We rebuilt our mobile app this spring. Here's what changed.
A note from inside the design team. Why we threw out two years of UI, what we replaced it with, and the hard choices we made about what to leave on the cutting room floor.
Inside Pocket VPNWe shipped a new version of the Pocket VPN mobile app this April. It is the first major redesign since 2024. Here is what changed and why.
The brief
Our member surveys had been telling us the same thing for eighteen months. Two complaints kept coming up: "I can't find the server I want" and "the app feels heavy." Neither was a bug. Both were design problems.
The brief we wrote ourselves: "the app should feel like a single-tap utility, not a console for a system administrator."
What we threw out
- Twenty-three settings that 0.4% of members ever touched. They are still configurable via deep-link URL for the people who want them.
- A pop-up educational walkthrough on first launch. We replaced it with a quiet bottom-sheet hint that disappears the second you tap connect.
- Three colors from the palette. The old app had eight; the new one has five.
What we kept
The world map. Almost everyone we talked to had the same mental model — "this big green dot is where I am, that smaller dot is where I want to be." We refused to flatten that into a list, even when it would have been easier.
The kill-switch indicator. It now sits in the status header so it's visible from any screen.
What we added
Smart Auto-Connect
Picks a nearby, fast server and the connection type that suits your network. Default-on for new members, opt-in for returners.
A bottom sheet that learns
The bottom sheet on the map screen now adapts to the time of day and your usage. In the morning it shows the city you used last; at night it shows the city you use most. Subtle. We will probably keep iterating here.
What we got wrong
The first beta had bottom-nav icons that were too clever — abstract symbols nobody could parse. We replaced them with literal icons in the second beta. Lesson re-learned: cute is not the same as clear.
A note on the colors
We moved from a darker brand purple to a lighter, more lavender palette. The old purple looked great in mockups against pure black, but our app has always lived in light mode for legibility — and the darker purple felt aggressive against white. The lavender breathes.
You're looking at it on this site too. The website now uses the same palette as the app. They are extensions of each other, not separate places.
Free to use. Premium when you want it.
Same purple tile cards you see on this page, plus the green lock and a low-ping connection.
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