iOS Updates on Connectivity
Two-part solution
August 20, 2021
Hello!
As someone who has experienced some connectivity issues with iOS 14, we wanted to reach out with a short update.
In the course of testing, it became clear that connection issues do appear more often when the technology behind our VPN is being used. Therefore, the simple solution is to disable the VPN. We have a two-part solution we can offer to those of you who are still experiencing connection issues – contact Member Care for a) assistance disabling the Covenant Eyes VPN and b) setting up the Covenant Eyes app as your default browser. Disabling the VPN will result in a loss of accountability outside of the Covenant Eyes Browser and remove all filtering. As the default browser, your phone will choose to open links in Covenant Eyes, encouraging as much accountability as possible. Contact our Member Care team between 9AM and 6:45PM EDT, and we will be happy to set that up for you.
Our team will continue to look for ways to improve your iOS experience in speed and usability. Plus, a new iOS 15 beta will soon be available, which may allow for better management of VPN networks.
We greatly appreciate your patience as you’ve experienced this issue.
Best,
The Team at Covenant Eyes
In-app purchase update
June 10, 2021
Hi,
It’s encouraging to hear there are fewer people experiencing iOS connectivity problems. We’ve dedicated a lot of time and resources to find solutions to fix these issues. However, there are still some people that are seeing problems with it. We stay committed to making improvements.
You may have heard that Apple is requiring Covenant Eyes (and many other apps) to implement an in-app purchase feature. Apple is not allowing us to update our app until in-app purchase is present. This has delayed our other work on iOS, but we plan on having it implemented next week.
In the meantime, if you are still experiencing any issues, please contact our Member Care team.
Thanks!
The Covenant Eyes Team
We’ve made some changes; are they working for you?
May 20, 2021
Hi there,
We have released a series of changes that we believe have solved a significant number of iOS-related issues. But we’d like to know if you’re still experiencing problems. Are you still experiencing connectivity issues like:
- Apps or websites don’t load when using cellular data, but work over WiFi
- Apps or websites sometimes don’t load when using data or WiFi
- Apps and websites load, but slower than normal
If you are still experiencing these issues, please contact our Member Care team.
Thanks!
The Covenant Eyes Team
Beta Has Been Deployed
May 7, 2021
Two weeks ago, we told you that we’d have more information about a beta version of Covenant Eyes that we’ve been working on. This beta will help us gather information to help us better understand connectivity problems we’re hearing about on cellular data and WiFi.
Currently, we have a pool of participants that are testing this beta and providing us the information we need to help us better diagnose connectivity issues. However, if you’d like to be involved in future testing and would like to be on a list to do so, please let us know by responding to this email. Please know, though, that this beta will slow down your devices and use a large amount of data.
We’ll have another update in two weeks.
Thanks!
The Covenant Eyes Team
A New Beta Version Is Coming To Help Us Learn What’s Causing Problems
April 22, 2021
Hi,
We’re encouraged to see fewer issues reported as the weeks go by. However, we are just as determined as ever to make your Covenant Eyes experience the best it can be. Currently, we’re working on a beta version that will help us gather large amounts of data. This data will help us better understand the connectivity problems we’re still seeing on cellular data and WiFi.
We want you to know that this beta version will be slower than our main offering and it’s not for everyone. We’ll be looking for volunteers who have experienced connectivity issues in the past to test it for a while. We really appreciate those who would be willing to help us here, as your feedback will contribute to a much better service.
Expect another email regarding the status of the beta version in about two weeks.
Thanks!
The Covenant Eyes Team
Isolating Connection Issues and Speed
April 9, 2021
Hi,
As of April 1, our fix for Sprint users who were experiencing constant connectivity issues has been released to all Covenant Eyes members. We’re getting fewer calls and chats from Sprint users, which is encouraging!
Connection issues stemming from different technical causes can look very similar in terms of experience. Now, we are looking at two technical items that could improve connections for all users. We are focused on complete loss of connection when switching between networks (what is often called “a failed handoff”) and overall slowness (on either Wi-Fi or cellular).
Would you please leave a comment on the iOS Connectivity page if refreshing the Covenant Eyes app solves a slow connection? Also, if you lose connection completely, is it usually after switching from cellular to Wi-Fi, or vice versa, or both?
We truly appreciate your help in making our service the best it can be.
Thanks!
The Covenant Eyes Team
Improved Connectivity for Sprint Users
March 25, 2021
Hi!
This week we have exciting news for Sprint users experiencing connectivity problems. Our developers have improved our device-wide monitoring system, resulting in a 75% reduction of constant connectivity issues
While this will not solve all iOS issues, it’s a tremendous improvement to those Sprint users having difficulty connecting. We started with Sprint because it is the largest single network experiencing problems. Now, we’re moving on to other networks and producing solutions.
This upgrade has an extra benefit. When on cellular data, Sprint customers will have sites that we detect as malware blocked automatically. These risky sites will always be blocked and cannot be accidentally allowed by the user.
Thank you for taking the time to see how we’re improving your Covenant Eyes experience. We look forward to passing along more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, please leave a comment here about what you’re experiencing.
Thanks!
The Covenant Eyes Team
Please Help Us Solve This Issue
March 12, 2021
Hi there, and welcome to the communication page concerning iOS connection problems. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably experienced some unexplained, annoying, or even infuriating problems with your internet connection when using the Covenant Eyes app for iPhone®.
The experience may have looked something like this.
- No data on cellular, particularly using LTE.
- Websites and apps load data at extremely slow speeds
- Wi-Fi access is not established, especially when moving between cellular and Wi-Fi
Overall, this is a really frustrating experience! iPhones are technologically excellent, and we rely on them to just work. Covenant Eyes shouldn’t get in the way of using your device. We’re here to empower your device usage through accountability, not stop it!
We currently have a team of talented software engineers, designers, and Member Care agents working to make this a better experience for you.
I’ll be joined by some of these team members each week, and we’ll post what we’ve learned and how we’re moving towards a solution for you. If you’re experiencing these connection issues and want the latest updates, subscribe to the weekly updates below.
If you’ve talked with our Member Care team they have followed any known troubleshooting steps. If you have not called, then check out our support article which has the steps you can try on your own.
Some of you have asked how you can help. First of all, thank you! The connection problems we’re seeing are complex, and real-world examples help pinpoint the exact causes.
Would you leave a reply on this page describing what connection problems you’ve experienced? It seems like your internet provider is an important factor, so please include both your home (Wi-Fi) internet provider and your mobile carrier.
Here are some of the things we’ve learned so far, thanks in large part to feedback from members:
- Members on the Sprint network often cannot connect to the internet at all over LTE. However, once they switch to 3G, the connection works well.
- Our VPN technology relies on DNS monitoring, meaning we monitor which domains are being accessed. For Sprint networks, our DNS requests are sent, but replies are never received. We’re investigating solutions to this problem, so stay tuned.
- A smaller number of members lose internet access on both Wi-Fi and cellular. We first started hearing of this problem around the time iOS 14 was released, so it may be related. This is often, but not always, resolved by opening the Covenant Eyes app, tapping the avatar to open the menu, then selecting “Refresh Covenant Eyes”.
- When using apps, or loading webpages, things might load much slower than normal. It’s tough to tell whether this is being caused by the Covenant Eyes VPN; do you have an experience that might indicate whether it is?
We’ll be posting more findings and technical information each week, here and through email.
Thank you for bearing with us as we work through this problem.
Collin Myers
Product Manager