Split tunneling lets you choose which apps or destinations route through the VPN and which use your normal internet connection.
Explanation
Full-tunnel VPNs route every packet on your device through the tunnel — thorough for privacy, but wasteful of bandwidth when you only need the VPN for one specific service. Split tunneling routes some traffic through the VPN and lets other traffic go direct. You can split by application (VPN this browser, direct for that video call) or by destination (VPN for Netflix, direct for local network). The tradeoff is complexity — every rule is a potential leak — and the security question of what happens if a split rule is misconfigured. For unblocking one service, a web proxy in a browser tab is a lighter alternative to split-tunnel VPN because it naturally only routes the one tab.
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