diff --git a/app/src/main/java/network/grape/service/GrapeVpnService.java b/app/src/main/java/network/grape/service/GrapeVpnService.java
index 9c45da30..c95b6a2c 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/network/grape/service/GrapeVpnService.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/network/grape/service/GrapeVpnService.java
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@
 import java.net.Socket;
 import java.net.UnknownHostException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
+import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue;
+import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import network.grape.lib.PacketHeaderException;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -132,7 +136,9 @@ void startTrafficHandler() throws IOException {
     SessionHandler handler = new SessionHandler(sessionManager, new SocketProtector(this));
 
     // background thread for writing output to the vpn outputstream
-    vpnWriter = new VpnWriter(clientWriter, sessionManager);
+    final BlockingQueue<Runnable> taskQueue = new LinkedBlockingQueue<>();
+    ThreadPoolExecutor executor = new ThreadPoolExecutor(8, 100, 10, TimeUnit.SECONDS, taskQueue);
+    vpnWriter = new VpnWriter(clientWriter, sessionManager, executor);
     vpnWriterThread = new Thread(vpnWriter);
     vpnWriterThread.start();
 
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/network/grape/service/VpnWriter.java b/app/src/main/java/network/grape/service/VpnWriter.java
index 845db944..882ce469 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/network/grape/service/VpnWriter.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/network/grape/service/VpnWriter.java
@@ -36,19 +36,6 @@ public class VpnWriter implements Runnable {
   private ThreadPoolExecutor workerPool;
   private volatile boolean running;
 
-  /**
-   * Construct a new VpnWriter.
-   *
-   * @param outputStream the stream to write back into the VPN interface.
-   */
-  public VpnWriter(FileOutputStream outputStream, SessionManager sessionManager) {
-    this.logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(VpnWriter.class);
-    this.outputStream = outputStream;
-    this.sessionManager = sessionManager;
-    final BlockingQueue<Runnable> taskQueue = new LinkedBlockingQueue<>();
-    workerPool = new ThreadPoolExecutor(8, 100, 10, TimeUnit.SECONDS, taskQueue);
-  }
-
   /**
    * Construct a new VpnWriter with the workerpool provided.
    *
@@ -63,6 +50,14 @@ public VpnWriter(FileOutputStream outputStream, SessionManager sessionManager,
     this.workerPool = workerPool;
   }
 
+  boolean isRunning() {
+    return running;
+  }
+
+  boolean notRunning() {
+    return !running;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Main thread for the VpnWriter.
    */
@@ -70,7 +65,7 @@ public void run() {
     logger.info("VpnWriter starting in the background");
     selector = sessionManager.getSelector();
     running = true;
-    while (running) {
+    while (isRunning()) {
 
       // first just try to wait for a socket to be ready for a connect, read, etc
       try {
@@ -87,7 +82,7 @@ public void run() {
         continue;
       }
 
-      if (!running) {
+      if (notRunning()) {
         break;
       }
 
@@ -103,7 +98,7 @@ public void run() {
             processUdpSelectionKey(key);
           }
           iterator.remove();
-          if (!running) {
+          if (notRunning()) {
             break;
           }
         }
diff --git a/app/src/test/java/network/grape/service/VpnWriterTest.java b/app/src/test/java/network/grape/service/VpnWriterTest.java
index 1a0010ae..d68fba6d 100644
--- a/app/src/test/java/network/grape/service/VpnWriterTest.java
+++ b/app/src/test/java/network/grape/service/VpnWriterTest.java
@@ -10,12 +10,20 @@
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
+
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.DatagramSocket;
 import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.nio.channels.DatagramChannel;
+import java.nio.channels.FileChannel;
 import java.nio.channels.SelectionKey;
+import java.nio.channels.Selector;
+import java.nio.channels.ServerSocketChannel;
+import java.nio.channels.SocketChannel;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Disabled;
@@ -127,12 +135,9 @@ public void sessionConnected() throws IOException {
 
   @Test
   public void testProcessSelector() {
-    FileOutputStream fileOutputStream = mock(FileOutputStream.class);
     Session session = mock(Session.class);
     SelectionKey selectionKey = mock(SelectionKey.class);
-    ThreadPoolExecutor workerPool = mock(ThreadPoolExecutor.class);
-    SessionManager sessionManager = mock(SessionManager.class);
-    VpnWriter vpnWriter = new VpnWriter(fileOutputStream, sessionManager, workerPool);
+    VpnWriter vpnWriter = spy(new VpnWriter(fileOutputStream, sessionManager, workerPool));
 
     when(selectionKey.isValid()).thenReturn(false);
     vpnWriter.processSelector(selectionKey, session);
@@ -185,4 +190,107 @@ public void testProcessSelector() {
     vpnWriter.processSelector(selectionKey, session);
     verify(session, Mockito.times(1)).setBusyWrite(true);
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void runTest() throws InterruptedException, IOException {
+
+    // base case, nothing back from the selector
+    VpnWriter vpnWriter = spy(new VpnWriter(fileOutputStream, sessionManager, workerPool));
+    Selector selector = mock(Selector.class);
+    when(sessionManager.getSelector()).thenReturn(selector);
+    when(vpnWriter.isRunning()).thenReturn(true).thenReturn(false);
+    Thread t = new Thread(vpnWriter);
+    t.start();
+    t.join();
+
+    // exception on select
+    vpnWriter = spy(new VpnWriter(fileOutputStream, sessionManager, workerPool));
+    selector = mock(Selector.class);
+    when(selector.select()).thenThrow(IOException.class);
+    when(sessionManager.getSelector()).thenReturn(selector);
+    when(vpnWriter.isRunning()).thenReturn(true).thenReturn(false);
+    t = new Thread(vpnWriter);
+    t.start();
+    t.join();
+
+    // exception on select + interrupt in handler
+    vpnWriter = spy(new VpnWriter(fileOutputStream, sessionManager, workerPool));
+    selector = mock(Selector.class);
+    when(selector.select()).thenThrow(IOException.class);
+    when(sessionManager.getSelector()).thenReturn(selector);
+    when(vpnWriter.isRunning()).thenReturn(true).thenReturn(false);
+    t = new Thread(vpnWriter);
+    t.start();
+    // there is a chance thread scheduling will be bad and the interrupted exception be thrown
+    // in time here, but its okay.
+    Thread.sleep(100);
+    t.interrupt();
+    t.join();
+  }
+
+  @Test public void runTestSelectionSet() throws InterruptedException {
+    // non-empty iterator
+    Set<SelectionKey> selectionKeySet = new HashSet<>();
+    SelectionKey udpKey = mock(SelectionKey.class);
+    DatagramChannel udpChannel = mock(DatagramChannel.class);
+    when(udpKey.channel()).thenReturn(udpChannel);
+    selectionKeySet.add(udpKey);
+
+    SelectionKey tcpKey = mock(SelectionKey.class);
+    SocketChannel tcpChannel = mock(SocketChannel.class);
+    when(tcpKey.channel()).thenReturn(tcpChannel);
+    selectionKeySet.add(tcpKey);
+
+    SelectionKey serverSocketKey = mock(SelectionKey.class);
+    ServerSocketChannel serverSocketChannel = mock(ServerSocketChannel.class);
+    when(serverSocketKey.channel()).thenReturn(serverSocketChannel);
+    selectionKeySet.add(serverSocketKey);
+
+    VpnWriter vpnWriter = spy(new VpnWriter(fileOutputStream, sessionManager, workerPool));
+    doNothing().when(vpnWriter).processUdpSelectionKey(any());
+
+    Selector selector = mock(Selector.class);
+    when(sessionManager.getSelector()).thenReturn(selector);
+    when(selector.selectedKeys()).thenReturn(selectionKeySet);
+    Thread t = new Thread(vpnWriter);
+    t.start();
+    when(vpnWriter.isRunning()).thenReturn(true).thenReturn(false);
+    when(vpnWriter.notRunning()).thenReturn(false);
+    vpnWriter.shutdown();
+    t.join();
+  }
+
+  @Test public void runTestNotRunning() throws InterruptedException {
+    // base case, nothing back from the selector
+    VpnWriter vpnWriter = spy(new VpnWriter(fileOutputStream, sessionManager, workerPool));
+    Selector selector = mock(Selector.class);
+    when(sessionManager.getSelector()).thenReturn(selector);
+    when(vpnWriter.isRunning()).thenReturn(true).thenReturn(false);
+    when(vpnWriter.notRunning()).thenReturn(true);
+    Thread t = new Thread(vpnWriter);
+    t.start();
+    t.join();
+  }
+
+  @Test public void runTestNotRunningNonEmptyIterator() throws InterruptedException {
+    // non-empty iterator
+    Set<SelectionKey> selectionKeySet = new HashSet<>();
+    SelectionKey udpKey = mock(SelectionKey.class);
+    DatagramChannel udpChannel = mock(DatagramChannel.class);
+    when(udpKey.channel()).thenReturn(udpChannel);
+    selectionKeySet.add(udpKey);
+
+    VpnWriter vpnWriter = spy(new VpnWriter(fileOutputStream, sessionManager, workerPool));
+    doNothing().when(vpnWriter).processUdpSelectionKey(any());
+
+    Selector selector = mock(Selector.class);
+    when(sessionManager.getSelector()).thenReturn(selector);
+    when(selector.selectedKeys()).thenReturn(selectionKeySet);
+    Thread t = new Thread(vpnWriter);
+    t.start();
+    when(vpnWriter.isRunning()).thenReturn(true).thenReturn(false);
+    when(vpnWriter.notRunning()).thenReturn(false).thenReturn(true);
+    vpnWriter.shutdown();
+    t.join();
+  }
 }