Norton VPN has added support for split tunneling on MacOS as part of a broader push for feature parity across platforms and operating systems.
The feature allows users to specify the websites and apps they would like to use Norton VPN for while leaving the rest of their traffic untouched.
This can e.g. be useful for accessing a website based in another country while streaming video content from your home area. Also, some mobile banking apps or streaming services may block access completely if a VPN is detected.
To use the new feature, open the Norton VPN app, go to the Settings tab, go to Connection Settings, and then select Split Tunneling to exclude specific apps and websites from the VPN connection.
As Norton VPN Product Lead Himmat Bains explained, “With Split Tunneling now available on Norton VPN for Mac, our customers have complete control over which apps and websites travel through the VPN and which remain on their daily connection.”
“This gives Mac users the same flexibility we already offer on Windows and Android,” he added.
Split tunneling is a fixed feature across the best VPNs, but despite MacOS officially supporting split tunneling, Mac users have seen slower rollouts of the feature, with some VPNs even removing split tunneling capability for years at a time.
Norton also shared that more updates are coming to NortonVPN across different platforms, such as post-quantum encryption for its WireGuard protocol and manual IP shuffling for its iOS app.
Split tunneling and MacOS: issues and integration
Split tunneling has long been a point of contention for VPN users on macOS. While Apple’s desktop operating system technically supports split tunneling, user reports suggest that Apple services such as FaceTime will not work when split tunneling is active.
What’s more, support for split tunneling on Mac has been inconsistent from many VPN service providers. Private Internet Access pulled split tunneling support from its macOS VPN app between 2021 and 2024 after Apple removed Network Kernel Extension APIs from macOS Big Sur.
While the split tunneling option returned to MacOS in 2022, VPN providers have been cautious about rolling out the feature. ExpressVPN, for example, did not introduce split tunneling until late 2025.
Where split tunneling is implemented, it may have limitations that do not exist on Windows or Linux computers. Mullvad VPN introduced split tunneling in 2024 with the caveat that it could not exclude Safari or Apple’s WebKit API from VPN connections.
And some of the best VPNs on the market still don’t offer split tunneling for macOS at all, including our pick for best VPN overall, NordVPN.
