Apple system prompts and ForestVPN

This page covers what Apple devices ask for when ForestVPN starts, and the Apple settings that the ForestVPN pages mention. It also says plainly which Apple features ForestVPN has not checked.

Symptoms

• The app will not connect the first time.
• On a Mac, the app looks stuck right after install or launch.
• You are not sure whether traffic can leave the device when the tunnel drops.
• You use iCloud Private Relay, Low Data Mode or Lockdown Mode and want to know how they interact with ForestVPN.

Likely causes

• The VPN configuration was not allowed. iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV each ask once to add a VPN configuration. Without it ForestVPN cannot connect.
• The Mac system extension is waiting for approval. macOS may ask you to approve a system extension in System Settings. The app tells you when that approval is still outstanding, but the banner is easy to miss.
• The system decides what an app can capture. With the setting that blocks traffic while the tunnel is down turned on and "route all apps" on, iOS blocks traffic outside the tunnel while ForestVPN is connected, but iOS gives no way to stop every single packet. A few system services can still go around the tunnel, so that setting is not absolute.
• iCloud Private Relay, Low Data Mode and Lockdown Mode. ForestVPN has not verified how any of the three affects the app and publishes no guidance on them.

Fix each cause

The VPN configuration. Open ForestVPN and press connect. When the system asks to add a VPN configuration, accept it. That prompt is the system's, not ForestVPN's.

The Mac system extension. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and approve the ForestVPN system extension, then press connect again.

Connect on demand. On iPhone and iPad the app can have iOS start the connection for you instead of you pressing connect. It is a setting in the app.

Private Relay, Low Data Mode and Lockdown Mode. Do not guess. ForestVPN has not checked these and publishes nothing on them. If one of them is on and ForestVPN will not connect, write to support with a support code and say which one is on.

Still stuck

Write to support with a support code from Account → Get help. Never send your account number. Name the state the app shows; the app only names a state it has evidence for.