Last week, we found evidence for a new VPN bypass functionality in an APK teardown of the Google One app for Android. It seems this feature is now starting to roll out to users. The feature will make it easier for users to bypass certain apps from the VPN without having to completely disable the VPN service altogether — which is what users had to do up until now.

Users who have received the VPN whitelisting feature are seeing a new “Allow app to bypass VPN” option appear under the VPN settings. When users click on this option, they will see a full list of installed apps. To add an app to the whitelist, users can click on the "+" button and tap "Save" at the top. Apps added to the whitelist will bypass the VPN and route their traffic over your phone's regular internet connection.

Google has also updated the support page for Google’s One’s VPN feature with a section on how to allow apps to ignore the VPN. The page notes that allowing apps to route over your regular internet connection instead of the encrypted VPN can be useful when an app or website doesn't play nicely with a VPN or if you can’t use your local network while VPN is connected.

Google One offers several benefits to its paying subscribers, including cashback on Google Play purchases, advanced photo editing tools in Google Photos, and more. In October last year, Google added the VPN feature as a complimentary perk for users subscribed to the 2TB or higher Google One plans.

The new VPN bypass option is currently rolling out to eligible Google One subscribers. Google One’s built-in VPN feature is limited to Android users in the US. We don't know if and when Google plans to extend this to more markets.

Google One Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
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Thanks for the tip and screenshots @daniel__hurley!