How to set up a VPN on Android: phone, tablet and Android TV
On Android GnomeVPN connects through the free INCY app. If you open your account on the same phone, the subscription goes in with one button — nothing to copy or paste. Below: installing, the first connection, and the settings that keep the VPN from dropping on its own.
Installing
Install INCY from Google Play — the app is free and needs no sign-up. If the device has no Google Play, check INCY's own site, which lists the other ways to install it. Another subscription app works too — Hiddify, v2rayNG, NekoBox and Clash Meta read the same link — but the steps below are written for INCY: it is the only one where the routing switches in your account take effect. Every download link is on the setup page.
The subscription in one tap
Open your account in a browser on the same phone: the Connect tab, With a link, INCY. Press Open in INCY — the link is copied, the app opens and adds the subscription with every server. If INCY does not open, the link is already on the clipboard: tap + in the app and choose import from clipboard. Without an active subscription or free day the server list stays empty. The free day is switched on in your account once your email is confirmed, and the subscription terms and prices are on the pricing page.
The first connection
Pick a country and connect. Android asks once for permission to set up a VPN connection — confirm it, or the tunnel will not come up. Each country has two entries: Hysteria2 over UDP and VLESS over TCP. Start with Hysteria2, and if the connection will not establish — on office Wi-Fi, say — switch to VLESS for the same country. How the two differ is covered in the post on Hysteria2 and VLESS. Russian sites go direct by default, and ad blocking can be turned on in your account, under Routing.
Keeping the VPN on
Some Android skins save battery aggressively and close background apps, tunnel included. If the VPN disappears while the phone sits idle, exclude INCY from battery optimisation in its app settings. The system VPN settings also have an Always-on VPN option: with it Android brings the tunnel back up by itself after a restart. The exact path depends on the manufacturer — usually somewhere under network or connections. The server list keeps refreshing on its own schedule, so new countries appear without anything from you.
Android TV and tablets
On a tablet everything works as on a phone. On an Android TV set INCY installs from Google Play right on the screen, and there is no need to type the link with the remote: open your account on your phone, press QR code on the Connect tab and scan it in INCY on the television. Every device — phone, tablet, television — takes its own place in the subscription; remove the ones you no longer use on the Devices tab. Televisions are covered in detail in the Android TV and Apple TV guide.