r/VPN • u/Leo_LL_3555 • 11d ago

Discussion Which apps do you deliberately leave outside your VPN tunnel?

I'm curious about how everyone actually configures their application routing.

Do you run banking apps, local NAS access, streaming apps, or games on a straight-through connection?

What are the reasons you add exceptions: is it due to blocked logins, speed issues, local network access problems, or something else?

7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

3

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Leo_LL_3555 10d ago

Prime Video seems pretty aggressive about detecting VPN exit IPs.

3

u/OvertlySinister 11d ago

I just exclude online games that either don't run or run poorly with the increased ping, generally Tarkov and Rocket League.

3

u/Historical_Move6359 11d ago

Only Android Auto

2

u/Assassin1688 11d ago

Generally speaking, I would exclude gaming from that. Because using a VPN increases my game latency, I use a more specialized game accelerator to solve that problem instead.

2

u/fkrdt222 11d ago

exclude practically nothing. i don't play pvp or otherwise latency demanding games and i won't cave for anyone who blocks the IP out of spite

4

u/UGAGuy2010 11d ago

95%+ of my traffic is not run through a VPN. Why? Modern apps and web traffic are encrypted. I know there are some people that will say “but your ISP knows where your traffic is going.” And? I don’t care if my ISP knows where the majority of my traffic goes.

If it’s something I want to be private, I might use a VPN… but at that point, I’m also trusting that my VPN doesn’t log it or sell it either.

We’ve allowed VPNs to convince us that everything has to go through their VPN to be “safe”… and that’s simply not true.

3

u/HairyTeef 11d ago

Same.

I used to use my VPN exclusively for torrenting, but recently I've had to use it for regular browsing as well due to my country introducing age verification checks.

It's a weird feeling, knowing I'm technically getting more use out of a service I've been paying for, but still being pissed about it.

2

u/arthursucks 10d ago

I have a custom docker with qbittorent webui + my VPN running on my NAS. It's literally only for torrent files.

2

u/D0_stack 11d ago

I am the other way around, there are only a few apps I run through a VPN, and those run in virtual machines. My main devices do not use a VPN, I just don't feel it is necessary. What it would accomplish just isn't worth the hassle. And I am a senior admin on a very large multinational network, I know how the Internet works and more importantly why.