This is about how to set up the OpenVPN client on your Android phone with step-by-step instructions.
Step 1: Find following 3 files on your OpenVPN server and copy to your Android phone
/etc/easy-rsa/easyrsa3/pki/ca.crt /etc/easy-rsa/easyrsa3/pki/issued/android.crt /etc/easy-rsa/easyrsa3/pki/private/android.key
Step 2: Create an OpenVPN client config file e.g. android.ovpn on your Android phone. Following is an example.
# Specify that we are a client and that we # will be pulling certain config file directives # from the server. ;tls-client client # Use the same setting as you are using on # the server. # On most systems, the VPN will not function # unless you partially or fully disable # the firewall for the TUN/TAP interface. ;dev tap dev tun # Windows needs the TAP-Windows adapter name # from the Network Connections panel # if you have more than one. On XP SP2, # you may need to disable the firewall # for the TAP adapter. ;dev-node MyTap # Are we connecting to a TCP or # UDP server? Use the same setting as # on the server. proto udp4 # The hostname/IP and port of the server. # You can have multiple remote entries # to load balance between the servers. remote ec2-1-2-3-4.x.compute.amazonaws.com 1194 # Choose a random host from the remote # list for load-balancing. Otherwise # try hosts in the order specified. ;remote-random # Keep trying indefinitely to resolve the # host name of the OpenVPN server. Very useful # on machines which are not permanently connected # to the internet such as laptops. resolv-retry infinite # Most clients don't need to bind to # a specific local port number. nobind # Downgrade privileges after initialization (non-Windows only) user nobody group nobody # Try to preserve some state across restarts. persist-key persist-tun # If you are connecting through an # HTTP proxy to reach the actual OpenVPN # server, put the proxy server/IP and # port number here. See the man page # if your proxy server requires # authentication. ;http-proxy-retry # retry on connection failures ;http-proxy [proxy server] [proxy port #] # Wireless networks often produce a lot # of duplicate packets. Set this flag # to silence duplicate packet warnings. mute-replay-warnings # SSL/TLS parms. # See the server config file for more # description. It's best to use # a separate .crt/.key file pair # for each client. A single ca # file can be used for all clients. ca ca.crt cert android.crt key android.key # Verify server certificate by checking # that the certicate has the nsCertType # field set to "server". This is an # important precaution to protect against # a potential attack discussed here: # http://openvpn.net/howto.html#mitm # # To use this feature, you will need to generate # your server certificates with the nsCertType # field set to "server". The build-key-server # script in the easy-rsa folder will do this. ;ns-cert-type server # If a tls-auth key is used on the server # then every client must also have the key. ;tls-auth ta.key 1 # Select a cryptographic cipher. # If the cipher option is used on the server # then you must also specify it here. cipher AES-256-CBC # Enable compression on the VPN link. # Don't enable this unless it is also # enabled in the server config file. ;compress # Set log file verbosity. verb 3 # Silence repeating messages ;mute 20
Step 3: Put ca.crt, android.crt, android.key and android.ovpn in the same folder on Android phone, i.e. /ovpn
Step 4: Install OpenVPN Connect by OpenVPN from Google Play
Step 5: Launch OpenVPN Connect on your Android phone and import android.ovpn by “Import Profile from SD Card”
Step 6: Enjoy safer Internet on your Android phone!
Are you also looking for the instructions for the server? No worries. Check this out - Build your private OpenVPN server on Amazon AWS.