diff --git a/src/ol/VectorTile.js b/src/ol/VectorTile.js
index 9d18626e1e..7c79cbc36f 100644
--- a/src/ol/VectorTile.js
+++ b/src/ol/VectorTile.js
@@ -105,7 +105,9 @@ class VectorTile extends Tile {
     if (this.state == TileState.IDLE) {
       this.setState(TileState.LOADING);
       this.tileLoadFunction_(this, this.url_);
-      this.loader_(this.extent, this.resolution, this.projection);
+      if (this.loader_) {
+        this.loader_(this.extent, this.resolution, this.projection);
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/ol/source/VectorTile.js b/src/ol/source/VectorTile.js
index 8fb5496cce..c82d5951e4 100644
--- a/src/ol/source/VectorTile.js
+++ b/src/ol/source/VectorTile.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import VectorRenderTile from '../VectorRenderTile.js';
 import Tile from '../VectorTile.js';
 import {toSize} from '../size.js';
 import UrlTile from './UrlTile.js';
-import {getKeyZXY} from '../tilecoord.js';
+import {getKeyZXY, fromKey} from '../tilecoord.js';
 import {createXYZ, extentFromProjection, createForProjection} from '../tilegrid.js';
 import {buffer as bufferExtent, getIntersection, intersects} from '../extent.js';
 import EventType from '../events/EventType.js';
@@ -52,6 +52,17 @@ import {listen, unlistenByKey} from '../events.js';
  *   });
  * }
  * ```
+ * If you do not need extent, resolution and projection to get the features for a tile (e.g.
+ * for GeoJSON tiles), your `tileLoadFunction` does not need a `setLoader()` call. Only make sure
+ * to call `setFeatures()` on the tile:
+ * ```js
+ * const format = new GeoJSON({featureProjection: map.getView().getProjection()});
+ * async function tileLoadFunction(tile, url) {
+ *   const response = await fetch(url);
+ *   const data = await response.json();
+ *   tile.setFeatures(format.readFeatures(data));
+ * }
+ * ```
  * @property {import("../Tile.js").UrlFunction} [tileUrlFunction] Optional function to get tile URL given a tile coordinate and the projection.
  * @property {string} [url] URL template. Must include `{x}`, `{y}` or `{-y}`, and `{z}` placeholders.
  * A `{?-?}` template pattern, for example `subdomain{a-f}.domain.com`, may be
@@ -159,6 +170,51 @@ class VectorTile extends UrlTile {
 
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Get features whose bounding box intersects the provided extent. Only features for cached
+   * tiles for the last rendered zoom level are available in the source. So this method is only
+   * suitable for requesting tiles for extents that are currently rendered.
+   *
+   * Features are returned in random tile order and as they are included in the tiles. This means
+   * they can be clipped, duplicated across tiles, and simplified to the render resolution.
+   *
+   * @param {import("../extent.js").Extent} extent Extent.
+   * @return {Array<import("../Feature.js").FeatureLike>} Features.
+   * @api
+   */
+  getFeaturesInExtent(extent) {
+    const features = [];
+    const tileCache = this.tileCache;
+    if (tileCache.getCount() === 0) {
+      return features;
+    }
+    const z = fromKey(tileCache.peekFirstKey())[0];
+    const tileGrid = this.tileGrid;
+    tileCache.forEach(function(tile) {
+      if (tile.tileCoord[0] !== z || tile.getState() !== TileState.LOADED) {
+        return;
+      }
+      const sourceTiles = tile.getSourceTiles();
+      for (let i = 0, ii = sourceTiles.length; i < ii; ++i) {
+        const sourceTile = sourceTiles[i];
+        const tileCoord = sourceTile.tileCoord;
+        if (intersects(extent, tileGrid.getTileCoordExtent(tileCoord))) {
+          const tileFeatures = sourceTile.getFeatures();
+          if (tileFeatures) {
+            for (let j = 0, jj = tileFeatures.length; j < jj; ++j) {
+              const candidate = tileFeatures[j];
+              const geometry = candidate.getGeometry();
+              if (geometry.intersectsExtent(extent)) {
+                features.push(candidate);
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    });
+    return features;
+  }
+
   /**
    * @return {boolean} The source can have overlapping geometries.
    */
@@ -232,7 +288,7 @@ class VectorTile extends UrlTile {
               sourceTile.load();
             }
           }
-          covered = false;
+          covered = covered && sourceTile && sourceTile.getState() === TileState.LOADED;
           if (!sourceTile) {
             return;
           }
diff --git a/test/spec/ol/source/vectortile.test.js b/test/spec/ol/source/vectortile.test.js
index f5e6883baf..e7eff460e4 100644
--- a/test/spec/ol/source/vectortile.test.js
+++ b/test/spec/ol/source/vectortile.test.js
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ import {listen, unlistenByKey} from '../../../../src/ol/events.js';
 import TileState from '../../../../src/ol/TileState.js';
 import {getCenter} from '../../../../src/ol/extent.js';
 import {unByKey} from '../../../../src/ol/Observable.js';
+import Feature from '../../../../src/ol/Feature.js';
+import {fromExtent} from '../../../../src/ol/geom/Polygon.js';
 
 describe('ol.source.VectorTile', function() {
 
@@ -354,4 +356,68 @@ describe('ol.source.VectorTile', function() {
 
   });
 
+  describe('getFeatuersInExtent', function() {
+
+    let map, source, target;
+
+    beforeEach(function() {
+      source = new VectorTileSource({
+        maxZoom: 15,
+        tileSize: 256,
+        url: '{z}/{x}/{y}',
+        tileLoadFunction: function(tile) {
+          const extent = source.getTileGrid().getTileCoordExtent(tile.tileCoord);
+          const feature = new Feature(fromExtent(extent));
+          feature.set('z', tile.tileCoord[0]);
+          tile.setFeatures([feature]);
+        }
+      });
+      target = document.createElement('div');
+      target.style.width = '100px';
+      target.style.height = '100px';
+      document.body.appendChild(target);
+      map = new Map({
+        target: target,
+        layers: [
+          new VectorTileLayer({
+            source: source
+          })
+        ],
+        view: new View({
+          center: [0, 0],
+          zoom: 0
+        })
+      });
+    });
+
+    afterEach(function() {
+      map.setTarget(null);
+      document.body.removeChild(target);
+    });
+
+    it('returns an empty array when no tiles are in the cache', function() {
+      source.tileCache.clear();
+      const extent = map.getView().calculateExtent(map.getSize());
+      expect(source.getFeaturesInExtent(extent).length).to.be(0);
+    });
+
+    it('returns features in extent for the last rendered z', function(done) {
+      map.getView().setZoom(15);
+      map.once('rendercomplete', function() {
+        const extent = map.getView().calculateExtent(map.getSize());
+        const features = source.getFeaturesInExtent(extent);
+        expect(features.length).to.be(4);
+        expect(features[0].get('z')).to.be(15);
+        map.getView().setZoom(0);
+        map.once('rendercomplete', function() {
+          const extent = map.getView().calculateExtent(map.getSize());
+          const features = source.getFeaturesInExtent(extent);
+          expect(features.length).to.be(1);
+          expect(features[0].get('z')).to.be(0);
+          done();
+        });
+      });
+    });
+  });
+
 });