VPN will not connect: what to check, in order
A VPN that will not connect usually comes down to one of a few simple causes, and each takes a minute to check. Work down the list from the top: the checks run from the most common causes to the rarer ones. If none of it helps, the last section says how to write to us so we can sort it out faster.
The subscription is active, and the app knows it
Open your account and the Subscription tab: it shows whether a subscription or a free day is active. Without one the link delivers no servers and the app's list is empty. If you have just paid or renewed, the app may not know yet — refresh the subscription: in INCY with the refresh button or by pulling down on the server list. Read the message from GnomeVPN in the app too, if there is one: it usually names the cause — the subscription has ended, every place is taken, or the servers for a new device are still being prepared and a refresh in a minute will bring them.
Another protocol or another country
Every country in the subscription comes in two variants: Hysteria2 over UDP and VLESS + Reality over TCP. If Hysteria2 tries for a long time and gives up on a timeout, the network most likely does not pass UDP — common in offices, hotels and with some carriers. Switch to VLESS for the same country. If that does not help, try another country, and then another network — mobile data instead of Wi-Fi, for instance. More in the posts on hotel and office networks and on Hysteria2 and VLESS.
The status page and the connection check
The server status page shows whether each server is working right now: we check them every minute, and Having problems or Unavailable is a reason to pick another country until the server is back. The same page has a Check connection button: your browser asks an independent service for its address, and we compare it with the addresses of our servers. That shows whether your traffic really goes through GnomeVPN. A Russian IP-check site will not do for this: Russian sites open directly by default and see your usual address.
The device limit and a new link
A device takes a place the first time its app fetches the subscription, and there are two places by default. If they are all taken, a new device gets an empty list — remove one you no longer use on the Devices tab or with /devices in the Telegram bot. In INCY make sure HWID sending is on in the subscription settings: without it a new device is not accepted. And if the link has been rotated — in your account or with /rotate — the old one has stopped working on every device: copy the new one on the Connect tab and add it again. WireGuard configs are not affected.
If nothing helped
Write to us: your account has a Need help? block with email and Telegram, and the Telegram bot has a Support button — describe what happened and the answer comes back to the same chat. To help us sort it out faster, name the device and the app, the country and protocol you tried and the network — Wi-Fi or mobile data — and attach a screenshot of the error. We answer within a day. Many questions are already answered in the FAQ, and step-by-step setup for every platform is on the setup page.