URnetwork
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Getting started

Getting started on iPhone and iPad

4 min readView as markdown ↗

This guide takes you from the App Store to connected, in about five minutes. It covers install, sign-in, permissions, connecting, and where to get help. For every screen and setting, read the iOS tour.

URnetwork uses member-run exit devices. Providers do not receive your source IP on relayed paths. Native apps also encrypt traffic to the provider by default. Read How URnetwork works for the full model.

What you need

URnetwork runs on any iPhone or iPad with iOS 16.6 or later. Signing up needs no email, and the free tier needs no card.

Install

  1. Open the App Store and search for URnetwork, or go directly to apps.apple.com/us/app/urnetwork/id6741000606.
  2. Tap Get. The same listing covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Install once and use it on all three.
  3. Open the app.

Third-party security assessments, and their limits, are covered in the threat model.

Sign in

The app opens on the sign-in options. Pick the identity model you are comfortable with:

  • Apple or Google. The familiar one-tap paths.
  • Solana wallet. Approve a message signature with your wallet. No email involved.
  • Bittensor wallet. The same idea, through the ur.io/wallet-connect bridge.
  • Seedphrase. Sign back in with the recovery phrase an Instant Account gave you. It is URnetwork's own phrase. The wallet options above sign a challenge message, so URnetwork never sees a wallet's key or recovery words, and no URnetwork screen will ever ask for them.
  • Auth code. Already signed in on another device? Generate a one-time auth code there and enter it here.
  • Create Account. The classic email or phone path.
  • Create Instant Account. No email, no phone, no password. One tap makes a real, permanent network. Instead of a login it hands you a seedphrase: a list of words, shown once, that is the credential. Save it before you tap I've Saved My Seedphrase. Only a hash of it is stored, so nobody can show you those words again. Still signed in but lost the paper? Account → Settings → Seedphrase issues a new one and retires the old.

The Instant Account is the fastest path if you are just evaluating. Whichever you pick, you can attach a familiar sign-in later without losing anything. Every network starts on the free tier, a daily data allowance that refreshes each day. Spend it and the app says Insufficient balance until the next refresh. Nothing is charged, because there is no card on file. Pro replaces the free tier with a large monthly allowance. Current plans: ur.io/products.

The VPN permission

The first time you connect, iOS asks for permission to add a VPN configuration. This is the operating system speaking, not the app. The tunnel runs as a system network extension, and iOS requires your approval before any app can route your traffic. Tap Allow and confirm with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode.

You approve the configuration once. Afterwards it lives in Settings → General → VPN & Device Management like any other VPN profile. Tapped Don't Allow? Nothing was installed. Tap the connect button again and iOS asks again.

For what URnetwork records about your connections, read the threat model.

Connect

  1. On the Connect tab, tap the big connect button under the globe.
  2. On your first connect, approve the VPN configuration above.
  3. The app finds providers and connects. The globe lights up with the locations your traffic is exiting from.

Choose a location

By default the app chooses best available: the highest-scored providers near you. That is the right choice for most sessions.

To choose where your traffic exits:

  1. Tap the location card on the Connect tab to open the Available providers sheet.
  2. Scroll for countries, or type to search. Cities appear only in search results, so type a city's name to find it.
  3. Tap a location. The app reconnects through providers there.

Each place shows a live count of providers online. Providers are member devices, not datacenters, so counts rise and fall with the time of day. The overview explains the path your traffic takes. The tour explains the connection settings and their trade-offs.

Confirm it works

The globe on the Connect tab lights up with the locations your traffic exits from. To check from outside the app, open ur.io/ip. It reports the address the internet now sees, which should be a provider's rather than yours.

If something fails

The Support tab in the app reaches the team at feedback.ur.io. The tour ends with a troubleshooting section for common iOS issues. The FAQ answers common questions.

What next

  • Take the tour. Every screen and setting: custom DNS, split rules, Siri shortcuts, the kill switch (off by default), and troubleshooting.
  • Share your connection. Provide mode starts at Never, in Account → Settings → Connections. Network keeps sharing to your own devices. It shares on Wi-Fi unless you also allow cellular. Providers participate in the UR protocol; ur.xyz documents how rewards work.
  • Same app, bigger screen: macOS.
  • Try another platform: Android, Windows, Linux, and the browser.