Enlyzr

MyActiveTask

Start your VPN when you leave home Wi-Fi

MyActiveTask turns where your phone is and what it is connected to into actions. When you leave your home Wi-Fi, it can knock on your own server, start your VPN and check that the tunnel works. When you get home, it switches the VPN off again. An automation is a set of conditions plus two lists of steps: one runs when the conditions become true, the other when they stop being true. No root, no account, no cloud.

Coming soon to Google PlayUser guidePrivacy policy

For Android 10 and newer. Free, with no ads and nothing to buy.

Editing the automation VPN away from home: its live status says inactive, with a cross at On an untrusted network (now HomeNet, trusted) and a tick at Has internet, and the first step on enter is a knock on the target Home gateway.
  • 18
    kinds of condition, from the Wi-Fi name to an MQTT message
  • 15
    kinds of action step, from a port knock to a webhook
  • 5
    ready-made automations to start from
  • 11
    live values to put into a message, such as the Wi-Fi name

What it does

  • VPN away from home, without an open port

    fwknop Single Packet Authorization: one encrypted, authenticated packet opens your server's VPN port for your phone only. To everyone else the port stays closed. The app builds the packet itself, and fwknop settings can be imported from a QR code.

  • OpenVPN, started and checked

    Starts and stops profiles in OpenVPN for Android and waits until the tunnel is up. It knocks again when you switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data. An optional health probe, a host reachable only through the tunnel, catches a VPN that says connected but carries nothing, and reconnects it.

  • 18 kinds of condition

    Wi-Fi network, trusted or untrusted network, connection type, working internet, battery, charging, a Bluetooth device such as your car, time of day and weekdays, a geofence, screen and lock state, a device on your home network, an MQTT message, another automation being active. Combine them in AND and OR groups.

  • 15 kinds of action

    SPA knock, VPN, wait until, HTTP request for webhooks such as Home Assistant or n8n, open a URL or play a stream, MQTT publish, Wake-on-LAN, ringer and Do Not Disturb, torch on, off or blinking, media keys, launch an app, wireless debugging, delay and notification. Text fields can carry live values such as the Wi-Fi name.

  • See why it did what it did

    Each condition shows its current value and whether it matches. A simulator answers would this activate on another Wi-Fi without running anything. Run an automation or one step on demand, let a connection check test each link of the VPN chain, and read on the Status screen what fired, when and why.

  • Built to keep running

    A change counts only after it has held for a few seconds, so the edge of your Wi-Fi does not switch the VPN on and off. Cooldown and run-once options limit repeats, a watchdog restarts the service if it stops, and it starts again after a reboot.

  • Within reach

    A master switch, two Quick Settings tiles, a pause of one hour for everything, buttons in the notification and shortcuts on the app icon. If you allow it, Tasker or an NFC tag app can start an automation with a secret token.

  • Templates and backups

    Five ready-made automations to start from, such as VPN on untrusted Wi-Fi or silence at night. Back up everything to one file, protected with a passphrase if you like, or share a single automation without its keys.

  • Your settings stay on your phone

    No account and no ads, and nothing is sent to the developer. Automations, server keys and passwords are encrypted on the phone with the Android Keystore and stay out of Android's backup. The app connects only to the servers, webhooks and MQTT brokers you set up.

A look at the app

  • The main screen: the master switch with all automations active, the button New from template, and the automations VPN away from home, Home: wireless debugging, Office: Do Not Disturb and Car: play radio, each with its conditions and steps counted, a switch and its state.
    Your automations, each with its state
  • Editing VPN away from home: a live status with a cross at On an untrusted network (now HomeNet, trusted) and a tick at Has internet, the two conditions, a button to add an OR group, and the first step on enter, Knock on Home gateway.
    Live status: which condition holds, and why
  • The Status screen: service running, the network HomeNet with internet, VPN unknown, the VPN health probe idle with its reason, the active automation, buttons Connect VPN and Stop VPN, and a list of what was triggered recently and why.
    Status: what fired, when and why
  • The condition simulator's results for a café Wi-Fi: VPN away from home would activate, and Home: wireless debugging, Office: Do Not Disturb, Car: play radio and Night silence would not, each with the condition that decides it.
    Would it activate? The simulator answers
  • An automation's editor after Run enter now: the last test run lists both steps, wireless debugging on and a notification, each with a tick, and sequence complete; below it the buttons Run exit now and Diagnose connection.
    Run it now and see each step's result
  • The Add step dialog with the 15 kinds of step: SPA knock, VPN, Launch app, Open URL, Delay, Wait until, Notify, HTTP, Wake-on-LAN, Audio/DND, Torch, Blink torch, Media, MQTT publish and Wireless debug, with the target Home gateway picked.
    Fifteen kinds of step
  • Editing the SPA target Home gateway: buttons Scan QR and QR image, the host gw.example.net, SPA port 62201, access string udp/1194, the allowed-IP choice Source, Resolve or Explicit with an explanation, and the user name.
    An fwknop target, also from a QR code
  • The New from template dialog: VPN on untrusted Wi-Fi, VPN off trusted networks, Do-Not-Disturb at work, Wake my NAS at home and Silence at night, each with a one-line description.
    Five templates to start from

Good to know

  • VPN steps need the free app OpenVPN for Android (not OpenVPN Connect) and a VPN server of your own. SPA knocking needs an fwknop server. Everything else works without either.
  • Android lets apps read the Wi-Fi name in the background only with location set to "Allow all the time". Location is used on the phone to check your conditions.
  • Turning wireless debugging on and off needs a one-time adb command, which the app shows you.
  • The app is in English. It runs on Android 10 and newer.

OpenVPN is a registered trademark of OpenVPN Inc. MyActiveTask is an independent app and is not affiliated with OpenVPN Inc., or with the authors of OpenVPN for Android or fwknop.

Questions and answers

What do I need for the VPN part?

The separate app OpenVPN for Android (not OpenVPN Connect) with your profile imported into it, and an OpenVPN server to connect to. For port knocking the server must also run fwknopd, the server program of fwknop. Everything else works without either; the MQTT condition and action need an MQTT broker.

What is port knocking, and why would I want it?

A server that answers on its VPN port can be found by anybody who scans the internet. With fwknop the server's firewall keeps the port closed until it receives one packet that is encrypted and signed with keys only you and the server have; then it opens the port for your phone's address. MyActiveTask sends that packet just before it starts the VPN.

Does it need root?

No. It runs on an ordinary phone with Android 10 or newer. One action needs more than a tap on the phone: switching wireless debugging needs a permission that you grant once from a computer with adb. Setup shows the command.

Why does it ask for location "all the time"?

Android shows the name of the connected Wi-Fi only to apps with the location permission, and while the app is closed only with "Allow all the time". Without it the app could not notice that you came home. Your position itself is read only while an automation has a condition for a place.

Does it keep working after the phone restarts?

Yes, if the automation service was switched on. It starts again after a restart of the phone and after an update of the app, and automations that still apply run their on-enter actions again, so the VPN comes back. Some phone makers stop background apps eagerly; Setup shows what to allow.

What does the app know about me, and who gets it?

Your automations, your server keys and a history of the last 50 events are stored encrypted on the phone and are not part of Android's backup. The app has no account and no advertising and sends nothing to Enlyzr. It talks to the servers you enter; the few exceptions, among them Google's QR code scanner, are listed in the privacy policy.

What does it cost?

Nothing. MyActiveTask is free. There is nothing to buy in the app, no subscription and no advertisements.

Coming to Google Play

MyActiveTask is not listed on Google Play yet. This page will carry the link as soon as it is.

Coming soon to Google Play

Questions or feedback: enlyzr@gmail.com