this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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Hi, i'm looking for a VPN that:

  • is easily deployable via a docker-compose
  • has an Android App and it doesn't drain the battery too much
  • hides as regular HTTPS traffic so it's not blockable by Firewalls. (I don't need strong censorship resistance; it just has to work in offices and hotel WiFis.)
  • Bonus: A server like caddy can also accept HTTPS traffic for some regular websites next to the VPN server.

https://github.com/TrustTunnel/TrustTunnel sounds interesting, but the PR for docker compose was closed.

Do you know something else?

all 25 comments
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[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 6 points 8 hours ago

You can obfuscate Wireguard with a SOCKS proxy.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 11 hours ago

You can use stunnel to make your VPN look like HTTPS.

[–] black_flag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 10 hours ago
[–] meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Wireguard on a VPS and run it through port 443. That should get you through most things that don't do TLS inspection

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

So, not resistant to blocking

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 3 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I've run Wireguard on 443 (on my router) for exactly that purpose and never had a problem, even when my standard WG port was blocked by some businesses. I've since had to move to port 587 due to router conflicts and it's worked fine so far too.

The battery drain on Android is negligible (at least for my uses) and WG is activated by Tasker whenever my home wifi is out of range. From what I can see WG is configurable via Docker compose.

[–] hellmo_luciferrari@lemmy.zip 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Have you tried [https://github.com/zaneschepke/wgtunnel](WG Tunnel)

I use this WG client and it has options for auto-tunneling

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks for the link. Will take a look.

[–] hellmo_luciferrari@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 hours ago

I quite like the option! I do love tasker, but if i only need auto tunneling this does it quite well!

[–] iopq@lemmy.world -3 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Doesn't work in China, can be easily blocked by censors

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 5 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Who said anything about China?

OP: "I don’t need strong censorship resistance; it just has to work in offices and hotel WiFis."

[–] moonpiedumplings@programming.dev -1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Many of the prominent https VPN protocols are for evading the great firewall of China. OP had that as a requirement, so it is not an unreasonable assumption.

If you are evading less locked down firewalls, then you don't need as stealthy VPNs.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Many of the prominent https VPN protocols are for evading the great firewall of China. OP had that as a requirement

OP said exactly the opposite. Where the fuck do you get this stuff?

[–] moonpiedumplings@programming.dev -1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

hides as regular HTTPS traffic so it’s not blockable by Firewalls

From OP's post, of course. If OP does not need to evade firewalls that are that aggressive, then they should have settled for a less stealthy VPN solution, as many of these HTTPS proxy solutions have performance and usability (can often only proxy TCP traffic) tradeoffs.

Perhaps they have already tried the wireguard on port 443 solution, and it didn't work for them. My high school would auto detect and block wireguard to any port. Perhaps they are in a similar situation.

[–] sunbeam60@feddit.uk 1 points 10 hours ago

Most Chinese exits through port snooping. And you really need to be on a Chinese corp network to know - if you take your western mobile there they do very little blocking.

I’ve been fairly successful with most China corp networks letting me out and in to self-hosted WG server on port 123.

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

resistant to blocking?

That's going to be the sticky wicket right there. It is rather trivial for server admins to know what IPs go with VPNs and not. Wireguard is about the best thing on the planet right now, imho, but it will also get blocked. Occasionally, I will happen on a site that outright blocks me. If I can't bend the site to my will, I just move on. The information on the blocked site will 9 times out of 10 be found duplicated somewhere else.

One 'trick' I've found works fairly well is Opera. So, when I go to pay my bills online, my VPN coupled with the way I have Firefox configured, will trigger a block. I can fire up Opera, engage it's built in VPN, still keep my local VPN connected, and have no problem accessing my bills. It's not an elegant solution, and some users have preclusions to Opera. However, that generally works for me.

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Wireguard is not resistant to blocking, it is plain as day if you're using wireguard and china had blocked it for years

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

I sort of said as much. It really doesn't matter, imho, what you use. As soon as that service becomes abused globally, everyone blocks it, including Tor. Any server using DPI or TLS will spot it a mile away. Now, if you have a fool proof way, than I am very much ready to be educated.

[–] Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyz 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the Web
HTTPS HTTP over SSL
IP Internet Protocol
SSL Secure Sockets Layer, for transparent encryption
TCP Transmission Control Protocol, most often over IP
TLS Transport Layer Security, supersedes SSL
VPN Virtual Private Network
VPS Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting)

[Thread #171 for this comm, first seen 16th Mar 2026, 17:30] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

[–] moonpiedumplings@programming.dev 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

It's not quite a VPN, but it is very resistant against blocking:

https://programming.dev/comment/22662028

[–] pr3d@eviltoast.org 1 points 11 hours ago

ok, not what i've been looking for, but they provide a docker-compose.yaml. Looks simple

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

Use xray. I suggest the REALITY + XHTTP setup where you look like another h2 server

You can docker compose your panel for managing your server, get a free subdomain from afraid.org and set up tls on it

I use the v2rayng mobile app since I don't switch servers much, I only have two

[–] pr3d@eviltoast.org 0 points 11 hours ago (1 children)
[–] moonpiedumplings@programming.dev 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Yes because they are all designed to evade the great firewall of China, which automatically catches almost all other VPN's and proxies.

Github is blocked in China. The fact that these repos are on Github and Chinese is proof of their effectiveness.