Install SocketFlip

Download SocketFlip 1.16 (APK)How to install

Android 10 or newer. Under 150 KB. No internet permission. Not on the Play Store, here is why, and why that is fine.

This walks through installing SocketFlip from GitHub and setting it up. It takes about two minutes. SocketFlip needs Android 10 or newer.

You will see some warnings along the way, including one about "monitoring network traffic". They are normal for any app installed this way; the warnings, explained says why each one appears.

Phone makers word their screens slightly differently. Where a step says "something like", look for the nearest match.

1. Download

1. On your phone, open https://github.com/socketflip-app/socketflip/releases/latest.
2. Under Assets, tap the .apk file (named socketflip-<version>.apk, for example socketflip-1.6.apk).
3. If your browser warns that "this type of file can harm your device", tap Download anyway. Every APK download gets this warning.

2. Allow your browser to install apps

Android blocks installs from anywhere other than the Play Store until you allow it once, per app.

1. Open the downloaded file (from the download notification, or your Files app).
2. Android says something like "For your security, your phone is not allowed to install unknown apps from this source". Tap Settings.
3. Turn on Allow from this source, then go back.
4. Tap Install.

You can turn that switch off again afterwards; SocketFlip stays installed.

3. Google Play Protect

On most phones Google Play Protect checks apps installed from outside the Play Store. SocketFlip is new and is not on the Play Store, so Play Protect has never seen it and may say one of these:

• "Send app for security check?" Either choice is fine. Tapping Send helps Google learn the app.
• "App scan recommended": tap Scan app. It should come back clean.
• "Unsafe app blocked": tap More details, then Install anyway.

SocketFlip has no internet permission and sends nothing anywhere, and the whole source is published in this repository. If you want to be sure the file is the genuine one, see How do I check the APK is genuine?.

4. First run

1. Open SocketFlip.
2. Tap + Add app and pick the app you want to reconnect. Type in the search box to find it quickly; apps that Android knows are games are listed first.

3. Tap the big Show floating button button. SocketFlip now asks for three things, one at a time (four on Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus and similar phones, and one more note if another VPN is on). After each one, come back to SocketFlip: it carries on by itself and says what comes next, until the button appears.

4. Display over other apps: Android opens a settings page. Turn SocketFlip on, then go back. If the switch is greyed out or says it is controlled by a restricted setting, see The "Display over other apps" switch is greyed out.

5. Notifications: tap Allow. The notification keeps the button alive and gives you Flip now and Stop buttons. If you refuse, the button still works, you just do not see the notification.
6. Connection request ("SocketFlip wants to set up a VPN connection"): SocketFlip first explains what is coming; tap Continue, then OK on Android's request. See Why does it need a VPN? for what this does and does not mean. If SocketFlip instead says another VPN app is set as Always-on, see that FAQ entry.
7. Only on Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus and similar phones: "Keep the button on screen?", then Android's own "Let app always run in background?". Tap Allow both times. These phones close background apps to save battery, which would make the button disappear.

8. Only if another VPN is on: a note that Android runs one VPN at a time, so SocketFlip's tunnel will switch the other one off. Tap Got it to carry on.

9. A round blue button appears on the left of the screen. Drag it anywhere.

5. Using it

• Open the app you chose, and when you want a clean reconnect, tap the button once. The app should drop its connection and reconnect within a second or two.
• The button is blue while SocketFlip's tunnel is down and teal while it is up. Both are fine: every tap switches it over, and either way is a reconnect.
• An amber ring around the button counts down the cooldown. Taps before it runs out are ignored, on purpose: a second disconnect while the app is still reconnecting can leave it stuck. An ignored tap gives a short "no" buzz and the ring pulses once (the buzz is Android 11 and later). The cooldown is 10 seconds; you can change it in Settings.
• A key icon appears in the status bar after the first tap and disappears after the next. That is normal: every tap switches SocketFlip's tunnel on or off, and both directions cause the reconnect.
• Your numbers on the main screen counts your reconnects (in total and this week) and any emergency restarts. The count stays on your phone; Share sends it as a line of text through any app you choose, and you see it before it goes.

Emergency restart (optional)

Very occasionally an app stays stuck on its reconnecting screen and needs a restart. Turn on Settings > Emergency restart: while the cooldown runs, the button turns into a red !, and tapping it asks "Restart (app name)?" with two big buttons, Restart and Cancel. It always asks first, so a stray tap never restarts anything; Back or a tap outside the question cancels. Press and hold only moves the button.

Following the target app (optional)

Two settings follow which app is on screen. Both need Usage access, which SocketFlip asks for when you turn one on:

• Only show the button while a ticked app is on screen hides the button everywhere else. The notification stays, so you can still stop it.
• Take the tunnel down when I leave the ticked apps removes the VPN key as soon as you switch away, so it does not linger or keep another VPN off.

Making it your own

Open Settings and scroll past Behaviour to Appearance. A preview there shows the button in every state as you change things.

• Skins is a row of ready-made looks. Swipe along it and tap one to use it.
• Customise has a colour picker for the button (tunnel down and tunnel up), the cooldown ring and the icon, a switch to mirror the arrow so it turns the other way, and sliders for size and for opacity, both while resting and just after a tap.
• Reset appearance to default undoes everything. It turns into Undo reset for a few seconds, in case you tapped it by mistake.

Other ways to trigger it

• Quick Settings tile: pull down the notification shade twice, tap the pencil (edit) icon, and drag the SocketFlip tile into your tiles.
• Notification: tap Flip now on SocketFlip's notification.
• Home screen: long-press the SocketFlip icon for Flip now, Show button and Hide button. Drag one out to make it an icon of its own.
• Automation apps (Tasker, MacroDroid, Key Mapper and similar): turn on Settings > Let other apps trigger a flip, tap Copy code under it, then have the app send a broadcast with action app.socketflip.FLIP (or app.socketflip.STOP to take the tunnel down) to package app.socketflip, with a string extra named token set to that code. Broadcasts without the right code are ignored, so other apps cannot trigger it. The floating button must be switched on. Key Mapper can use this to flip on a volume button press.

One tap to start

Under Target apps, tap Home screen shortcut (choose the app if you have more than one). Android asks to add it to your home screen. The icon is the app's own at full size (your home screen may add a small SocketFlip mark to it); tapping it shows the floating button and opens the app in one go. If something still needs allowing, SocketFlip opens instead, says so, and walks you through it; after that the shortcut works in one tap.

More than one app

Add as many apps as you like with + Add app. Every ticked app is reconnected by each tap, all at once; untick one to leave it alone without removing it. Each app has a Cooldown button, to give it its own cooldown, and a Remove button. With several apps ticked, the longest of their cooldowns applies.

Turning it off

• Tap Stop on the notification, or open SocketFlip and tap Hide floating button. Either one also removes the tunnel, so the phone is exactly as it was.

6. Updating

Download the new .apk from the releases page and install it over the top, the same way as step 2. Your settings are kept. Every release is signed with the same key, so Android accepts it as an update. If Android ever says the app "conflicts with an existing package", the file is not a genuine release; do not force it.

Once your copy is more than 30 days old, the About card on SocketFlip's main screen says so and Updates turns bold. SocketFlip works that out from Android's install date; it never checks online.

Tip: to be told about new releases automatically, add SocketFlip to Obtainium (see the README).

To give SocketFlip to a friend, tap Share SocketFlip on the main screen: it sends the app itself (the same signed file) or the download link.

7. Uninstalling

Long-press the SocketFlip icon, tap App info, then Uninstall. Nothing is left behind.