security feature on iOS, with the VPN having to inform users.

In 2023, Apple’s VPN API contained vulnerabilities that disrupted NordVPN operations. “Both times users ended up having to pick between an Apple feature and their own protection, and both times Apple was the only one who could have prevented that,” Tyrylyte says.

“Apple makes the call, and we find out what the call was when the release lands, she stressed.

Whoever’s responsibility this is, one thing is for certain: it is users who stand to pay the highest price when tools quietly stop working. And reporting the issue in the press as a solution seems a poor substitute for preventing the problem in the first place.

Apple is yet to respond to a request for comment.

• Mullvad has released version 2026.10 of its Android app
• A rotatable globe and advanced multi-hop feature are the main highlights
• The VPN has also reported a glitch affecting connection

Mullvad has released version 2026.10 of its Android VPN app, introducing new features designed to boost speed and security while making the overall user experience more fun.

An interactive map showing VPN server locations and an advanced multi-hop feature, alongside a few bug fixes, are the key additions in this release, currently available on GitHub.

Interestingly, Google Play has yet to list the upgrade, with Mullvad still showing the previous version 2026.08 as its latest release on the official website, too.

The new redesign was quietly announced on the cloud platform over the past two days, following months of meticulous preparation that had already included the release of new features in beta in August, with the VPN testing them for almost a month before the launch.

Meanwhile, the Sweden-based VPN continues to ensure transparency, alerting users to an issue with the new version and reflecting the accountability expected by the best VPNs.

More interaction, please

The new version features a rotating globe that highlights server locations available to users, making the discovery process more immersive and playful. Users can now zoom in, pan, scroll, and explore the globe region by region to discover the exact locations of all VPN servers, as well as view their own connection routes.

Additionally, its multi-hop function, which routes traffic through two servers for additional privacy and to make it easier to route your traffic, can now be enabled automatically when relevant settings require it and off when it is unnecessary.

The multi-hop feature is a staple of Mullvad’s functionality — indeed, it first reached Android in 2025, following earlier arrivals on desktop and iOS, when Mullvad had labelled it “a tunnel within a tunnel.”

However, by selecting the new button, you won’t need to manually enable the function, as the Android VPN app will now activate it automatically when it’s called for.

This becomes particularly relevant when DAITA, a security technique that obscures network traffic patterns to prevent interception, is enabled and the selected servers do not support it directly, but you still desire a high level of security.

Specifically, the system will now recognise this preference and will automatically activate multihop mode, as DAITA requires it or benefits from it in order to function effectively. If you disable DAITA, the system will automatically revert to a faster, single-server connection to save you bandwidth, allowing the VPN to maintain its fast speeds reputation.

The VPN has also optimised the server location search function. Specifically, the results displayed in the ‘Select location’ field are now sorted by relevance, based on how closely they match users’ queries. Approximate search results have also been included to recognise imperfect matches and improve the overall user experience.

Finally, a few bugs have also been fixed, such as the sorting of the list of positions in English and previous revocation flags appearing during an API rejection.

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Fixing the bugs

Only two days ago, Mullvad released version 2026.09. However, the release contained an error that could cause the tunnel to get stuck in connecting and disconnecting when the QUIC obfuscator is used, causing the entire tunnel state machine to freeze and requiring the app to be restarted.

While the new version has indeed fixed the glitch in the previous version— and for this reason, the VPN explicitly advised to abandon version number 09 — it also warned that 2026.10 may cause the first connection attempt to fail when using features such as quantum-resistant tunnels or Daita.

A future release is expected soon to fix the connection issue, Mullvad said.