If Signal has suddenly stopped connecting, you're most likely in or travelling through a country where it's been blocked. A handful of countries restrict encrypted messaging apps at the network level, and Signal is one of the most commonly targeted, often alongside Telegram and X in the same crackdown. The good news is there are two reliable routes back in for Signal specifically: a VPN, and Signal's own built-in proxy that works even when VPNs themselves are blocked. Both are covered below.

Option 1: Use a VPN

A VPN is the more complete fix. It wraps all your traffic in an encrypted tunnel that looks like ordinary internet traffic to the blocking infrastructure, so Signal connects as if you were somewhere else entirely. Close Signal first, connect the VPN, then reopen the app.

If you're on NordVPN and a standard server isn't getting through, switch to Obfuscated Servers in your connection settings. These disguise VPN traffic so it doesn't look like VPN traffic, which makes a real difference in countries that specifically block VPN protocols. Obfuscated servers use OpenVPN TCP under the hood, which is more reliable in restricted networks than UDP because TCP traffic looks similar to ordinary web browsing.

With ExpressVPN, switch to the Lightway TCP protocol. Same idea: TCP gets through firewalls that block UDP.

Which server to connect to

Connect to a server in a country with open internet access that's reasonably close to where you are. For most people in Iran or China, US, UK, Netherlands, or Germany are solid choices. Closer servers tend to be faster, but the priority in restricted environments is picking a server that's not already flagged by the local firewall. If one server isn't working, try a different city in the same country before switching countries entirely.

If you're in a country where a specific VPN protocol is blocked, trying a different server location sometimes helps even without changing the protocol, since different IPs can have different block status.

Option 2: Signal's built-in proxy

Signal has a censorship circumvention feature built directly into the app, no separate subscription needed. It routes Signal's traffic through a relay network using a method that's harder to block at scale than a standard VPN. The automatic option works for most people and is the right place to start.

To enable it: open Signal, go to Settings > Privacy > Advanced and look for the censorship circumvention option. You can let Signal choose a proxy automatically or enter a specific proxy address manually. There are publicly shared Signal proxy addresses maintained by volunteers online; search "Signal proxy" for current lists, as addresses rotate.

The proxy only covers Signal's traffic. If you need access to other apps and websites too, a VPN handles that as well.

Setting up before you travel

If you know you're heading somewhere that restricts Signal, sort this out before you arrive. In some countries the VPN app stores and provider websites are themselves blocked, making it genuinely difficult to set things up once you're there. Download and configure your VPN at home, test it, and save a few proxy addresses too. Five minutes of prep before you leave is much better than troubleshooting on a hotel network.

If nothing is working

Some countries block all identifiable VPN traffic. If your VPN and Signal's proxy are both failing, try Tor Browser: it's slower but uses a completely different routing system that's harder to block across the board. The Guardian Project also maintains Orbot for Android, which routes individual apps through the Tor network rather than your whole connection, which can be useful if you specifically need Signal and nothing else.

Registering a new Signal account when the network is already blocked

If you're setting up Signal for the first time somewhere it's restricted, there's a wrinkle worth knowing about. Signal verifies new accounts with a code sent by SMS or an automated call, and that part travels over the ordinary mobile network, not the internet, so a network-level block on Signal's servers generally doesn't stop the code arriving. The part that needs a VPN or proxy is everything after that: downloading the app if the app stores are also blocked, and the actual connection Signal makes once you enter the code.

If you can, install Signal and get through registration before you travel somewhere restrictive, so you're not trying to do all of this for the first time on an unfamiliar network.

Paying for a VPN without drawing attention to yourself

This is specific to the censorship-evasion use case rather than the everyday one, but it comes up a lot for people in restrictive countries. If you're worried about a VPN subscription itself being traceable back to you, most major providers accept payment methods that don't require your real name or a local bank card: gift cards bought with cash, or in some cases cryptocurrency.

Check your provider's payment page for what's available before you're in a position where you urgently need to sign up. It's a good idea to sort this out, along with installing and testing the app, well before you actually need it.

Signal on desktop and other platforms

Signal Desktop for Windows and Mac routes through whatever VPN is running on the system, the same as the phone app. It also has its own manual proxy field under Settings > Privacy > Proxy if you'd rather point it at a specific proxy address than run a full VPN on the machine.

The one-tap automatic censorship circumvention toggle, the simplest option, is currently only available on the iOS and Android apps: on desktop you'll need either a system VPN or a manually entered proxy address.

Free VPNs and Signal

Free VPNs are a genuinely bad match for this particular use case. If you're using a VPN specifically because a government is restricting Signal, the reliability of that connection and the trustworthiness of the company running it both matter more than usual, and free VPNs are typically weaker on both counts. Their smaller server pools get identified and blocked by censorship systems faster, and the way many free VPNs make money (logging and selling usage data) is the opposite of what you want if privacy is the whole point of using Signal in the first place.

If this matters to you, it's worth paying for a VPN with an independently audited no-logs policy rather than relying on a free one.