Norton VPN not working or not connecting? What to check on your device

Switch your protocol first, turn on Mimic if you're on a network with blocking, and only then contact support. Almost every check depends on the system the app runs on.

Protocols differ by platform

Norton offers OpenVPN only in its Windows and Android apps; on Mac and iPhone you get IKEv2/IPsec instead. If the connection keeps hanging, switch the protocol manually: it's faster than reinstalling. There are no files for manual setup, so you can't move the connection to a third-party client or a router, and there's no Linux app either.

The network blocks VPN

In a hotel, an office, or a country with filtering, regular VPN traffic gets identified and cut off. Norton's only answer is Mimic, its own protocol with built-in obfuscation, and it is the one feature behind the service's 1.9 out of 10 in our censorship bypass sub-index. Mimic runs on Windows, Mac, and Android; iOS is missing from that list. If filtering is a regular issue for you, check out VPNs with traffic obfuscation.

Connected, but sites won't load

• The kill switch cuts off your internet until the tunnel is back up. Change your location: in the US, Norton lists 25 cities across 18 states.
• Split tunneling (Windows, Mac, Android) lets selected apps bypass the VPN. Check your exclusions list.
• A browser ad blocker on your computer can break pages: disable it for this site.
• Device limit: 5 on Standard and Plus, 10 on Ultimate.
• The Fire TV app needs Fire OS 8 or newer.

Where to get help

Norton does not publish a server status page, so you won't know about an outage on its side in advance. Support chat runs around the clock. In the US, there's a phone line at 844-488-4540, and standard fixes are listed in Norton's help center. Similar cases with other services are collected in our section on VPNs that stopped working.