Support for Android?

[chmuhammadasim]

Hello,

I am trying to build a mobile application using React native that can connect to lightway server but I am not sure how to do that. I have read the documentation but I was not able to find the answer. I want to build .so file that I can connect with react native. These are the things that I tried.

• Building .so using lightway-core but the supported build is only for [linux|macos|windows].
• I tried to use lightway-client as well but I am not able to build the rust files in order to use them in the project using JNI etc.

In lightway repository inside lightway-app-utils and lightway-client code, I have seen multiple places where we are disabling the mobile like

#[cfg(mobile)]
Err(std::io::Error::from(std::io::ErrorKind::Unsupported))

Can you guys tell me what am I doing wrong? Also, Is it supported on mobile or is it there only for desktop for now?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[kp-mariappan-ramasamy]

Hello @chmuhammadasim

Thanks for trying lightway-client with react-native.
Android and iOS as opposed to desktop platforms, is little different and unique in how the VPN is handled.

For Android, you need to go through this Android documentation to understand how VPN works:
https://developer.android.com/develop/connectivity/vpn

The VPN service mentioned in the above documentation will be the app which integrates with rust lightway client.

Building .so using lightway-core but the supported build is only for [linux|macos|windows]

This just means we officially support the above platforms, with the reference implementation available in this repo.
We do not have any reference Android app at the moment.

Allow us sometime, we will see whether we can put a short guide or PR on how to compile for Android platform.
It should give you enough pointers to get started.

[chmuhammadasim]

Hello @kp-mariappan-ramasamy

Thank you for the detailed explanation and for clarifying the current platform support.

I’ve gone through the Android VPN documentation and implemented the VPNService-based approach as suggested. I’m able to successfully create the tunnel.

However, when integrating the Rust lightway client logic for android, I’m facing a consistent issue during the handshake phase:

• The VPN service starts correctly
• The tunnel/interface is created successfully
• The connection attempt reaches the server
• ❌ The Lightway handshake fails and the session is never fully established

This works as expected when connecting to the same Lightway server from Linux using the official client, so the server configuration itself seems correct.

Based on my investigation, it appears the missing piece is how the Android VPNService lifecycle, socket protection and the Lightway client’s networking layer should be correctly wired together. The Android VPN documentation covers tunnel creation and routing, but it doesn’t provide enough guidance on how to integrate a custom Rust-based VPN protocol client in a way that satisfies the handshake and socket requirements.

Since there is currently no reference Android implementation, it’s difficult to determine:

• How Lightway expects the transport layer to be initialized on Android
• Whether any Android-specific constraints (MTU, DNS, routing, socket protection) are required for a successful handshake

I am waiting for Android support, or some technical guide, I’m happy to experiment.