TL;DR: Split tunneling lets you route some apps through the VPN and others through your normal connection. It speeds up everyday tasks, keeps local devices accessible, and avoids region locks on banking apps. LiMP VPN gives you per-app control with ready-made profiles.
You turn on a VPN — and all your internet traffic flows through an encrypted tunnel. That sounds secure, but in practice it isn't always convenient. A banking app may block logins from a foreign IP, local services stop working, and speed drops for every program at once. That's exactly what app filtering — known in English as split tunneling — is designed to solve. Let's break down how it works and why it matters.
What Is Split Tunneling
Split tunneling is a VPN feature that lets you divide your traffic into two streams. Some apps run through the VPN tunnel, while others use your regular internet connection directly. You decide what to protect and what to let bypass the VPN.
Imagine a plumbing system with two pipes. One carries "filtered" water (traffic through the VPN), the other carries regular water (a direct connection). You decide which tap (app) uses which pipe. That's split tunneling in everyday terms.
Why You Need App Filtering
Saving Speed and Bandwidth
When all traffic flows through the VPN, the load on the tunnel is maximized. A Zoom video call, cloud file uploads, app updates — all of them consume VPN server bandwidth. With filtering, you can route only what truly needs protection through the VPN and give everything else direct access. The result is a noticeable speed boost for everyday tasks.
Access to Local Services
Many devices on your home network — printers, NAS storage, smart-home hubs — are only accessible via a direct connection. If all traffic goes through the VPN, you can lose access to these devices. Split tunneling solves the problem: smart-home apps work directly, while your browser runs through the VPN.
Banking Apps
This is where app filtering really shines. Say you're traveling abroad and connected to a VPN server in a European country to access international content. But your home-country bank blocks logins from foreign IPs. With split tunneling, you can route your banking app through a dedicated server in your home country and keep everything else on the nearest server. Each app gets the optimal route.
How It Works Under the Hood
Technically, split tunneling is implemented at the operating-system level. The VPN client creates a virtual network interface and configures the routing table so that traffic from specific apps goes through the VPN interface while everything else uses the regular one. On mobile devices (Android, iOS), native APIs let you specify a list of apps for the VPN at the system level.
There are two approaches to filtering:
- Allowlist (inclusive mode) — only the apps you select use the VPN, the rest go directly.
- Blocklist (exclusive mode) — everything uses the VPN except the apps you exclude.
Both modes are useful depending on your situation. If you only need to protect your browser and messenger, the allowlist is more convenient. If you want to protect everything except your banking app, use the blocklist.
Real-World Use Cases
Here are concrete scenarios where app filtering makes life easier:
- Remote work: corporate VPN for work apps, while personal traffic (YouTube, Spotify) goes directly. No speed loss, full security where it matters.
- Streaming + banking: Netflix through a VPN server in the right country, banking app through a server in your home country. Both work simultaneously without conflicts.
- Gaming: online games are sensitive to latency (ping). Route the game directly, while browsers and messengers go through the VPN.
- Torrenting: the download client uses the VPN for anonymity, everything else goes directly for speed.
App Filtering in LiMP VPN
In LiMP VPN, app filtering is implemented as simply as possible. In settings you'll see a list of installed apps, and for each one you can choose a mode: "via VPN", "direct", or "default" (follows general settings). Switching happens instantly — no need to reconnect to the server.
LiMP VPN also offers ready-made profiles: "Travel" (banking through your home country, everything else through the nearest server), "Work" (work apps via VPN, personal apps direct), and "Streaming" (video services through the target country). You can create and save your own profiles too.
Conclusion
App filtering turns a VPN from a blunt instrument into a precise one. Instead of forcing all your traffic through the tunnel, you manage each app individually. That saves speed, fixes banking-app compatibility issues, and gives you full control over your internet. Try split tunneling in LiMP VPN — setup takes a couple of minutes, and you'll feel the difference right away.