Must turn "Block connections without VPN" off to update Google Play apps

Support
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1

Hello,
to make posting more easy, we created a guideline for you:
Please always include which platform you are on: Android or iOS. If you have a question about features feel welcome to ask it - if you face a problem, please follow this template:

Title: please select a meaningful title!
e.g. Blokada for Android doesn’t block ads in my-little-farm-animals app

To directly help you the best way possible please provide the following information:

  1. Where did you download Blokada from? - Google Play, Blokada 6
  2. Which device do you use? Do you use a custom ROM? Do you know which OS version you are using? - No cumtom ROMs, all default Samsung S10 or S24 Ultra ROMS
  3. Please explain the issue as detailed as possible. Also include patterns you observed (like ‘it only happens on wifi’). The more information the better. - I must deactivate “Block connections without VPN” in order for the Google Play app to see that I am online and update apps.
  4. Since when are you facing this issue? - Since switching to Blokada 6
  5. Did you already try to solve the issue somehow? If so: please state what you did. - Yes, after I added com.google.android.gms, com.android.vending, and play.google.com to the Blokada 6 Exceptions list, reactivated Block connections, turned Blokada 6 off then on again, restarted Google Play and it still tells me that I am offline.

The only way I am able to update my Google Play apps is with Blokada 6 is by turning off “Block connections without VPN.”

But I can update apps from the Samsung store or F-Droid with not needing to edit Blokada.

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you! :smiley:

2

Hi,
thank you for reporting this issue. At this point, unfortunately, I won’t be able to offer you a solution, but I have forwarded it to the rest of the team, and we will work on a fix. I will keep you posted on the progress.

3

It appears that this is also affecting text and RCS messaging in Google Messages app (messages.android_20250225_00_RC03.phone_samsung_dynamic).

With “Block connections without VPN” active, Google Messages shows, “Waiting to connect.” after sending a message.

Then I receive a notification, “Message not sent - Check your conversations with ‘Name’ for sending options.”

Check Options offers that I should turn Data on, but it’s already on, or change to SMS text messaging, but want to use RCS messaging.

As soon as I inactivate Block connections without VPN, the message is sent and all prior unreceived messages start coming in.

4

Thank you for additional info. We will release a fix in the next update that we hope should solve this issue. We are waiting for approval from Google.

1 Like
5

The Blokada update downloaded through Google Play today appears to have resolved the issues with Google Play updates and RCS messages in Google Messages. Thank you!

6

Thanks again for reporting this issue :wink: