macOS: support "Access devices by name" (mDNS/Bonjour) for LAN connections, like Windows already has
The Windows app has "Access devices by name" (Settings → Connection → Advanced → Allow LAN connections), which resolves local hostnames via mDNS/Bonjour while connected. The macOS app has no equivalent - "Allow LAN connections" only permits unicast IP traffic to the same subnet, not multicast/mDNS, so hostname resolution to LAN devices fails while connected.
Workaround is using the device's IP address instead of its hostname, which works but is a real papercut for anyone routinely accessing local devices (NAS, RDP targets, printers) by name while on VPN.
Requesting macOS parity with the Windows "Access devices by name" feature. Confirmed with Proton support (ticket #5116245) that this is a known gap with no timeline.
Ben
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Ben
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Update: found a workaround that's better than IP address - appending .local to the hostname (e.g. *mydevice.local* instead of *mydevice*) resolves via mDNS and connects instantly, even with Proton VPN connected.
Tested across 3 configs:
Allow LAN on with split tunneling off,
Allow LAN on with split tunneling on (app excluded),
and Allow LAN fully OFF with split tunneling off.The .local resolution worked in all three, including with Allow LAN disabled entirely. Only the bare hostname (no .local suffix) still fails with error 0x104, same as originally reported.
This suggests the VPN tunnel doesn't actually intercept mDNS/multicast traffic (224.0.0.251) at all, regardless of the Allow LAN setting - it's unicast DNS specifically that gets routed through the tunnel and fails to resolve local hostnames. So native "access by name" support may just need the client to try mDNS/.local resolution instead of relying on plain unicast DNS for the bare hostname.
Leaving the request open since Proton support (ticket #5116245) described this as an unsupported gap with no timeline, but documenting this for anyone else hitting the same issue in the meantime.