Methods for Sharing VPN and Proxy Connections Across Devices

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 23:00:00 +0800

Mode	Also Known As	Description
Proxy Sharing Mode	Allow LAN	Devices forward requests through proxy software
Gateway Sharing Mode	Bypass Gateway, Transparent Proxy	Devices point their gateway to the proxy host
Routing Sharing Mode	WiFi Hotspot	Host creates an independent subnet and assigns IPs

Overview diagram:

How It Works

Suppose your computer is running Clash or V2Ray with proxy sharing enabled. You can set up your phone to route its requests through your computer. The flow is as follows:

Phone access request → Computer (processed by V2Ray/Clash) → Gateway (Router) → Internet
Internet response → Gateway (Router) → Computer → Phone

This is how proxy sharing mode works.

Example: Phone Accessing the Internet Through Computer Proxy

In V2Ray, enable LAN connections to see the SOCKS5 and HTTP ports

The computer uses HTTP proxy, so port 10809 is used
Check the WiFi connection info on your phone to get its IP address
Enter the phone’s IP and port in your computer’s proxy settings

Now your computer’s requests will be handled by your phone—your computer can access Google. If you turn off the phone’s VPN, the computer loses access too.

Example: Computer Proxying Phone Requests (Reverse)

The reverse setup—using your computer to proxy your phone’s requests—works the same way:

Open V2Ray settings and allow LAN connections
The proxy port is displayed in the lower-left corner
Go to your phone’s WiFi proxy settings, enter the computer’s IP as the server address and the port shown in the screenshot

About UDP Proxy

Note: The system proxy configured in phone settings is typically an HTTP proxy, which does not support UDP transport. To proxy UDP traffic, you need a SOCKS proxy. Since system proxy settings don’t support SOCKS, you’ll need a third-party VPN tool.

Create a SOCKS proxy in V2Ray on your phone:

Server: Enter your computer’s IP address
Port: Enter your computer’s V2Ray SOCKS port

This allows UDP data to be proxied. However, whether UDP proxying actually works depends on whether your server node supports UDP.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Almost all proxy tools support enabling proxy sharing mode

Cons:

Each network device needs to be configured individually
Some devices (e.g., TV boxes) don’t support proxy configuration, making this method unusable for them

How It Works

Gateway sharing mode is also called bypass gateway, transparent proxy, or transparent gateway.

Typically, the router assigns IPs to each device. In gateway mode, the router assigns the computer’s IP to every device as their gateway.

Workflow: When your phone wants to access Google → data is sent to the gateway (the computer) → the computer processes the data and forwards it to the router

Key point: All internet traffic from devices on the LAN goes through the gateway.

Pros and Cons

Advantages:

Flexible configuration—you can set the gateway individually per device, or have the router change the gateway for all devices on the LAN at once
The biggest advantage: a gateway-level system proxy can intercept all traffic on the system. Even if some applications don’t use a proxy or certain devices don’t support proxy settings, any internet access still passes through the gateway. The devices themselves don’t even know they’re being proxied
This is why it’s called transparent proxy or transparent gateway

Disadvantages:

Not all operating systems support it. Windows does not support this mode; macOS and Linux do

Implementation via Linux Virtual Machine

Since Windows doesn’t support gateway sharing mode, you can install a Linux virtual machine to achieve it.

Use bridged networking for the VM (same LAN as the host)
Enable the root user
Enable IP forwarding and TUN mode:
1

sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
Go to your computer’s IP settings and set the default gateway to the Linux VM’s IP address

Limitation: This won’t work without a LAN.

How It Works

When routing sharing mode is enabled, the computer creates an independent subnet (shown as 192.168.137.1 in green in the diagram). When other devices connect to this computer, the computer assigns them IPs, gateways, and other network info. The computer essentially takes over the router’s job—hence the name routing sharing mode.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Many advantages, widely applicable

Cons:

Adds an extra NAT layer, requiring some performance overhead
Creates two different LAN segments that cannot communicate with each other by default
Most phones don’t support sharing VPN networks through routing mode without Root access

Configuration on Windows

Enabling routing sharing mode on Windows requires two network interfaces. Most computers have only one, so you may need to purchase a USB Ethernet adapter to add an extra port.

Setup steps:

Assume the first NIC connects to your LAN and the second is idle
Enable TUN mode
Clash will create a virtual network adapter
Right-click the virtual adapter → Properties → Sharing → Select “Allow other network users…” and choose the idle NIC
This creates a new subnet, sharing Clash’s proxy environment with the idle NIC

Use Cases

This idle NIC can be connected to another computer via an Ethernet cable, and that computer can access the internet through the proxy without any configuration. A more common scenario is connecting it to a wireless access point (AP) to broadcast WiFi.

Network on Yanmu

Methods for Sharing VPN and Proxy Connections Across Devices

Overview of Three Sharing Modes

Proxy Sharing Mode

How It Works

Example: Phone Accessing the Internet Through Computer Proxy

Example: Computer Proxying Phone Requests (Reverse)

About UDP Proxy

Pros and Cons

Gateway Sharing Mode

How It Works

Pros and Cons

Implementation via Linux Virtual Machine

Routing Sharing Mode

How It Works

Pros and Cons

Configuration on Windows

Use Cases