How to use a VPN in China: pre-travel setup guide

This is the device-agnostic setup guide. If you already know which device you are using, jump straight to the iPhone, Android, Windows, or macOS guides. Otherwise, read this one first — it covers the decisions you need to make regardless of platform.

Before you leave

1. Sign up for an account at home. Pick a plan, enter payment, confirm the account works. Full pre-departure checklist.
2. Install the app on every device you are bringing. Phone, laptop, tablet. Sign in on each.
3. Download the Android APK separately. Google Play is unreachable inside China. Download the APK from the provider website and keep a copy in your email as a backup.
4. Favorite Hong Kong and Tokyo in the app's server list. These are the two endpoints you will use most.
5. Test a Hong Kong connection at home. Not just that the app says connected — actually load a video, run a speed test, open a map.
6. Save your credentials in a password manager you can reach from any device.
7. Bookmark the provider's support email on your phone for the moments the website itself is unreachable.

On arrival: hotel Wi-Fi

1. Join the Wi-Fi as normal. Accept the hotel's captive portal (terms, room number, whatever they ask).
2. Only then open the VPN app and connect. Some captive portals do not complete correctly through a tunnel.
3. Pick Hong Kong first. If that is slow or unstable, switch to Tokyo.
4. Verify the tunnel is up by loading a site you recognize, like Gmail or your bank's homepage.
5. Turn on auto-reconnect and the kill switch in the app settings. Hotels kick devices off Wi-Fi aggressively; you do not want to be the person noticing an hour later that the VPN was off.

Picking the right server for the task

• Everyday use and video calls — Hong Kong or Tokyo (whichever is faster on the day)
• Banking, broker logins, anything that checks unusual-location — your home country server
• Work SaaS tools that dislike impossible travel — the region your employer normally sees you login from
• Streaming local-China services — either keep the VPN off or use a China-local server if your provider offers one

You can switch in two taps. You do not have to pick one server for the whole trip.

Protocol selection

If the app has an automatic protocol selector, leave it on automatic. If you are picking manually, try in this order:

1. Hysteria2 — fastest on mainland networks in 2026
2. Cloak / OpenVPN TCP on port 443 — most reliable fallback
3. OpenVPN UDP — cleaner performance where simple UDP flows cleanly, rarer on hotel Wi-Fi

See the protocol guide for the tradeoffs.

What to set up on each device

• Kill switch on. No traffic leaks if the tunnel drops.
• Auto-reconnect on. Re-establishes the tunnel after Wi-Fi kicks you.
• Battery optimization off for the VPN app on Android and iOS. Otherwise the OS will kill it in the background.
• Always-on VPN enabled on Android. This is a system-level setting that survives reboots and app updates.

Platform-specific guides

• iPhone and iPad setup
• Android setup (with APK fallback)
• Windows setup
• macOS setup
• Router-level setup for hotels and long-term stays