Your iPhone restore is stuck. The progress bar hasn’t moved in hours. You’ve restarted. You’ve checked your Wi-Fi. Nothing works.

The culprit? Your VPN app.

The Problem

iCloud restore requires a clean, direct connection to Apple’s servers. VPN apps—even when not actively running—can interfere with this process. They create network profiles and configurations that persist through the restore process, blocking or corrupting the data transfer.

The Solution

Before you restore from iCloud:

1. Delete all VPN apps from your old device
2. Remove VPN profiles (Settings > General > VPN & Device Management)
3. Back up to iCloud one final time
4. Then restore your new device

If you’re already stuck mid-restore, I found that I can delete the vpn app and then the restore started flying.

After Restore

Once your device is fully restored and functional, reinstall your VPN apps. They’ll work fine on a running system. They just can’t be there during the restore.

Why This Matters

Apple’s restore process is fragile. It expects a vanilla network environment. VPN configurations—designed to route and encrypt traffic—create obstacles the restore process can’t navigate around. This was extremely frustrating and I’m surprised that it took me so long to figure this out. Hopefully this saves someone the hassle of driving back to the T-Mobile store, like I did ;)

One deleted app saves you hours of frustration.

Bottom line: VPN apps are useful tools. But during an iCloud restore, they’re dead weight. Cut them loose, restore your device, then bring them back.

Problem solved.