How to Use a VPN in China: Set Up Before You Land

1. Create an account and connect once. LeoTun has a 24-hour free trial with no credit card. It lasts 24 hours, so spend it either on the test at home or on your first day in China; paid time is refunded pro rata at any time, so paying for a short period before the trip carries little risk.
2. Install a client on every device you will carry. On the phone, install Cisco Secure Client (App Store, Google Play, or the installer on this site’s Cisco page), log in to the site, click a flag to copy a region’s address, and connect once with your site username and password.
3. Add a second connection method. Interference with one protocol is independent of the others, so when one fails another usually connects. On the phone add Hiddify and import by QR code; on the laptop add the web-proxy extension.
4. Save several region addresses. The fastest region in China is often not the one that was fastest at home; with two or three saved in the client, switching takes seconds.
5. Save the contact routes. Note the four domains in order — leotun.com → 7d24hrs.com → 7x24btc.com → anyfq.com — which carry identical content and the same account, so if one fails you try the next. Note the support email and join at least one support group. Details are in How to reach us and never lose contact.

One LeoTun account has six connection methods: router, OpenVPN, Cisco (AnyConnect), Hiddify, web proxy and private network (Tailscale). A short trip needs only a few of them, chosen by device.

• iPhone and iPad: start with Cisco. The client is Cisco’s own Cisco Secure Client; you enter an address, a username and a password, with nothing to import. Add Hiddify as the second method: install it from the App Store, then scan a QR code on this site. See VPN on iPhone.
• Android: the Cisco and Hiddify installers both download straight from this site, with no app store involved. Google Play does not open on mainland networks without a working route, so install before you leave. See VPN on Android.
• Your own laptop: install Hiddify or Cisco, and preferably both. See VPN for Windows and Mac.
• A company laptop: with no admin rights, or with a corporate VPN already running, use the web-proxy extension. It covers the browser only and leaves the system’s network settings alone.
• Many devices or a long stay: consider a router, so that everything on its Wi‑Fi takes the route automatically. See Using a travel router in China.

• Hotel, airport and café Wi‑Fi: finish the browser login page first, then start the route. A client set to auto-connect tries before that login and fails; reconnect by hand once. These networks often restrict UDP. Cisco runs over TLS and looks like a visit to an ordinary HTTPS site, which makes it the steadiest choice in a hotel.
• Mobile data on a local SIM: it is managed the same way as local broadband, so you need the route. The same region often behaves differently on Wi‑Fi and on mobile data, so test each. On a weak signal with heavy packet loss, Hiddify is usually faster.
• Roaming on your home SIM, or a travel eSIM: roaming data normally travels back to the issuing carrier’s network before it reaches the internet, so many sites that fail on local networks open on roaming without a VPN. How this works depends on the product you bought, and the data is expensive or capped. Its best use is as a fallback: when the VPN will not connect, roaming data gets you to an installer or to support. The trade-offs are in eSIM or VPN for China.
• Phone hotspot: when the laptop cannot connect on hotel Wi‑Fi, join the phone’s hotspot and try again. It is the quickest way to tell a hotel-network problem from a route problem.

1. Join the network. On hotel Wi‑Fi, finish the login page first.
2. Open the Cisco client and connect. If it fails, try another saved region, then switch to Hiddify.
3. Choose a region. Go by carrier first, then by the red, yellow and green load lights on the region list, taking a green one. 8–11 pm is the evening peak, and switching to a green region then helps more than reconnecting. The by-carrier starting points are in Which region is fastest from inside China.
4. Open everything you depend on once: mail, maps, messaging, video. The common ones each have a guide: Google, WhatsApp and YouTube.
5. Local apps for payment, maps and ride-hailing need no route and are fastest on the direct connection. Disconnect when you are done with the route, or switch the Hiddify client to its auto split mode.

• A second connection method: Hiddify beside Cisco on the phone, plus the web proxy on the laptop.
• A second network: some roaming data or a local SIM beside the hotel Wi‑Fi.
• Two or three saved region addresses: one region’s entry being interfered with is common, and another region usually connects.
• A contact route that works with no VPN: the QQ group is the only one of the three support groups that opens inside China without a route. If you do not use QQ, keep the support email address and have a mailbox that opens on mainland networks (Gmail does not open there without a route).

1. Change network: Wi‑Fi to mobile data, or the reverse. Interference differs between networks.
2. Change method: Hiddify, the private network and OpenVPN use UDP, so when they fail switch to Cisco; if whole-device methods keep dropping, switch to the web proxy.
3. Change region. On smaller carriers, or when cross-border links are unstable, choose the China entry region.
4. Check two basics: that the account has not expired, and that the device clock is right (turn on automatic time).
5. Then contact support with four things in one message: the connection method, the region, the error text or a screenshot, and the time it happened. An AI assistant answers in the support groups around the clock; refunds and billing are handled by a person. For the China-specific checks in order, see VPN not working in China.