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What happens if I use a VPN with Bonza?

Bonza works best when musicians can connect directly to each other. VPNs reroute your connection through extra servers, which can add delay or block peer-to-peer connections. For the most stable, low-latency experience, we recommend turning off VPNs while using Bonza.

Bonza is designed to connect musicians directly to each other using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking. This direct path is what allows Bonza to achieve the very low latency needed for playing and teaching in time.

While VPNs are useful tools for privacy and security in many situations, they can interfere with how this direct connection works.

A simple way to think about it

Without a VPN, Bonza tries to create the shortest, most direct route between you and the people you’re playing with.

When a VPN is active, your internet traffic is first sent to a third-party server (often in another city or country) before continuing on to the other musician - and then back again the same way.

That extra detour changes how Bonza sees your network and often makes a direct P2P connection harder or impossible.

What VPNs change at a technical level

VPNs affect several things Bonza relies on for stable, low-latency connections:

1. Extra latency (delay)

VPNs add at least one extra “hop” in the network path. Even a small amount of added delay can make playing in time feel harder, especially for rhythm-based music.

2. Unpredictable routing

Your VPN provider chooses the route your data takes. This route can change dynamically, making latency and timing less consistent from moment to moment.

3. NAT and firewall complications

Bonza uses modern P2P techniques to allow two computers to discover and connect to each other directly. VPNs often:

  • Hide your real network address

  • Apply strict firewall rules

  • Block or rewrite the ports Bonza uses

This can prevent peers from finding each other at all, or force a less efficient fallback path.

4. Reduced network transparency

For experts: VPN tunnelling can obscure or interfere with UDP-based traffic, NAT traversal (STUN-like behaviour), and port mapping - all of which are important for real-time media applications.

What this means in practice

If a VPN is active, you may experience:

  • Difficulty connecting to other players

  • Longer connection setup times

  • Higher or unstable latency

  • Dropouts or degraded audio performance

These issues can appear even if your internet connection is otherwise fast and reliable.

Our recommendation

For the best experience with Bonza:

  • Disable VPNs while using Bonza, if possible

  • Use a wired Ethernet connection rather than Wi-Fi

  • Connect directly to the internet without additional network layers

Once your session is finished, you can re-enable your VPN as normal.

A note on privacy and security

Bonza does not require a VPN to function safely. The application is designed for direct, temporary connections between session participants and does not expose your system in the way a public server or file-sharing service might.

If you’re required to use a VPN by your workplace, school, or organisation, some VPNs can be configured to exclude Bonza traffic (often called split tunnelling). This can sometimes allow Bonza to work while keeping the VPN active for other apps.

Need help?

If you’re unsure whether a VPN is affecting your setup, or you’re seeing connection issues you can’t explain, feel free to reach out to the Bonza team. We’re always happy to help you find the most stable setup for your situation - whether you’re new to networking or very familiar with it.