Norton VPN has added support for split tunneling in MacOS as part of a broader push to achieve feature parity across platforms and operating systems.
The feature allows users to specify which websites and apps they would like to use Norton VPN for, without modifying the rest of their traffic.
This can be useful, for example, to access a website located in another country while streaming video content from your home region. Additionally, some mobile banking apps or streaming services may block access entirely 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 Himmat Bains, product leader at Norton VPN, explained: “With Split Tunneling now available in Norton VPN for Mac, our customers have full 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 staple feature of the best VPNs, but even though MacOS officially supports split tunneling, Mac users have seen slower implementations for the feature, and some VPNs have even removed the split tunneling capability for years.
Norton also shared that more updates are on the way for NortonVPN across multiple platforms, such as post-quantum encryption for its WireGuard protocol and manual IP mixing 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 like 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 removed split tunneling support from its VPN app for macOS between 2021 and 2024, after Apple removed extension APIs from the macOS Big Sur networking kernel.
While split tunneling capability returned to MacOS in 2022, VPN providers have been cautious in rolling out the feature. ExpressVPN, for example, only introduced split tunneling in late 2025.
When implementing split tunneling, you may have limitations that are not present on Windows or Linux computers. Mullvad VPN introduced split tunneling in 2024, with the caveat that it couldn’t 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, including our pick for the best VPN overall, NordVPN.
