Use cases

Guides for Controlling Your Mac's Network

Each guide answers one specific question end-to-end: how to block an app from the internet, how to see exactly what your Mac is sending, how to monitor network traffic per app. Short, screenshot-led, no fluff.

Block an app's outgoing traffic

The built-in Mac firewall blocks incoming connections only. Every app on your Mac can still phone home to whatever server it wants, and most do, dozens of times an hour. This guide explains why, walks through a free fix with real screenshots, and compares the four serious options honestly.

Does the macOS built-in firewall block outgoing connections?
Why doesn't macOS include an outbound firewall by default?
Will blocking an app's outgoing traffic break the app?

Read the guide

See where your data goes

Right now, apps on your Mac are sending data to servers you have never heard of: analytics, advertising, telemetry, sync. macOS gives you no way to see it. This guide shows how to watch every outbound connection in real time: which app, which company, which country.

Can I see where my Mac is sending data?
Does this show what is inside the data, or just where it goes?
Which countries does my Mac connect to?

Read the guide

Faster internet on the go

On a train, a phone hotspot or hotel Wi-Fi, your bandwidth is tiny and shared, and your Mac spends it on cloud sync, updates, backups and telemetry running in the background. Cut those off per app and everything you are actually doing gets faster.

Does blocking apps actually make my internet faster?
Which apps should I block on a train or hotspot?
Is this the same as TripMode?

Read the guide

Check that blocking really works

Blocking on a Mac has a quiet failure mode: the switch is on, the app says the filter is running, and one browser sails straight past it. This guide shows how to measure coverage per browser instead of trusting a green toggle, and how to read the result.

How can I tell if my Mac is actually blocking trackers?
Why would one browser be protected and another not?
My blocker shows a big number. Is that not proof?

Read the guide

On the road

On a hotspot, your Mac saves data on its own.

NetMute notices when you tether, pauses the apps you picked and counts every megabyte. When you leave the hotspot, everything goes back to how it was.