Guides: Five Steps to Cross-Border Access

Create an account

Sign-up lives inside the user dashboard. Click Log in at the top right of the page and switch to sign-up below the login form — or hit the Start Free button on this page to jump straight there. One thing to get straight first: the marketing pages introduce the service, while signing up, ordering and grabbing your subscription all happen in the user dashboard, so the next few steps all take place in the same spot.

The sign-up form asks for just two things — a username and a password. No email address is required, so there's no verification email to wait for and no code to enter; fill it in and you're straight into the dashboard. Use a mix of letters and numbers for your username and keep it a reasonable length — it doubles as your dashboard login and your account ID in the client. Make the password as long as you can, ideally mixing upper and lower case letters with numbers.

Once you submit, you're signed in automatically and land on the Account Overview page, where your username and current plan status appear at the top. Your account has no data allowance yet, so head to the next step and pick a plan. Since no email is required at sign-up, keep your username and password somewhere safe — that pair is what you'll use to log in to the dashboard and set up the client.

One account works on as many devices as you like, with no device limit. Phones, laptops, tablets and desktops can all share the same subscription — no separate account per device, and no kicking each other offline.

Choose a plan and check out

After logging in, open the Buy a Plan section of the dashboard, where three monthly tiers are listed: ¥9.9/month with 60GB, ¥18/month with 250GB, and ¥28/month with 500GB. Data resets every month on your activation date, and unused data doesn't roll over, so pick the tier that matches your typical monthly usage — 60GB if you mostly look things up and check email, 250GB if you stream daily and run a few AI tools at once, 500GB if several devices at home share the connection and you watch a lot of 4K.

If your usage swings up and down, add a data pack: ¥158/300GB, ¥358/1000GB, ¥658/3000GB. Data packs last until you use them up and never expire — they don't reset with your monthly billing cycle, which makes them a good top-up. The split is simple: the monthly plan covers everyday use, and data packs cover your heavy months.

Checkout supports Alipay, WeChat and USDT. Pick your tier, hit checkout and follow the on-screen prompts to pay. Once payment goes through, the order status changes from Pending to Active and your data is credited right away — the overview page shows the expiry date and remaining allowance. If you want to move up to a bigger tier later, the price difference is converted into extra days on the new plan, so you don't have to wait for the next cycle and buy again.

Not sure which tier to pick? Starting with the smallest one for a month is perfectly fine: upgrade whenever you need more data, and what you've already paid is converted into remaining days, so nothing goes to waste. Every plan comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, which makes trying first and deciding later a lot easier.

Get your subscription link

Once payment is done, go back to the Account Overview in your dashboard. It has a subscription section listing your subscription link, expiry date and data used. Click Copy next to it to put the link on your clipboard — that's the address the client needs, and the import steps for all four platforms start with it.

Your subscription link looks like this (the example below is not a real address):

It's a URL with a token in it, and the client uses it to pull your server list, so treat it like a password: don't post it on public forums or in group chats, and don't screenshot it together with the QR code. You can copy it again from the dashboard at any time, and if you suspect it has leaked, reset the token in the dashboard — the old link stops working immediately and you just copy the new one.

Switching devices, reinstalling your system or changing clients never means buying again. Just copy the subscription link once more and import it in the new client. The server list in your subscription syncs automatically whenever the service updates it, so there's no adding nodes one by one and no memorizing server addresses.

The dashboard also offers two shortcuts: one-click import and a subscription QR code. If you have the client installed on your computer, one-click import launches it and writes the subscription in for you; on a phone, scanning the QR code in the dashboard is less error-prone than pasting by hand.

Windows client setup

Start by opening Download Client in the left sidebar of your dashboard and choosing the Windows build. Installers are hosted by VPNBu itself rather than a third-party download site, and the download page lists the supported system versions. Once it's downloaded, double-click to run it and follow the prompts. If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, click More info and then Run anyway — this only happens on the first install.

On first launch, Windows Firewall asks whether to let the app access the network — choose Allow. If you don't, the client can't pull your server list and it will stay empty. Once it's installed, pin the client to your taskbar; you'll use it often to switch servers.

Next, import your subscription: open the client, find the Subscription or Profile tab, click New, paste the subscription link you copied, save it and hit Update. The client pulls your server list — if you see regions like Japan, the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and the Netherlands, the import worked. If the list is still empty, check that you copied the whole link; the token at the end is the easiest part to miss. Paste the full link and hit Update again.

Now pick a server and connect. Each entry in the list is tagged with its route type: IEPL dedicated lines are great for streaming and for staying connected for hours; relay routes suit everyday browsing; direct routes have lower latency, which helps with latency-sensitive tools like AI apps. Double-click a server or click Connect — when the taskbar icon changes color, you're connected.

Most clients offer two modes: rule mode and global mode. Rule mode only routes the traffic that needs it and connects to sites in mainland China directly — it's the recommended default. Global mode sends everything through the server, so use it only as a temporary troubleshooting step and switch back afterwards.

macOS client setup

Again, choose the macOS build from Download Client in your dashboard. Pay attention to the chip: there's a separate installer for Apple silicon (M-series) and Intel, clearly labeled on the download page — pick the wrong one and the app won't open or will report an incompatibility. Once downloaded, drag the app into your Applications folder and open it from Launchpad.

The first time you open it, macOS may say it “cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified”. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, find the app that was just blocked at the bottom of the page, click Open Anyway and confirm once. You only need to do this once; after that, a normal double-click launches it.

During setup, macOS also asks for permission to add a network extension or VPN configuration — enter your login password to allow it. The client needs this permission to route your traffic through a server: deny it and the interface still opens, but no server will connect.

Importing a subscription works exactly as it does on Windows: open the client → Subscription / Profile → New → paste your subscription link → save and update. The macOS build usually lives in the menu bar, so you can click the menu bar icon to open the server list, pick a server and connect without opening the main window every time.

It coexists fine with iCloud, AirDrop and other Apple services. In rule mode, only domains matched by the rules go through the server, while system services and sites in mainland China connect directly — so having the client on won't slow down or break syncing. If an Apple service misbehaves, first check whether you accidentally switched to global mode.

Android client setup

Choose the Android build on the Download Client page to get the package, or log in to your dashboard in your phone's browser and download it there. Some devices show an “install unknown apps” warning when you install from a browser. Follow the prompt into Settings → Apps → Special access, allow your current browser to install apps, then return to the install screen and continue.

Open the client, go to the Subscription page, tap the plus icon in the top right to create a new one and paste your subscription link, then save and tap Update. Once the server list loads, tap the connect button in the bottom right. Android shows a “Connection request” dialog explaining that the client wants to set up a VPN connection — tap OK and allow it. You only need to grant this once.

Android's background management is aggressive, and the system may kill the client after a while, which shows up as the connection dropping on its own. The fix is to add the client to the battery optimization allowlist: Settings → Apps → Battery → choose Unrestricted (the path varies by manufacturer — searching for “battery optimization” in Settings usually finds it), then lock the client in your recent apps list.

If you only want some apps to use the server, the client usually has a per-app proxy (split tunneling) toggle. Tick the apps that should go through the server and leave the rest connecting directly — that keeps your target apps working without disrupting local ones.

iOS client setup

The iOS client comes from the App Store, and the Download Client page in your dashboard links to it. Don't download configuration profiles or installers from third-party sites — those sources can't be verified and may add unwanted system configuration.

Once installed, open the client, go to the subscription page, paste your subscription link and save — the client pulls the server list automatically. You can also scan the subscription QR code in your dashboard with your camera to skip the manual paste, which is easier on a phone.

The first time you tap connect, iOS asks to add a VPN configuration — tap Allow and confirm with Face ID, Touch ID or your device passcode. It won't ask again after that. Once connected, a VPN icon appears in the status bar and the client's home screen shows the current server.

The connection stays up when you switch to other apps — leaving the client doesn't disconnect it. If it doesn't reconnect on its own after moving between Wi-Fi and cellular, just open the client and tap connect once. Keeping the client in the background instead of swiping it away from the app switcher makes reconnecting smoother.

To use the same subscription on an iPad, just install the client under the same account and import the same subscription link — there's no device limit and no extra charge.

Connect and Verify It Works

Picking a server and clicking connect until the client says Connected only means the tunnel is up — you still need to confirm your traffic actually goes through the server. The quickest check: search for “what is my IP” in your browser, or open any page that shows your exit IP, and see whether the location has changed to the country or region of your server. If you picked a server in Japan but the page still shows your local location, your traffic isn't going through the server and you should keep troubleshooting below.

The second checkpoint is DNS. Make sure the client resolves DNS through the server; if it has a built-in DNS leak test, run it — the resolving server should be in the same region as your server. When DNS doesn't go through the server, the usual symptoms are sites that open but load slowly, or services that report your region as unavailable.

The third checkpoint is per-app settings. On a phone, if per-app proxy is on, make sure the app you care about is ticked. On a computer in rule mode, make sure the domain is matched by a rule that routes it through the server. If a website opens but an app doesn't — or the other way around — it's almost always the per-app or rule settings rather than the server itself.

How to handle a few common problems: ① It says Connected but no website opens — disconnect and reconnect once, then check whether another app has taken over the system proxy. ② Only some sites won't open — switch to global mode temporarily; if everything works there, it's a rule problem, so go back and add a rule. ③ Speeds drop noticeably after connecting — try another server; IEPL dedicated lines are usually steadier during peak evening hours. ④ The client reports a subscription update failure — copy the subscription link again and make sure the device itself has a working internet connection.

If you've been through all of these and it still won't connect, gather the client name, the server you were using and a screenshot of the error, and open a ticket from your dashboard — that gets it resolved much faster. The Help Center and the Complete Guide have a more systematic troubleshooting checklist, organized by symptom.