Latency & Multi-Region

How AFK routes your sessions across regions and what affects the latency you see on your phone.

How Multi-Region Works

AFK runs backend servers in multiple regions around the world. When your desktop starts a session, it automatically connects to the nearest region based on your geographic location.

1.

Your desktop runs afk stream and connects to the nearest backend via geo-routing

2.

The session is registered with the region it connected to (e.g., San Francisco, Frankfurt, or Bangalore)

3.

Your phone opens AFK and fetches the session list, which includes the region for each session

4.

Your phone connects directly to the session's region for the lowest possible latency

All terminal data flows through the session's region. Your keystrokes go from your phone to that region, and terminal output comes back from that same region.

What Affects Latency

Geographic Distance

The biggest factor is the physical distance between your phone and the session's region. If your desktop is in San Francisco and you're watching from India, your keystrokes travel across the Pacific Ocean and back.

Typical round-trip times:

Same region: <30ms

Adjacent regions: 80-150ms

Opposite sides of globe: 200-350ms

Network Conditions

Mobile network quality (4G vs WiFi), ISP routing, and congestion all add variability. WiFi on a stable connection typically gives the best and most consistent latency.

Region Mismatch

If you're in a different geography than your desktop, the session is hosted in your desktop's nearest region — not yours. This is by design: the desktop generates the terminal output, so it should be close to the server processing it. Your phone connects across regions to reach the session.

Checking Your Latency

While viewing a terminal session, tap the ⋮ (more options) menu in the top-right corner and select Connection Info.

The diagnostics screen shows:

  • • Session region — where your desktop's session is hosted
  • • Your nearest region — the closest server to your phone
  • • Round-trip time — live latency measurements to each region
  • • Region mismatch warning — if your phone and desktop are in different regions, explaining the expected latency

Minimizing Latency

Use WiFi When Possible

WiFi typically provides lower and more consistent latency than mobile data.

Same Geography

When your phone and desktop are in the same part of the world, they'll connect to the same region and latency will be minimal (<30ms).

Cross-Region Is Fine for Monitoring

Even with 200ms+ latency, AFK is designed for monitoring and occasional interaction. Terminal output streams smoothly because AFK buffers and compresses the data. Latency is only noticeable when typing.

Available Regions

AFK currently operates in these regions:

🇮🇳

Bangalore

Asia & Oceania

🇺🇸

San Francisco

Americas

🇩🇪

Frankfurt

Europe, Africa & Middle East