While you may well be familiar with virtual private network apps, you might not have come across one of the best features available inside these privacy protectors: a feature called split tunneling.

In simple terms, split tunneling lets you choose which apps or sites use the protection of a VPN and which don't. While VPNs are worth using for extra security and privacy online—foiling trackers, spoofing your location, and stopping your internet provider from seeing your browsing—they do by their nature come with some compromises in speed.

If, for example, you want to get the fastest possible speeds with your online games, you might want to leave your games outside of the VPN's remit. Likewise, since VPNs typically obfuscate your actual location, if you want to make sure you can always check movie showtimes in your local area, you can use split tunneling to keep those ticketing apps outside your VPN. Putting a VPN in place can also interfere with access to other devices on your local network, like smart home gadgets and printers.

For all these reasons, you might want the extra control that split tunneling gives you, and it's available in a lot of VPN packages. Here's what you need to know about it.

VPNs work by offering an encrypted bridge for data going to and coming from the web. This bridge means your internet provider, law enforcement agencies, and people connected to the same Wi-Fi can't see what you're doing online. Split tunneling lets you route some online traffic away from that bridge, without you having to constantly turn your VPN on and off.

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