Always-On VPN Configuration Profile Causes iOS 26.1 Onboarding Failure

[jordan-ivpn]

Bug report

Describe your environment

Platform: iOS 26.1
Device: iPhone 14 Pro
IVPN Version: 2.12.5 (5)

Describe the problem

When an iPhone with IVPN's always-on VPN configuration profile updates to iOS 26.1, the device becomes stuck during the post-update onboarding process and cannot complete setup.

Root Cause:

Always-on VPN profile loads on device boot (as designed)
VPN connects successfully
iOS onboarding requires Find My service authentication to proceed
Apple's Find My servers block/reject VPN connections during authentication
User cannot access Settings to disable VPN during onboarding
Setup process hangs indefinitely

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install IVPN with always-on configuration
2. Update iPhone to iOS 26.1 via Recovery Mode (preserves profiles)
3. Device reboots to onboarding
4. WiFi connection never completes during setup
5. User is locked out

Observed Results:

Complete device lockout after iOS update - cannot complete onboarding without removing device from Find My via external method (iCloud.com)

Recommendation:

Document this issue for users and recommend one of:

Temporarily disable always-on VPN before major iOS updates
Use on-demand VPN instead of always-on to avoid boot-time loading
Provide clear instructions for users stuck in this state (remove from Find My via iCloud.com)

Additional Notes:

This appears to be an Apple infrastructure issue (Find My blocking VPN)
Same blocking behavior affects iOS update downloads
Issue may affect other always-on VPN providers on iOS 26.1

[github-actions]

This issue is stale because it has been open 60 days with no activity.