IPSEC VPN SDK for Apple
Support IPSEC protocol
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Support IPSEC protocol
Last updated
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CakeTube for iOS & macOS (The SDK) is a part of Aura SDK. It contains client-side libraries and server-side applications needed to implement custom VPN infrastructure.
The SDK provides API to authorize client users and gives them an ability to connect to backend VPN services.
Requires iOS 9+ or macOS 10.12+
XCode 9
To start application development, you need to create an XCode application project.
At the end of this step, you will have a new target:
Application target
For Application target do the following
Add following system frameworks to your project dependencies:
For iOS: CakeTubeSDK.framework
For macOS: CakeTubeSDKmacOS.framework
If it's a Swift project, also add this framework to Embedded binaries
In your project: Project > Build Settings:
Set Other Linker Flags to -ObjC.
Also, enable following services for both IDs:
Personal VPN
For both Application and Network Extension targets, go to Project > Capabilities and Enable the following capabilities:
Personal VPN
NOTE: Make sure that .entitlement is added to the project
To start using the SDK, you need to import import CakeTubeSDK for iOS or import CakeTubeSDKmacOS to your file under the application target.
To initialize SDK, do the following:
The best place to put initialization code is your AppDelegate's application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:.
After SDK is initialized, you need to login to be able to start VPN. If you are using OAuth authentication, provide your own OAuth dialogs UI and receive OAuth access token. Login example with OAuth token:
For anonymous login, use CTAuthMethod.anonymous() See CTAuthMethod reference for more authentication methods.
To connect VPN use CakeTube function startVpn. When VPN is started or error occured, completion will be called. To obtain VPN connection status you need to subscribe to default NotificationCenter. For example:
When you receive notification, get updated VPN status from CakeTube.instance().vpnStatus status property and handle this status as designed by your app.
Most of CakeTube calls are accepting completion blocks with errors. If an error occurs, you will receive non-nil NSError object with an explanation. Errors could be handled by code, that is defined in CTCakeTubeVPNErrorCode or CTCakeTubeApiErrorCode. In some cases, there is NSUnderlyingError instance inside NSError. See CakeTube.h for more info.
+ (CakeTube *)instance; - (void)configure:(CTConfig *)config;
CakeTube class is a singleton. Use CTConfig object instance to initialize CakeTube. The fastest way to create CTConfig object instance is to use CTConfig.create { (c) in ... }.
- (BOOL)isLoggedIn; Checks if the user is logged in.
- (void)loginWithMethod:(CTAuthMethod *)method completion:(nullable CTLoginCompletion)completion; Login and obtain CTUserProfile object that describes CakeTube VPN user.
- (void)startVPN:(nullable CTStartVPNCompletion)completion; Starts VPN with completion. During VPN start iOS / macOS may ask for VPN permission from the user. Callback provides CTServerLocation instance that describes server user connected to.
- (void)stopVPN:(nullable CTDefaultCompletion)completion; Stops current VPN session.
- (void)removeVPNProfile:(nullable CTDefaultCompletion)completion; Remove VPN profile. Used to troubleshoot VPN issues.
- (void)subscriberInfo:(nullable CTSubscriberCompletion)completion; Get currently logged in CTUserProfile instance
- (void)availableServers:(nullable CTServersCompletion)completion; Retrieve a list of the servers available to connect to
- (void)trafficStats:(nullable CTCountersCompletion)completion; Get traffic I/O stats from current session in bytes
- (void)checkVpnIsEnabled:(nullable CTVpnStatusCompletion)completion; Deprecated: Checks if VPN is enabled by asking backend. Alwauys use vpnStatus property to get actual status information.
- (void)remainingTraffic:(nullable CTRemainingTrafficCompletion)completion; Retrieve current user's traffic limits.
- (void)logout:(nullable CTDefaultCompletion)completion; Sign out current user
- (void)checkPurchaseWithReceipt:(NSString *)receipt completion:(nullable CTPurchaseCompletion)completion; Validates purchase with backend. receipt is base64 encoded string of receipt data.
- (void)setServer:(nullable CTServerLocation *)location; Sets server location. If VPN is already connected, this method does not reconnect VPN to a new server. location - Server location, obtained with [CakeTube getServers:] or [CTServerLocation optimal]. nil value means the location will be optimal.
- (nullable CTServerLocation *)getServer; Gets current server location. nil value means the location will be optimal.
- (nullable NSString *)accessToken; Provides access token user signed in with (CakeTube backend token).
+ (instancetype)anonymous;
Default auth method that does not require any authentication.
+ (instancetype)OAuth:(NSString *)accessToken;
Most popular OAuth authentication method. OAuth flow should be implemented by your application. After finishing OAuth flow and obtaining OAuth access token, provide it to this factory.
+ (instancetype)facebook:(NSString *)accessToken;
Authenticate with Facebook SDK.
+ (instancetype)google:(NSString *)accessToken;
Authenticate with Google SDK.
+ (instancetype)twitter:(NSString *)accessToken;
Authenticate with Twitter SDK.
+ (instancetype)github:(NSString *)accessToken;
Authenticate with GitHub SDK.
+ (instancetype)firebase:(NSString *)accessToken;
Authenticate with Firebase SDK.
+ (instancetype)custom:(NSString *)methodName token:(NSString *)accessToken;
Custom auth. If you are using custom authentication scheme, use this method.
CTConfig is a class that configures CakeTube instance. Created by AFConfigBuilder
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *baseUrl;
This is a Host URL of the primary server. Provided by Aura Inc.
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *carrierId;
This is your unique service identifier. Provided by Aura Inc.
@property (nonnull, strong, nonatomic) NSString *vpnProfileName; The name of your VPN profile, visible in iOS Settings > VPN section.
@property (nonatomic, strong, nullable) CTOnDemandRules *onDemandRules; Specifies on-demand VPN rules. See CTOnDemandRules.
@property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL onDemandEnabled; Enables or disables on-demand VPN feature. If this property is YES, but no rules is provided, default rules are used.
+ (nonnull CTConfig *)create:(nonnull CTConfigBlock)configBlock; Factory method to create config.
CTOnDemandRules class provides abstraction for on-demand VPN behavior configuration.
An instance of this class should be assigned to onDemandRules property of CTConfig instance. For these rules to be applied, onDemandEnabled property is also has to be set to YES. If onDemandRules is nil, but onDemandEnabled is set to YES, default rules will be used.
@property(nonatomic) BOOL alwaysOnWiFi; Enable VPN automatically when WiFi is on. Default value is true.
@property(nonatomic) BOOL alwaysOnCellular; Enable VPN automatically when cellular data is on (WiFi is off). Default value is true. (This property is only available for iOS).
@property(nullable, strong, nonatomic) NSURL *probeUrl; The URL to check before starting VPN. If URL responds with code 200, VPN is started. If valus is nil, probing is disabled. Default value is nil.
+ (instancetype)defaultRules; Create default on-demand rules instance.
+ (instancetype)defaultRulesWithProbeURLString:(NSString *)probeURLString; Create default on-demand rules instance with probe URL string.
Describes VPN user. @property(strong, nonatomic) NSString *locale; User's locale that was used during registration.
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSString *name; User name. Generated for anonymous users.
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSDictionary *socialProfiles; List of social profiles associated with the user. Non-empty only if a social sign-in was used.
@property(strong, nonatomic, readonly) NSString *email; Email, if available by the social provider.
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSString *registrationTime; Time user signed in for the first time.
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSString *connectionTime; Time when user connected.
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSNumber *condition; Represent value 0 or 1 which enable/disable subscriber.
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSNumber *activatedDevices; A number of devices the user is using (signed in from).
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSNumber *activeSessions; A number of active session user has (signed in right now).
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSString *authMethod; Auth method that was used during sign in.
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSString *extref; External reference.
Describes VPN server location information
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSString *countryCode;
VPN server country location code. Example: "us", "ru", "ca".
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSNumber *tx; Bytes transmitted in current session
@property(strong, nonatomic) NSNumber *rx; Bytes received in current session
@property(nullable, strong, nonatomic) NSNumber *trafficStart; UNIX timestamp when the current session was started.
@property(nullable, strong, nonatomic) NSNumber *trafficLimit; Amount of bytes available to current User
@property(nullable, strong, nonatomic) NSNumber *trafficUsed; Amount of bytes User utilized.
@property(nullable, strong, nonatomic) NSNumber *trafficRemaining; Amount of bytes that is available to User.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeUnknown General error code. Please report such errors to Aura Inc. team.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeSerializationError Object serialization error.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeApiError CakeTube backend API error.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeNilToken Attempting to do an action that requires user to be signed in
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeNilUser Current user doesn't exist
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeParameters Required API parameters are missing.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeVpnNotVerified VPN is not verified.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeVpnSessionNotEstablished VPN session is not yet established.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeSessionsExceed Number of available sessions exceeded the limit.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeUserSuspended User has been suspended.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeDevicesExceed Number of available registered devices is exceeded.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeTrafficExceed Available traffic has reached its limit.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeUnauthorized Unauthrorized access.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeServerUnavailable Requested server is unavailable.
CTCakeTubeApiErrorCodeClientError Some client error,
CTCakeTubeVPNErrorCodeUndefined Unknown VPN error. Please report such errors to Aura Inc. team.
CTCakeTubeVPNErrorCodeTimeout Timeout during VPN connection.
CTCakeTubeVPNErrorCodeAlreadyConnected Attempting to start already connected VPN.
CTCakeTubeVPNErrorCodeAlreadyDisconnected Attempting to stop already disconnected VPN.
CTCakeTubeVPNErrorCodeConnectInvalid Invalid connection.
CTCakeTubeVPNErrorCodeDisconnectInvalid Invalid disconnection.
Go to and create (if not yet created) an application ID under Identifiers > App IDs section.