If you’ve already upgraded to the new macOS Sequoia, there’s good news: you no longer have to choose between usability and security. At least, depending on the service you use.
About three weeks after launch, Apple promised to have finally fixed a bug with the latest MacOS 15 update that was causing issues with multiple security products. These include enterprise solutions such as CrowdStrike, SentinelOne and Microsoft Defender, as well as the best VPN and antivirus software tools for everyday use.
According to the Big Tech giant, macOS Sequoia 15.0.1 “improves compatibility with third-party security software,” Apple wrote on its support page. Still, one of TechRadar’s favorite Mac VPNs has confirmed that it is still experiencing some service issues.
Mixed results for Mac VPNs
The launch of Mac’s new operating system Sequoia at the end of September is likely to have angered many security providers, with CrowdStrike even suggesting its customers not upgrade their devices – BleepingComputer reported at the time. Frustrated users mainly took to Reddit to share their usability issues and ask for a solution.
On the VPN software front, people lamented connectivity issues such as iPhone Mirroring, iMessage, and FaceTime not working when connected to the VPN. In some cases, the split tunneling feature was also reportedly disabled.
Interestingly, I noticed that not all VPN providers faced the same issues, and some services were not affected at all. With the news that Apple has reportedly fixed the bug (both Microsoft and Crwdstrike confirmed the issues have been resolved at TechCrunch) I decided to reach out to some of TechRadar’s top picks to get a better idea of what’s going on is going on. Needless to say, the reactions were mixed.
Restore Apple App Connectivity on macOS 15 while using the VPN with the PIA Desktop macOS alpha from r/PrivateInternetAccess
NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access (PIA), and Mullvad have all confirmed that Sequoia has caused problems with their service. But while Mullvad and NordVPN told me macOS 15.0.1 fixed their issues, ExpressVPN said the recent update did not Troubleshoot Apple service issues when using a VPN.
“The macOS 15 bug, which Apple acknowledged in the initial release, continues to impact ExpressVPN for Mac users in the 15.0.1 update,” said Samuel Bultez, Head of Product at ExpressVPN. “This issue affects applications that rely on Apple Push Notification Services. As a result, apps like iMessage, FaceTime, Reminders, Notes, and more stopped working or were affected once the VPN was connected.”
Bultez explains that the team has come up with a workaround that users can manually enable: a feature through Network Lock that allows macOS users to bypass their VPN, improving the functionality of iMessage and other apps.
The bug in macOS 15 continues to affect ExpressVPN for Mac users
Samuel Bultez, head of product at ExpressVPN
On the other hand, companies like Surfshark, Windscribe, IPVanish, and Hide.me told me that Sequoia had no impact on their services at all, with VPN software working as expected even after the initial release.
However, according to Hide.me, Apple is nevertheless responsible for the connectivity issues that break other security software.
“Apple is clearly not doing its homework when releasing OS updates that break third-party software,” Sebastian Schaub, the company’s CEO, told me. “Apple should rethink its annual upgrade cycle and test new releases more thoroughly.”
More importantly, while the Windscribe VPN service was not affected, its sister DNS service (an open-source DNS daemon) did experience some issues after the operating system upgrade.
“We’ve seen issues related to a firewall functioning improperly, blocking connections it shouldn’t have blocked,” Windscribe CEO Yegor Sak told me. “This problem seems to have been resolved, so that is good news.”
What’s behind these differences?
At this point you may be wondering: how come some security forces were affected and others not? And why is ExpressVPN still logging some issues after “the fix”? Again, providers had different views on why this might happen.
We already mentioned that according to Hide.me, Apple is to blame for the incidents with third-party security software. Well, IPVanish has a completely opposite opinion on the matter.
The team told me that every time there is a new release – IPVanish engineers track releases to know when they are coming – it starts beta testing the software to identify potential issues. As a result, they noticed that with Sequoia, Apple has changed the location of the Network Extensions tab (where the user must agree to enable the VPN). All they had to do was change the user instructions.
“These are all standard tech best practices. I don’t think (larger providers) should have gotten into trouble,” Subbu Sthanu, Chief Commercial Officer for Consumer Security at Ziff Davis (parent company of IPVanish) told me.
Similarly, Surfshark Chief Product Development Officer Saulius Maslinskas said that due to Apple’s update of the Settings app, the team had to update the tutorials for setting up the VPN and antivirus. “We have released a new version of the Surfshark macOS app 4.15.3 with the updated materials,” he added.
ExpressVPN, on the other hand, believes that the problem lies in the differences with VPN’s technical infrastructure – and usability issues can be quite positive after all.
ExpressVPN’s Network Lock/Kill Switch solution uses a custom firewall for improved privacy and security, the provider explains. This approach ensures that all traffic is routed through the VPN tunnel or blocked if the tunnel is unavailable. Issues with the Apple Push Notification Service effectively failed to route traffic to the VPN tunnel, blocking access to Apple servers.
“While this temporarily affected access to some Apple services, it is an accurate reflection of our robust security measures that our VPN does not compromise any traffic – even from Apple services,” Express’ Bultez told me. “On the other hand, we noticed that some VPN providers, which were left unaffected, use Apple’s Network Extension technology, which automatically handles network routing and whitelists Apple’s servers – a potential privacy issue.”
If you continue to experience usability issues when using your Mac VPN even after the latest update, I recommend that you contact your service provider to help you find a solution.
Even if you’re an ExpressVPN user, there’s no need to despair. A new update is ready that should also fix the problem with your chosen service.
“We conducted early testing on the upcoming macOS 15.1 beta and found that it addresses issues with services like iMessage,” Bultez said. “We look forward to the release.”
