Blog
Guides to what your Mac is connecting to and what you can do about it, written for people who are not network engineers. No jargon, and no assumption that you already know what any of it means.
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How to Block an App's Internet Access on Mac but Keep It on Your Local Network
Let an app reach your printer, TV, speakers and other devices on your Wi-Fi while it can no longer reach the internet. Step by step in MiniFirewall, with what to expect and the two cases where it will not hold.
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How to Stop an App Scanning Your Local Network on Mac, and Keep Its Internet
macOS can switch off an app's access to your local network, with limits. Here is what that setting covers, what it misses, and how to block only the local network for any app or background program while its internet keeps working.
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Does Blocking an App on Mac Also Block the Programs It Runs?
Many Mac apps fetch things through helper programs and tools like curl. Why a firewall block on the app can miss them, how MiniFirewall covers them since 1.0.2, and why the cover never runs the other way.
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Why curl Is Connecting to the Internet on Your Mac, and Which App Started It
curl in your Mac firewall is almost always an app fetching something through a tool that ships with macOS. Why the firewall names the tool instead of the app, and how to find out who started it.
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A Firewall That Asks You Questions Does Not Work
Approve-or-deny prompts look like the thorough design and reliably produce the opposite. Why prompting firewalls train people to click Allow, and what to build instead.
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How to Block a Website on a Mac, and What Can Limit a Block
Browser extensions only cover one browser. Here is how to block a website for everything on your Mac, including apps, and what each method costs you.
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Does the Mac Firewall Block Outgoing Connections?
No. The firewall built into macOS blocks only incoming connections, and no setting inside it changes that. Here is what it does cover, and what you need for the other direction.
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Is My Mac Sending Data Somewhere? How to Actually Find Out
Your Mac talks to the internet constantly, and most of it is normal. How to tell ordinary system traffic from an app reporting on you, without guessing.
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Mac Firewall Comparison: Little Snitch, LuLu, Radio Silence and MiniFirewall
Five Mac firewalls compared on what actually differs between them: whether they interrupt you, what they can block, and who each one is genuinely built for.
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Little Snitch Alternatives: What to Use When the Prompts Wear You Down
Little Snitch is the most capable Mac firewall and the one people most often abandon. The alternatives, what each one trades away, and how to pick by how much attention you have.
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How to See What Apps Are Connecting to the Internet on Your Mac
Four ways to find out what your Mac is talking to, from Activity Monitor to the Terminal to a firewall app, with what each one can and cannot tell you.
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Sending or Receiving: Which Direction Should You Block?
Every firewall asks whether to block connections going out, coming in, or both. What the question means in plain terms, and the right answer for common cases.
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How to Stop an App From Connecting to the Internet on a Mac
The macOS firewall cannot do this. Here are the methods that work, from blocking a whole app to blocking one website and leaving the app running.
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What Mac System Traffic Is Normal? A Guide to the Names You Will See
trustd, nsurlsessiond, mDNSResponder and the rest. What each of these programs is, why it connects to the internet, and which ones you must never block.
MiniFirewall is a Mac app (macOS 13.0 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel) that shows recorded network connections and lets you create website, app, and address blocks. Some privacy settings hide website names and limit website blocking. It never interrupts you with connection-approval questions: nothing is blocked until you say so. Your traffic stays on your Mac. Nothing is collected, nothing is sold, and there are no ads.