A little help
seeing clearly.

Install MacShield

MacShield supports Apple Silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 15 or later. Network monitoring requires approval of its system extension and content filter in System Settings.

Download the current DMG, drag MacShield into Applications and open it. The download is a universal app for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Approve the network filter

Choose Enable Filter in MacShield. Follow the macOS prompts to approve its system extension and network content filter in System Settings. macOS may ask for an administrator’s approval.

Wait for MacShield to report Filter active. An inactive preview or demo screen does not mean the network filter is running.

Find an app or destination

The main window groups traffic by app. Expand an app to see its processes and destinations. Use the search field or ⌘F to filter apps, domains or IP addresses, and use the time-range menu to explore recent activity.

Open a traffic chart for upload and download details. Historical activity stays on your Mac. Active and closed connections are shown separately.

Create your own block rules

MacShield monitors by default. Only enabled rules that you manually add to the Block List can block connections. Use app rules or specify a domain or IP address. Wildcard domains such as *.example.com are supported.

An explicit app exception applies to the existing block rules you select. A general Allow List entry does not override every block rule. Disable or remove a manual block rule when you no longer want it to apply.

Some encrypted connections do not expose a destination hostname. Use an app or IP rule when the name is unavailable.

Read the destination map

Use the map button in the title bar or ⌥⌘M to show destinations. Select an app to focus its connections, then select a destination for more details.

Locations come from IP-address estimates and are approximate. The Mac hub and paths are illustrative, independent of your device location. Local-network connections, observed Private Relay hostnames and unknown locations have separate summaries.

The bundled DB-IP City Lite database supports local IP-location lookups. Apple Maps may load background map tiles. Traffic history and rules remain on this Mac; packet contents are not stored.

Set up the menu bar

Open General settings to choose Graph, Graph & Speed, or Speed. You can show arrows, launch at login, hide the Dock icon and allow background monitoring.

Open the menu-bar panel for speeds, totals and Recently Blocked. Demo data is explicitly labeled and does not change your real block rules.

Updates and help

Use Check for Updates in the MacShield menu, or download the latest stable DMG. Update checks and automatic installation preferences are available in Updates settings.

For help, include your macOS version, MacShield version and a short description. Remove private connection details from screenshots and logs.