This guide addresses the practical question of how to import a subscription into Shadowrocket (小火箭). It’s for iPhone and iPad users who want to import a subscription for nodes provided by a VPN service or this site, and explains what to check if your IP, DNS, and browser environment don’t match after connecting.
1. What to prepare before importing a subscription
Shadowrocket is a popular proxy client for iOS that supports subscription imports for V2Ray, VLESS, Trojan, and SS nodes. Before you begin, make sure you’ve installed Shadowrocket, have a working subscription URL, and have a stable internet connection. Subscription links usually start with https:// and may appear as a long string of text that’s hard to make sense of when copied.
If you’re using the free nodes page on this site, we recommend copying the “subscription link” rather than copying individual nodes one at a time. Subscriptions let you update your nodes with a single tap, making it easier to replace them when they stop working.
2. How to import a subscription into Shadowrocket
- Open Shadowrocket and go to the home screen.
- Tap the “+” in the upper-right corner and select Subscribe as the type.
- Paste your subscription link into the URL field. You can enter “freevpn-x” or a custom name as the label.
- Tap Done/Save, return to the home screen, then pull down to refresh and wait for the node list to appear.
- Select a node and turn on the connection switch at the top. The first time you connect, follow the prompts to allow a VPN configuration to be added.
- Once connected, open a browser and visit an IP lookup site to check whether your exit IP has changed.
If the subscription is empty after importing, first check that you copied the entire link, without extra spaces, Chinese text, or line breaks. You can also paste the subscription link into Safari and open it. If you get an error or a blank page, the subscription source may be temporarily unavailable.
3. How IP, DNS, and your browser environment are related
Many users wonder why a website still won’t load or shows the wrong IP even though Shadowrocket says it’s connected. There are three things to distinguish here. IP is the exit address a website sees. When the proxy is working normally, it should show the node’s location or the provider’s exit address. DNS translates domain names into IP addresses. If DNS is being hijacked, some websites may not load. Your browser environment includes information such as cache, cookies, WebRTC, language, and time zone.
A simple troubleshooting sequence is to first check whether traffic is flowing in Shadowrocket, then see whether your IP has changed, and finally test for DNS leaks. If your IP has changed but a particular website is still behaving abnormally, try clearing the Safari/Chrome cache, closing and reopening the browser, or switching to another node.
4. Troubleshooting connection failures and subscription issues
- Subscription update failed: Switch between Wi-Fi and cellular data and try again. Make sure the subscription link hasn’t expired.
- Nodes import but won’t connect: Try another node from the same subscription, or check that your device’s time is set to update automatically.
- Connected, but webpages won’t load: In Shadowrocket’s settings, try changing DNS—for example, use system DNS or a commonly used public DNS—then reconnect.
- Only some apps use the proxy: Check Shadowrocket’s global routing mode. If you’re a typical user, start with the default “Config” rules and avoid making complex changes unnecessarily.
Keep in mind that the stability of free nodes can vary with your network conditions. Timeouts, high latency, or failed updates don’t necessarily mean the client is broken. We recommend keeping multiple subscriptions or node sources available. If you have connection issues, first update the subscription, switch nodes, and restart Shadowrocket before considering a reinstall.
5. Recommendations
Once you’ve imported a subscription successfully, get into the habit of updating it regularly: pull down to refresh in the subscription list or manually update it from the node page. Don’t share your subscription link publicly, as it may contain information about your usage. For everyday browsing, choose a node with low latency and a stable connection. If the results of an IP, DNS, or browser environment check don’t match, work through the steps in this guide to identify the issue.