Synology VPN Plus 4+

It’s a great app. Works amazingly. I run a PiHole instance on my Synology Server, and this allows me to VPN into my network from anywhere and route my traffic through that to eliminate ads no matter where I am in the world. The only downside is that it obliterates my battery life whether I’m using the VPN or not. Something I noticed immediately after installing it since I was no longer making it through entire days on a single charge.

I recently bought a higher storage size of the iPhone 13 Mini and decided to pit it against the one I was trading in. So I uninstalled VPN Plus on my old 128gb iPhone 13 Mini with iOS 16(96% battery health), and installed VPN Plus on my new 512GB iPhone 13 Mini with iOS 16. I then left them sitting on my counter all day playing a playlist loop since it was a weekend and I had the time. At the end of the day the old Mini had 39% battery with Apple Music being the biggest battery drain. The new iPhone Mini was at 8%, and VPN Plus was at the top of the battery usage list with 35% despite the VPN being switched off the entire time.

I’m not sure what it is about this app that just absolutely crushes battery life like this, but its a significant enough level that you will want to weigh the pros of having this VPN capability vs what it will mean for your battery life. For me I just uninstall it unless I’m going on a work trip as I carry external batteries with me on those anyways.

A great VPN solution.. when it works. But the most recent update broke the app. Now it just says something about a certificate, and there’s a ‘Proceed’ button, but the button doesn’t do anything. So the VPN never connects. It used to work fine Synology.. please fix it.

This was easy to set up, Synology is offering free licenses for up to 20 devices because of Covid-19 . Even if you had to pay for it, $10/ license is still a bargain.

You do need a Synology router for this to work.