VPN indicator on Android TV

[Sk00gcompiler]

I have checked if others have suggested this already

• I have checked this issue tracker to see if others have reported similar issues.

Feature description

A VPN indicator for Android TV would be great so you can really see that you are connected when streaming.

Alternative solutions

There is a third-party “privacy dot,” but it would be best if it were built into your app, since you really care about anonymity and security.

Type of feature

• Better privacy/anonymity
• Better at circumventing censorship
• Easier to use
• Other

Operating System

• Android
• iOS
• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

[Rawa]

Hello @Sk00gcompiler!

I know the Android TV is very limited in terms of showing if you have an active VPN. Unfortunately that is also the case for apps as well. To understand your request more clearly, how you imagine this indicator working? Do you know any other apps that have this feature?

[Sk00gcompiler]

If you mean other vpn services, IpVanish has that feature. In general, I think it's a very good feature and you can always see that she is connected. Like a green circle in the top right corner. Or in the bottom right corner.

[Rawa]

Monitordot seems to be a similar app that provides this feature. Basically displaying view that represents the status of the VPN somewhere on the screen. I quickly glanced at it and it is implemented as an overlay, which probably would require us to declare a new permission. Presumably this app looks at the ConnectivityManager to check for any connection with a VPN.

[Sk00gcompiler]

Is that something that is possible?

[Rawa]

Technically it is very doable, but we'd have to assess the impact of adding it and prioritize it. Right, now we have other more pressing things that needs to be implemented, and since only affects TV and there already are alternative solutions with third party apps I'm afraid it won't have a very high priority as of right now. I do think it is a nice and important addition though, since knowing if the VPN is active or not is far from obvious on Android TV OS right now. If more people wants this feature we'll also take it into consideration and re-prioritize it.

[Sk00gcompiler]

Thank you for your response and thank you for a great and secure VPN service.