Split tunneling is a feature that routes traffic from websites, services, and applications on a device in such a way that one part goes through the VPN and the other goes directly through the ISP. It is especially relevant for people living in countries under strict online censorship, such as Russia, Iran or China.
Some services track VPN use or are unavailable outside of their home country. As a result, when a VPN is enabled, certain websites and apps may slow down or block access altogether. Split tunneling brings those services back on track.
Instead of turning your VPN on and off whenever you switch between blocked and unrestricted services, you can split your traffic and use both at the same time, for example, listening to a podcast from another country while ordering food locally.
Available to all Amnezia users
In our services, split tunneling works a bit differently depending on the product. For example, in the Free version, it is enabled by default. We automatically route traffic from more than 200 different blocked resources through the VPN, while the rest goes through the ISP.
Self-hosted users can set up tunneling manually. We will explain how to do that further in this article.
Depending on the operating system, the Amnezia VPN app supports two types of split tunneling: by application or by IP address/subnet. Both options also offer two modes: you can choose a list of applications or IP addresses that must go through the VPN, or a list that must bypass it.
Thus, depending on which device and which product you use, you can configure the feature for both websites and applications, as well as choose which of them will go through the VPN and which will go directly through your regular connection.
How to set up split tunneling
When you start an app or go to a website, your device connects to its IP address. Each resource has its own set of IP addresses, and that set can contain just a few addresses or thousands, as with large services like YouTube. That is why, when setting up split tunneling, it is important to include the full IP range. Otherwise, the site may not be accessible. Specifying a domain, such as youtube.com, is not enough.
We recommend using the iplist service. It lets you generate a file containing all IP addresses and subnets of specific resources, for example, those blocked in Russia.
Let’s look at how to set up split tunneling on different operating systems.
Windows, macOS, iOS, and Linux
For these systems, we recommend configuring split tunneling by IP addresses/subnets and using the mode “Only the sites listed here will be accessed through the VPN.”
- Go to iplist.
- Select the Amnezia format and the IP zone data type IPv4 (CIDR).
- Check the boxes next to the resources you need, e.g., Instagram.
- Download the generated file and import it into the app by following the instructions.
This way, only the resources you specify will use the VPN tunnel, while all the rest will go directly through your ISP. We recommend this method since it saves time and effort.
If site-based split tunneling is not available on Windows, we recommend using a separate browser for governmental and other resources allowed in your country. Add said browser to App split tunneling. In Amnezia VPN, this feature currently works in only one mode: the apps you add to the list do not use the VPN.
Just as one domain is not enough to access a website, an .exe file alone is not enough for an app to work. To set up split tunneling on Windows, you will need the AppNetworkCounter tool — it will identify the browser executable file in EXE format. Add the resulting file to the split tunneling app settings. This way, the browser you choose will open all the websites without using a VPN.
Our instructions explain in detail how to identify the files that a given app uses to access the internet.
Android
For this OS, we recommend using both types of split tunneling — by IP addresses/subnets and by applications.
At the time of publication, configuring the feature only for websites is not enough to hide the fact that you are using a VPN. Even if you create an additional spaceA separate desktop working as an independent user account on your smartphone and install sensitive apps there, those apps may still detect that a VPN is enabled and stop working until it is turned off.
To reduce the risk of exposing the VPN server’s IP address and, as a result, having it blocked, we recommend setting up split tunneling for both websites and applications.
As with Windows, we recommend using the “Only the sites listed here will be accessed through the VPN” mode. Split tunneling by IP addresses or a subnet is configured in the same way as in Windows. To set up tunneling by application, go to the feature settings and add the apps you need from the list.
Keep in mind that some apps may not appear in the list because Android does not always treat them as separate apps. In that case, add the Google app to split tunneling and access the service through it.
Divide and conquer
Split tunneling is necessary first and foremost to make blocked and allowed resources work side by side. For example, Russian authorities have required large companies to identify users of VPN services, and this feature can help reduce the risk of a VPN server being blocked if its IP address is exposed.
Our team is working actively to automate the necessary protections and make our VPN servers harder to detect. The AmneziaVPN app helps you access both restricted and whitelisted services at the same time, while preventing restricted services from learning the VPN server’s IP address.
We also recommend disabling location tracking in all apps. That makes it harder for censors to detect that you are using a VPN at all.
We’ve also prepared detailed instructions for setting up split tunneling on different devices in our documentation.
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