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Split tunneling lets you decide app by app whether traffic goes through the VPN tunnel or directly out to the internet. It matters most when a service refuses to work over a VPN — Russian banking apps, government services, and some local marketplaces are the common cases — while you simultaneously need the tunnel for Instagram, Telegram, or YouTube.
How it works
DinoLink’s client maintains a per-app routing table. Apps you’ve added to the “through VPN” list send their traffic into the encrypted tunnel; everything else takes the device’s default route. The decision is enforced at the OS networking layer, not by the app itself.
On Android and Windows, split tunneling is per-app (you pick from a list of installed apps). On macOS and iOS, the same effect is achieved through per-destination rules and on-demand profiles, because Apple’s networking API doesn’t expose a per-app interface to third-party VPNs.
A common Russian setup
- Through DinoLink: Telegram, YouTube, Instagram, ChatGPT, work tools (Slack, Notion, GitHub).
- Direct, not through VPN: Сбербанк, Тинькофф, Госуслуги, СБП payment apps, local delivery (Яндекс.Еда, Самокат), local maps.
The split survives reconnects, sleep, and switching networks — it’s not just a “remember this choice” prompt.
See also
- Set up split tunneling — the click-by-click setup.
- The best VPN for Russia in 2026 — where split tunneling fits into a wider comparison.