Support will be removed on both client and server side.
The process of removing OpenVPN from our app starts today and may be completed much earlier.
TL;DR They are moving to wireguard only.
I’m ok with that.
Except the 5 device limit. With OVPN it means 5 connected devices, with WG it means 5 registered public keys.
Say you use the official Mullvad app and also setup some 3rd party WG client on your phone. That’s now taking up 2 devices. Or perhaps you do have 6 devices, but you never have more than 2 of them running at once. With WG, that’s still 6 devices regardless of them being connected or not, while with OVPN it will indeed be just 2 devices.
Can you not use the same keys for multiple devices like you’d normally be able to?
Not at the same time as they would conflict.
Well sure, but you effectively still have the same 5-connection limit as long as you manage your keys correctly.
That’s always borked both connections for me
That’s true. I use user profiles on GrapheneOS and have to have each profile count as its own device in Mullvad, when obviously I’m not going to be using them simultaneously.
This is a great point, if they’re gonna make this change, they should allow unlimited keys (or at least more than 5) and just limit the number of simultaneous devices on wireguard too. If that’s feasable
It might be feasible, but it’s a bit awkward to implement because Wireguard is stateless and doesn’t know if a client is offline or just hasn’t sent any traffic for some time.
That’s a pity.
Is there something preventing you from having the same key ready for use on more than one device? So that two devices that are never connected at the same time can take turns using the same key?
Not at all
One of my devices uses three keys because out of the two local servers I have, they seem to go down every other month, so I need a failover.
Unless they’re simultaneously connected you could share the same private key in all of the configs.
It just sounds easier to think about it with wireguard then. No surprises.
I can only assume that is the main reason for this change. Pitty.
I already commented on this, but do they actually block you from setting up multiple devices with the same key?
I’ve had my own server node for a while, there’s nothing stopping me from using the same key and config on multiple client devices, as long as I don’t connect them at the same time.
I’m not limited to five keys, obviously, but the keys aren’t device specific. I could set up just one on the server, and then use it everywhere.
Does Mullwad stop this in some way?
I already commented on this, but do they actually block you from setting up multiple devices with the same key?
I don’t think that’s possible to block, but it could lead to problems (responses not arriving) when both devices try to use the same key.
Well yeah, you’d still have the limitation that you can’t connect multiple devices at the same time. But the idea is that just like before, nothing is actually stopping you from having as many devices as you like ready to go, all able to be used one at a time.
Wireguard is more elegant and performant, and has a smaller attack surface. OpenVPN, meanwhile, is a legacy protocol, and retiring it should be a good thing.
And when exactly did we declare openvpn a legacy protocol?
About the same time VPN platforms started migrating away from it
I feel like that’s kind of a case of circular reasoning though: we move away from it because it’s legacy, and it’s legacy because we’re moving away from it… Mind you, I’m no expert on VPNs; this is just something I thought I’d bring to attention here.
That’s what makes software legacy; it falls out of popularity. Plenty of terminal applications have barely changed since the 80s, but they’re not “legacy” because they’re actively used and maintained.
Can someone explain why this is good or bad?
It was good to have it as a backup. I primarily use wireguard but now its a single point of failure.
If wire guard is just bettr then I don’t see any reason to suport OpenVPN anyway.
Legacy devices with OpenVPN support only.
I can’t get WG to work in Qubes. OpenVPN just works
That’s kind of weird, because the reason why I never bothered with (selfhosted) VPNs before Wireguard was because it was the first one that just worked. Granted, due to its nature, you don’t get a lot of feedback when things don’t work, but it’s so simple in principle that there’s not a lot that can go wrong. For external VPNs like this, it should just be: Load config, double-check, done.
Now do it on an obscure router firmware
any good wireguard documenation? only found few random company blog, some stackoverflow and reddit.
Why tho?
Wireguard is the gold standard?
(linked in the above article) https://mullvad.net/en/blog/wireguard-future
Are they going to fix their client so it can work on linux with software like portmaster that controls DNS?
https://github.com/safing/portmaster/issues/445
https://wiki.safing.io/en/Portmaster/App/Compatibility/Software/MullvadVPN
Well thats the day I stop using them wtf
mullvad is overrated, i agree. use riseup, calyx, strongswan
Why? Wireguard i a great protocol and Mullvad best in class with regards to privacy.
Because openvpn works easier in complex setups like Qubes or Ubiquity
cringe move, i’ll use riseup through openvpn
