Blokada sometimes doesn't recognize connectivity and shows 'Waiting for network'

[alexanderadam]

Steps to reproduce

1. Occasionally go on and offline

Expected behaviour

Blokada would work

Actual behaviour

It shows that it is connected to the Blokada 'VPN' but it shows Waiting for network... instead.
As you can see I have 4G internet connectivity in the screenshot but Blokada keeps showing the Waiting message:

Configuration

1. Blokada version 4.3.3 (android-28 community release arm64-v8a samsung-startlte touch api)
2. Device model Samsung S9
3. Android version / ROM
   One UI version 1.0
   Android version 9
   Kernel version G960fXXU6CSI1

Questions

1. How long have you been using Blokada?
   since ages

2. How long time ago has the problem started to happen?
   Just recently. I think it must be one update in the last two months or so.

3. How often does this problem happen to you?
   daily

[leonmelein]

Since I upgraded my Nokia 8.1 (Android One) to Android 10, I'm experiencing the same issues on both 4G and WiFi. It renders Blokada fully unusable for me, including NXDOMAIN error messages in Chrome - even though I don't use the custom DNS option. Disabling Blokada is the only thing that solves it.

[ghost]

Hello there,
Would you be so kind to try the Blokada version found on GitHub or the official website. It should work with those. Fdroid takes its time to update the Application.

[ulu]

In the past Blokada did work like a charm. Since some days I can recognize the same issue. Staying at the same Android Activity resulting in more or less periodical "waiting for network" message. The difference to the issue reporter is that I am using a DNS (settings from blokada). The DNS is sometimes off now. I have to start Blokada to become the DNS automatically activated. I did not change Blokada nor the Android version but installed some Google (Play) Service Updates.

I am using
OxygenOS 5.0.8 (Stock Android 8.0.0)
blokada/4.3.3 (android/26 community release arm64-v8a OnePlus-OnePlus3T touch api)
from F-Droid.

App Settings:
. Keep alive: Yes
. Watchdog: Yes
. Aggressive wakeup: Yes

System settings used by me:
. Always-on VPN: On
. Block connections without VPN: Off (If I set it to On I have no connection at all)
. Blokada > App Info > Permissions: all granted
. Blokada > App Info > Notifications: all allowed
. Battery optimization: don't optimize
. unrestricted data access: On

[ghost]

@ulu please try the Blokada version available here on GitHub or the website. Fdroid could take some time to update the repository with the new blokada version

[ulu]

@PrintableCharacter under circumstances this could solve the problem, but this leads to the next 2 problems:
. reproducible, signed builds
. automatic updates using (F-Droid) repository

All these problems could be avoided if Blokada were properly tested.

[ghost]

You can rest assured that blokada is getting tested ^^ but some issues only appear on specific phones.
As blokada is an open source project it neither has the time nor the financial resources to be tested on every single device out there.
It relies entirely on feedback which can be given here, on Telegram and a lot of other platforms. The Fdroid team is responsible for the rather slow process of publishing updates on the Fdroid repository as they're quite busy these days.

[kar]

4.3.5 should be on fdroid any moment. let me know if you still experience problems.

[alexanderadam]

4.3.5 should be on fdroid any moment. let me know if you still experience problems.

So it seems to work again but my mobile is vibrating now very often.

I'm not sure though whether it is related to blokada or due to an update from another app.
Is it plausible that it is blokada or rather not?

[kar]

Hm, Blokada doesn't have vibrating notifications, so I don't think so.

[ulu]

For the record: works again with F-Droid version 4.3.11.

[alexanderadam]

@kar okay so I can still confirm the behaviour since the bugfix: the phone vibrates the moment I activate blokada.

Is there a possibility to disable vibration notifications in the UI?

Should I open another issue for it?

EDIT: Nevermind. I uninstalled and reinstalled Blokada and now it is working better than ever before.

[ulu]

I cannot confirm this odd behavior. I have no vibration at all but all Notification set to ON (unlock screen > swipe down > go to Blokada Notification and swipe it to left or right > select gearwheel > ALL CATEGORIES).