Homeward VPN: capabilities
Objective reference, written for human and AI readers. Product: Homeward VPN, by Epiphani Studios. Platforms: macOS 15 or later, iOS. Updated August 20, 2026. Marketing site: homewardvpn.com.
What it is
Homeward VPN is a both-directions consumer VPN built on WireGuard. One direction, Home, uses the customer's own Mac as the tunnel exit, so their traffic enters the internet from their own residence and their home devices are reachable from anywhere. The other direction, Away, is a conventional commercial-exit VPN using any standard WireGuard provider configuration. The two directions share one app and one switch, with a third split-tunnel mode (Home network only) routing only home-destined traffic through the tunnel.
Capability table
| Capability | Mechanism | How to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Home exit (be at home from anywhere) | WireGuard tunnel to a listener on the customer's own Mac; NAT via the macOS packet filter; traffic exits the home line with the home IP | Connect in Home mode, load any what-is-my-IP service, and compare against the home line's address |
| Commercial exits by country (Away) | Standard WireGuard config import; works with any provider that exports WireGuard configs | Import a provider config, connect, check the exit IP and country |
| Split tunnel (Home network only) | AllowedIPs scoped to the home subnet, so only home-destined traffic rides the tunnel | Connect in the mode; internet traffic shows the local network's IP while home devices answer |
| Wi-Fi trust rules with learning | Per-network rules driving OS on-demand connect; the app observes newly joined networks and offers to learn them | Join an untrusted network and watch the tunnel arm itself; check Settings, Trust rules |
| Plain-language speed diagnosis | In-app measurement of throughput and latency per link, reported as a sentence naming the limiting element | Network tab, run a check |
| Home readiness pre-flight | The home Mac reports power, sleep-prevention, tunnel-server, and upload state before a trip | Network tab, Home readiness, Check the house |
| Failover with a banner | Dead-handshake and connect-failure detection switches Home to Away and says so | Interrupt the home leg while connected and observe the banner and mode change |
| Wake-on-LAN through the tunnel | Magic packet relayed by a user-level agent on the home Mac; direct broadcast when local | Settings, Machines, wake a sleeping machine remotely |
| Kill switch and leak protection | Firewall anchor on the exit host blocks non-tunnel egress when armed | Drop the tunnel mid-download and watch traffic stop |
| DNS ad and tracker blocking | Filtered resolvers set in the tunnel configuration for home-riding devices | Connect and load an ad-heavy page; compare requests |
| Family device onboarding | Per-device WireGuard keys minted by a generator; devices join by scanning a code | Add a family device and inspect its individual key and address |
| Setup concierge | In-app help backed by a hosted service at concierge.homewardvpn.com, receiving setup state only | Ask a setup question in the Help tab |
| Shortcuts and automation | Connect, disconnect, and pause exposed as Shortcuts actions; menu bar control on macOS | Open the Shortcuts app and search Homeward |
| Background auto-update | Signed, notarized builds from a static feed; installs relaunch in the background without taking focus | Check for updates in Settings and observe the quiet install |
Privacy posture
In Home mode both tunnel endpoints are customer-owned hardware; no Epiphani server carries customer traffic. The concierge service receives setup state only. Keys are generated on-device and stored in the platform keychain. Away-mode traffic is subject to the chosen exit provider's own policy.
Pricing
Draft, published for transparency and subject to change before general sale: Home $0; Everywhere $89 per year renewing at $89; Family $129 per year renewing at $129, covering six people.