Use a device as an exit
Lend one of your own devices' internet connection to your others with Use as an exit: which plans include it, what pauses it and what to do when it is offline.
Not yet verified on hardware. These steps restate the app's own labels and the published pages for this feature; they were not run on a device for this page.
Use as an exit lets one of your own devices, a home computer for example, lend the internet connection it is on to your other devices. Sites then see you the way they would if you were at home. Your own exits are not metered: using one does not spend Free's daily connections or its data caps.
Before you start
- Every plan has it. Free and Premium both include up to 10 of your own devices as exits. If you try to turn on more, the app says "You already have as many exits as your plan allows": turn off an existing exit first.
- It is turned on on the device that lends the connection. Consent happens on the device that carries the traffic, so it cannot be turned on from another of your devices. It also turns on Connect my devices.
- Wi-Fi or Ethernet only. An exit serves traffic only while it is on Wi-Fi or Ethernet. The moment it moves to mobile data it pauses on its own, with nothing to configure, and starts again when it is back on Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
- The exit device has to be on. If it is asleep or powered off, that exit is offline until it is back.
Steps
- On the device whose internet you want to lend, open Devices, then This device, and turn on Use as an exit.
- On the phone or laptop you want to use it from, open Locations. Your own exits are in a My exits section above the usual list, each showing Ready, Offline or This device.
- Tap the exit to connect, exactly like a ForestVPN location. The status reads "Protected · via" and the exit's name.
Check it worked
- On the exit device, the app shows "Exit on", with "nobody using it" or the number of devices using it.
- In Locations the exit shows Ready.
- Connection details show whether the path is Direct or Relayed.
If you own two or more exits, automatic failover is on by default. If the exit you are using stops answering, ForestVPN holds your traffic so nothing leaks, switches you to the next exit in My exits and tells you once. If every one of your own exits is down, ForestVPN stays blocked rather than sending your traffic somewhere else, and shows Choose a location so you can pick a ForestVPN location yourself.