Unable to Connect OnlyCat to a New Wi-Fi Network While Using a VPN
Summary
If you’re having trouble connecting your OnlyCat to a new Wi-Fi network, an active VPN on your phone may prevent setup from completing.
This can happen with many popular VPN apps, including WireGuard, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN, Mullvad, Windscribe, and others.
Turning off the VPN temporarily usually resolves the issue.
What you may see
During Wi-Fi setup, the OnlyCat app may:
- Fail to complete the connection
- Ask you to retry multiple times
- Show the example error message:
{"code": 1010, "message": "bindProcessToNetwork failed."}
Even though:
- Your phone appears connected to the OnlyCat’s temporary Wi-Fi network
- Android indicates the Wi-Fi connection was successful
Why this happens
OnlyCat uses a temporary local Wi-Fi connection during setup.
Some VPN apps route all network traffic through the VPN while it is enabled. This can interfere with the local connection needed during setup, causing the process to fail even though the Wi-Fi connection itself appears to work.
This behaviour has been observed with several common VPN apps, including:
- WireGuard
- NordVPN
- ExpressVPN
- Surfshark
- Proton VPN
- Mullvad
- Windscribe
(Other VPNs may behave similarly.)
How to fix it
- Temporarily turn off the VPN on your phone.
- Run the OnlyCat Wi-Fi setup again.
- Once setup is complete, you can turn the VPN back on.
In most cases, the connection succeeds on the first attempt after disabling the VPN.
Good to know
- This does not indicate a problem with your OnlyCat device.
- Your home Wi-Fi network is not at fault.
- The VPN can be safely re-enabled after setup.
Still having trouble?
If you are still having trouble connecting your OnlyCat to a new Wi-Fi network after completing all steps above, please contact OnlyCat Support and include the following information:
- A brief description of what is happening
- The exact error message shown in the app (if any)
- Your phone model and operating system version
- Whether a VPN was enabled during setup
- Confirmation that setup was retried with the VPN disabled
Providing this information will help our support team diagnose the issue more quickly.
Updated on: 28/01/2026
Thank you!