01
The software itself
- Shadowrocket
- A network client on iPhone / iPad. Search this exact name in the store. Some Chinese-speaking communities nickname it 小火箭 (“Little Rocket”)—that is not the app name.
- Client
- Responsible for “how traffic goes”: it reads the line you give it, asks the system for VPN, then forwards by mode. It does not assign addresses or rent bandwidth.
- One-time purchase
- What you pay in the store is a license for this copy of the app, paid once. That’s a separate bill from a node plan. The app still being there does not mean the tunnel is still alive.
- App ID
- The official App Store ID is a fixed
932747118. Similar name, wrong ID—this is not the one. - Restore purchase
- After a new phone or reinstall, recover the app in the store with the Apple ID that paid. iCloud alone may not bring back the VPN configuration.
02
Where the line comes from
- Node
- One exit: host, port, password, and transport. Each row in the list is usually a node. This site does not provide any.
- Subscription
- A provider-controlled URL. The client fetches it on a schedule and refreshes the whole set at once. Whoever holds the link can change your exit.
- Parameters / manual entry
- With no subscription, type host, port, and password by protocol. Fine for a short test; a poor fit for a service whose lines change every day.
- QR code / clipboard
- Two doors for importing a single share. Whatever you scan or paste lands in the list. Ask where it came from before you ask whether it connects.
- Speed test
- Latency and whether it times out—used to pick a row that can relatively handshake. Green does not mean pages will be fast; it only means this hop is still alive.
Whether a node expired or data ran out is a question for the provider who gave you the subscription. Tapping Update in the client will not resurrect an expired plan.
03
Three stances
- Config
- Split by rules: tunnel what should tunnel, leave the rest local. Daily use should stay here.
- Proxy
- Close to global—traffic goes into the tunnel when it can. Good for asking “missed rule, or the node itself?” Not a good default.
- Direct
- Turn the instrument off. Use it to compare: can the phone itself get online. You can stay here when you’re done; it doesn’t have to run all day.
- VPN configuration
- The normal iOS permission for apps in this class. The first connect prompts; confirm with Face ID or a passcode. Allowing only means traffic can be taken over. With no node, pages will not improve.
- Switch on
- Only means the system tunnel is up. You still need a handshake, a fitting mode, and whether this site should go through the tunnel.
Order: pick a node, pick a mode, then flip the switch. Matching steps are in tutorial section 05.
04
Split routing and names
- Rules
- A map: which domains tunnel, which go Direct, which are dropped. Many subscriptions ship one. Two maps stacked tend to get slower the more you tweak.
- Split routing
- Cutting traffic by rules. Daily Config is this job. If an app won’t open, switch to Proxy first to see if a rule was missed.
- DNS
- Where a domain is resolved first. A bad fill shows up as “switch on, this site still won’t come out.” Prefer the value your provider wrote; empty is usually safer than a random fill.
- DoH / DoT
- Two ways to encrypt DNS queries. Turn them on with documentation; don’t stack several at once.
05
Don’t mix these in
- IPA / enterprise certificates / paid sideload
- Side-door install channels. They can change profiles, read your nodes, and brick themselves when they expire. Not the same thing as the official App Store app.
- MITM / HTTPS decryption
- Install a certificate and split open encrypted traffic. That’s a repair bay, not a default config. Leave it off if you don’t understand certificate chains.
- Heavier tools
- The same class has options that go deeper on rules, scripts, and rewrite. Shadowrocket’s place is to get split routing clear first; reach for a heavier instrument when that isn’t enough.
- Official Android / desktop
- None. Similarly named packages are unrelated. This site also doesn’t point to any non-iOS substitute.
Any “free lines from the official site” have nothing to do with this app. This site does not give out nodes, subscriptions, or invite codes.