How to allow local traffic to bypass VPN

[PlasmaRocket]

I use the OpenVPN Connect app on my Android devices to route my internet traffic through commercial VPN Service providers (Private Internet Access and IPVanish).

I can access the internet through the VPN with no issues. Problem is, while I'm connected, my device cannot communicate with other devices on my Local Area Network (LAN). For instance, if I use ES File Explorer app to open a folder on my Network Attached Storage (NAS), I get a timeout error. When I disconnect from the VPN, everything works.

Another VPN client, "OpenVPN for Android", does not suffer this limitation. It appears to be able to distinguish which packets to send to the VPN server, and which packets to send to the LAN devices (same Android device, same ovpn file). Digging through the options for this app, I noticed a setting titled "Bypass VPN for local networks" that controls this behavior.

Unfortunately, for my use case, I cannot switch to the OpenVPN for Android app. Its UI for connecting/disconnecting is too complex to be useful on my streaming box (Amazon Fire TV) where I have only a remote to navigate (no mouse, no touch).

Is it possible to configure the OpenVPN Connect client to bypass the VPN for LAN communications? Alternatively, is there an OpenVPN client for Android that has this feature and works reliably and is easy to use with just a remote?

I have looked for answers in this forum and found that the question has been raised before but never answered.

Please help if you can. I have no networking experience so please be explicit.