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Mr_Ed

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 10, 2004
851
1,083
North and east of Mickeyland
Is there a way to turn on VPN the does not require switching to settings app? I figured surely our “digital assistant“ could handle that, but apparently not. I’m not even talking about some 3rd party VPN app, I mean the built-in VPN in iOS.

It seems especially silly when you consider I can ask Siri on my iPad to turn off WiFi and it will happily comply even though Siri is effectively committing suicide with that action.
 

Lex404

macrumors 6502
Sep 15, 2023
264
451
PL (&US, JP)
In the built in IOS VPN you have both built in settings or apps

It should look like this, when you press VPN you select the VPN setting you want to automate
 

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Mr_Ed

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 10, 2004
851
1,083
North and east of Mickeyland
No dice. There is nothing for VPN under Scripting/Network, and nothing related to VPN in the available actions for the “Settings” app. I’m currently running iOS 16. Maybe it was added in 17?
 

Mr_Ed

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 10, 2004
851
1,083
North and east of Mickeyland
So, Siri refuses to do anything with VPN, even with a shortcut in Shortcuts. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised Siri is still little more than a glorified search engine :rolleyes:
 

Lex404

macrumors 6502
Sep 15, 2023
264
451
PL (&US, JP)
Strange. My Siri connects to VPN.

You need to name the shortcut as “connect to VPN” if that’s what you tell Siri.

To disconnect, duplicate the shortcut and create one with Disconnect from and named it accordingly
 

Lex404

macrumors 6502
Sep 15, 2023
264
451
PL (&US, JP)
So make sure you name the shortcut as you want to tell Siri the action.

I’m using hotspot shield but the Setup VPN is an IOS action and you should be able to select any VPN setting that appears in Settings>VPN

 

Mr_Ed

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 10, 2004
851
1,083
North and east of Mickeyland
So make sure you name the shortcut as you want to tell Siri the action.

I’m using hotspot shield but the Setup VPN is an IOS action and you should be able to select any VPN setting that appears in Settings>VPN

View attachment 2297220
You nailed it! I was asking Siri using the name of the shortcut as it was created, which did not work for me. Renaming it as you suggested works.

Thank you again. Really appreciate the assist.
 
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