Android Nougat is the 7th generation of the extremely popular Android operating system which is used in countless smartphones and other devices such as smart TV’s and TV boxes. Since we are talking about smartphones in particular, most of our usage of it is related to the internet. Recently the internet has not been as private, secure, or free as it used to be and this is why the use of a virtual private network or VPN has become very essential. VPN’s use multiple security protocols to secure the connection between the users and the VPN servers. One of which is the Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol or L2TP. Now L2TP on its own is neither as reliable or as secure as other protocols but when acquainted with Internet Protocol Security or IPSec it becomes one of the most secure protocols. With that being said, in this tutorial we will be showing you how to manually configure a VPN’s L2TP/IPSec connection on your Android Nougat device.
Setting up L2TP/IPSec on Android Nougat
1- From the main applications panel, tap on “Settings”
2- Under “Mobile data” in the settings menu, tap on “More”
3- Tap on “VPN”
4- From the bottom of the screen, tap on the “+” sign to add a new VPN profile
5- In the field labeled “Name” enter the name you want to give to the L2TP VPN connection that you are creating (It is sometimes preferred to give it the same name as your VPN service provider)
6- Tap to open the drop-down labeled “Type” and select “L2TP/IPSec PSK”
7- In the field labeled “Server address”, enter the hostname of the VPN server you want to connect to (this can be found on your VPN provider’s website but make sure that the server you chose supports L2TP/IPSec protocol)
8- In the field labeled “IPSec pre-shared key” enter the pre-shared key corresponding to the VPN server that you chose to connect to (this can also be found on your VPN provider’s website accompanying the hostname of the server)
9- At the bottom of the screen, tap on “Save”
Connecting to the VPN L2TP/IPSec Server
1- From the main applications panel, tap on “Settings”
2- From the settings page below “Mobile data”, tap on “More”
3- Tap on “VPN”
4- Tap on the VPN profile name you just created
5- In the field labeled “Username”, enter your VPN account username
6- In the field labeled “Password”, enter your VPN account password
7- Tap to check the checkbox labeled “Save account information”
8- Tap on “Connect”
You have successfully created and established a VPN’s L2TP/IPSec connection on your Android Nougat device.
