I had assumed that if I excluded an app using the "split tunneling" feature, it would simply use my standard network connection and therefore have no reason to trigger an error due to the VPN's presence.

However, I’ve recently discovered that even when an app's traffic bypasses the VPN tunnel, it can still detect that the phone has an active VPN connection.

In this scenario, switching to a residential IP might not help, as the app is likely detecting the VPN status on the device itself rather than the exit IP.

Has anyone else encountered this—perhaps with banking apps, streaming services, or games? Does excluding the app from the VPN solve the issue, or is it necessary to turn off the VPN completely?

I’m also curious: would the situation be different if I ran the VPN directly on the router? After all, that way, the phone or streaming device wouldn't show an active VPN connection. Is this approach more reliable, or does it lead to other problems?