What is restricted, and since when

All of this happens inside Russian providers’ networks. It hits anyone on a Russian SIM card or home connection, whatever their passport says, while friends calling from abroad notice only that you’re hard to reach.

Setting it up

Install VanyaVPN on the same phone or computer you use WhatsApp on. An Apple account registered outside Russia gets it straight from the App Store. With a Russian one, the store won’t show it, and the iPhone guide explains the workarounds. Android, Windows and Mac are simpler.

Then open Location, pick a country outside Russia and tap Connect. For calls, a nearby one works best, Finland or Poland for example. Less distance means less delay in the conversation.

Why calls drop while chats keep going

Messages, photos and voice notes travel over ordinary connections. If one breaks, WhatsApp quietly sends the thing again. A call can’t wait like that. Your voice goes as a live stream over UDP.

Inside VanyaVPN, ordinary connections have a spare route, and when one route dies, new connections move to a working one straight away. UDP has no such spare. It sticks to the route the app picked until the next check, so your chats don’t notice a hiccup and your call does. On a few routes UDP doesn’t get through at all, and then the call just keeps ringing.

When a call drops

  1. Move to another nearby country

    A new location means a new route, and sometimes that alone does the trick.

  2. Run Find working server

    The button sits in Account, under Settings. Once tapped, the app re-tests the server, swaps the IP if needed and, as a last resort, turns on multihop. It can take up to two minutes.

  3. Dial again

    A call cut off on the old route won’t come back by itself.

WhatsApp questions

Will WhatsApp calls definitely work?

We can’t promise that. We haven’t run a dedicated test of WhatsApp calls through our servers, and calls depend on the route. If one won’t connect, go through the steps in the section above.

Does the person I’m calling need a VPN?

Only when they’re in Russia as well. Someone abroad doesn’t need to install anything.

What about WhatsApp Web and the desktop app?

Both work, as long as VanyaVPN is running on that computer. Everything on that machine goes through the tunnel, browser tabs included.

Telegram calls were restricted on the same day, see VPN for Telegram.