# MTProto Proxy on Mobile: The Real Battery, Data, and Background Cost

A proxy is not a VPN. On a phone, that distinction is everything.

**Battery.** An MTProto proxy runs inside Telegram. No TUN interface, no system daemon, no always-on encrypted tunnel. It only burns power while Telegram is actually sending or receiving data. Expect roughly 3-5% extra drain during an hour of active Telegram use. A VPN keeps a virtual network device alive, re-encrypts packets from every app, and wakes the radio just to hold the tunnel open. That's 10-25% extra daily drain depending on how much you use your phone.

**Data.** A proxy forwards only your Telegram traffic plus a small obfuscation header. With fake-TLS you also get TLS frame padding. Real-world overhead is about 1-3%. A VPN routes all app traffic, so you pay overhead on everything — and a distant server means more TCP retransmits. On a 5 GB plan, the difference is roughly 100 MB a month. Not massive, but non-zero.

**Background behavior.** This is the part most people get wrong. Push notifications on both platforms go through the OS push service (APNs on iOS, FCM on Android), not through your proxy. When Telegram is suspended, the proxy is doing absolutely nothing. No persistent tunnel, no background wake-ups. The moment you open Telegram, the proxy reconnects, and that's it. A VPN, by contrast, sits in the background 24/7.

The flip side: no tunnel while suspended means no background drain, but also no bypass until Telegram itself connects. Force-killed app means zero connection, even with a working proxy.

**Quick setup, both platforms.**

Fastest path is tapping a `tg://` link. Telegram opens, shows a confirmation, done. The format:

```
tg://proxy?server=123.45.67.89&port=443&secret=ee0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
```

Manual setup: Settings → Data and Storage → Proxy Settings → Enable Proxy → MTProto. Same three fields on iOS and Android: server, port, secret.

One detail that matters: a secret starting with `ee` enables fake-TLS — that's what you want in China, Russia, and places with serious DPI. A `dd` secret is the older obfuscated mode, faster on some networks but easier to detect. If one fails on your carrier, try the other.

Also: a proxy that works