NetMute
The question was never “which app is called Spotify”
A name search answers a question you already know the answer to. The interesting questions are the other shape: which apps send data to China, which ones talk to this specific host, how many separate paths one advertising company has into this machine.
The search field now answers those directly.
The syntax, in full
- `country:cn`: apps that connect to servers in China
- `host:doubleclick`: apps that contact this host
- `company:google`: everywhere one company sits inside your Mac
- `country:us -company:apple`: a minus excludes
Several terms are ANDed: each one narrows the result further. Anything without a colon stays the plain name search you already use, so `slack` still finds Slack.
The syntax is optional in the strictest sense: nobody who never learns it loses a capability they had before.
What people actually search for
`country:` after reading about a company's data practices, to see whether anything on your own Mac connects there.
`host:` after a name shows up somewhere else, in a news story or another tool's log, to find every app on this Mac that reaches it.
`company:` for the question that is hardest to answer by hand: one company usually shows up under a dozen different domains, and the name search finds none of them.
Data you cannot query is decoration
NetMute already knew which host, which country and which company sat behind every connection. Until now that knowledge was only browsable: you could see it once you had found the right app, which meant it answered questions you already knew to ask.
A query language turns the same data around: you start from what you want to know and the app finds the rows. Nothing new is collected for this. It is the record NetMute already keeps, finally addressable.
Key benefits
- country:, host: and company: as field terms in the normal search box
- Multiple terms are ANDed, so each one narrows the result
- A leading minus excludes: country:us -company:apple
- Terms without a colon behave exactly as the name search always did
- Runs against the data on your Mac: nothing is sent anywhere to be searched
Frequently Asked Questions about Smart Search
Do I have to learn the syntax?
No. Anything without a colon is the plain name search. The field terms are an addition, not a replacement. If you never type one, nothing about searching changed.
Can I combine several terms?
Yes, and they are ANDed: country:us -company:apple means servers in the US, excluding everything attributed to Apple.
Where does the country and company information come from?
From the same attribution NetMute already shows on each connection, resolved on your Mac. Searching does not send your queries or your traffic anywhere.