- Mullvad VPN just added Lightweight WireGuard Obfuscation (LWO)
- Promises to defeat VPN blocks, without losing performance
- LWO is currently available on all desktop and Android platforms
Mullvad VPN has just added WireGuard Lightweight Obfuscation (LWO) to its WireGuard protocol connections. It aims to help users bypass increasingly sophisticated VPN blocks, such as those found on restrictive networks and national firewalls.
Even if WireGuard is completely blocked at the protocol level, LWO should help prevent it. However, the new feature is not only effective. It is also much less demanding than other obfuscation methods, allowing for fast connection speeds even on low-power devices.
How does WireGuard lightweight obfuscation work?
WireGuard Lightweight Obfuscation (LWO) is Mullvad’s newest anti-censorship feature. It is built directly above the WireGuard protocol.
Instead of wrapping traffic in additional layers, as other VPN obfuscation methods tend to do, LWO takes a more efficient approach.
“In general, obfuscation carries significant processing overhead, which impacts performance. LWO is extremely lightweight to the point that it can hardly be measured,” a Mullvad representative told TechRadar.
In practice, Mullvad explains, LWO encrypts WireGuard headers in place to prevent header fingerprinting. This makes LWO a suitable option for use in restricted networks where WireGuard is locked at the protocol level.
Even better, perhaps, these extra steps make your connection more resistant to censorship without slowing it down.
We are excited to add Lightweight WireGuard Obfuscation, which aims to help users bypass firewalls and censorship. This new feature is now available on all desktop and Android platforms. Read more here: https://t.co/tQg13bGRukNovember 12, 2025
The addition of LWO marks the fourth WireGuard obfuscation update for Mullvad. More recently, Mullvad also introduced QUIC obfuscation, which differs from LWO in one key respect.
“QUIC obfuscation wraps the WireGuard tunnel in a QUIC tunnel. This is computationally very expensive and impacts performance,” Mullvad told us, suggesting using QUIC obfuscation only “on restricted networks that limit most types of traffic but allow web traffic.”
QUIC was initially only available on desktop, but expanded to mobile devices in October, including Android and iOS apps.
These changes reflect Mullvad’s strong commitment to WireGuard. The VPN service will remove OpenVPN encryption in January 2026, making WireGuard its only encryption protocol.
How to enable the new LWO protocol in Mullvad?
LWO is currently available to Mullvad users on desktop and Android devices, but a Mullvad representative told us it will be coming to iOS in the first quarter of 2026.
LWO is activated if your device cannot connect otherwise, so the app will try to use LWO automatically after a few failed connection attempts.
If you want Mullvad to use LWO by default, you can enable it by going to Settings > VPN Settings > WireGuard Settings > Obfuscation > LWO.
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