Watchtower for Mac app icon
Available now

Per-app traffic & live connections

Block by domain, IP or app

Daily data limits for hotspots

Included in Mac App Membership

Get Watchtower and every other SunTeame Mac app for $9/month or $99 once.

Network Monitor & Firewall for Mac

Watchtowerfor Mac

See everything your Mac sends online. Block what you don’t want.

Your Mac talks to the internet all day, and most of it happens out of sight. Watchtower puts it on screen: today’s total, live download and upload speed, who is online right now and every host each app is connected to. When something should not be online, block it by domain, by IP address or subnet, or by app — or just get notified. On a phone hotspot, give a profile a daily limit and Watchtower warns you before the data runs out.

Screenshots

See Watchtower in action

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Key features

Why choose Watchtower

Shows which apps on your Mac use the network, where they connect and how much data they use. Block a domain, an address or a whole app in one click, and set daily data limits for hotspots.

  • Live download and upload speed, with data used today per app and in total

  • Every open connection: host name, address, port, protocol and volume

  • Blocking rules by domain, IP address or subnet, or app

  • Daily data limits for each profile and budgets for individual apps

  • Home, Café and Hotspot profiles that switch automatically on an expensive network

  • Alerts for new apps going online, risky ports and unusually large uploads

In detail

Everything Watchtower can do

Monitor

The overview shows today’s total, live speed and anything that needs your attention. Open the app list to see who is online right now, and open any app to see every host it is connected to.

  • Live download and upload speed, with a three-minute chart
  • Data used today, per app and in total
  • Every open connection: host name, address, port, protocol and volume
  • Current speed in the menu bar

Block

When something should not be online, block it. Rules take effect on new connections straight away through a system-level network filter. If you only want to keep an eye on something, set the rule to notify instead.

  • Rules by domain, IP address or subnet, or app
  • Block or just get notified
  • Rules can apply to all profiles or only some
  • Blocked connections are recorded in the journal

Limit

On a phone hotspot every megabyte counts. Give a profile a daily limit, give hungry apps their own budget, and Watchtower warns you before the data runs out.

  • Daily data limit for each profile
  • Daily budget for individual apps
  • Warnings at 80% and 100%
  • Optional: stop traffic automatically when a limit runs out

Profiles

  • Home, Café and Hotspot, each with its own limits and alerts
  • Switches to Hotspot automatically on an expensive network, and back again afterwards

Alerts

  • A new app connects to the internet for the first time
  • Connections on risky ports such as Telnet, RDP or VNC
  • Unusually large uploads
  • A rule you set to notify is triggered

Journal

  • Searchable history of connections, alerts, blocks and changes

Private by design

Watchtower does not send your network data anywhere. Statistics, rules and history are stored locally on your Mac — no cloud and no analytics.

Requirements

macOS 14.6 or later · Mac with Apple silicon · Blocking uses a network extension, which macOS asks you to approve once in System Settings

Languages

English and Russian

Technical foundation

Built with SwiftUI and Apple’s Network Extension framework — a system-level content filter that applies your rules to new connections.

Use cases

Where Watchtower fits

  • Find the app that is eating your data

  • Stop background traffic on a phone hotspot

  • Block telemetry and ad domains system-wide

  • Get alerted when a new app goes online

FAQ

Watchtower questions

How do I see which apps are using the internet on my Mac?

Open Watchtower. The app list shows who is online right now and how much data each app has used today, and opening an app shows every host it is connected to, with address, port, protocol and volume.

How do I block an app from accessing the internet on a Mac?

Add a rule for the app in Watchtower. Rules work by app, by domain, or by IP address or subnet, and they apply to new connections straight away through a system-level network filter.

Can Watchtower limit data usage on a phone hotspot?

Yes. Give the Hotspot profile a daily limit and give hungry apps their own budget. Watchtower warns you at 80% and again when the limit runs out, and can stop the traffic for you once a limit is reached.

Does Watchtower send my network data anywhere?

No. Statistics, rules and history are stored locally on your Mac. There is no cloud and no analytics.

Why does macOS ask me to approve an extension?

Blocking uses Apple’s Network Extension framework, so macOS asks you to approve the Watchtower filter once in System Settings.

Is Watchtower an alternative to Little Snitch or TripMode?

It covers the everyday jobs of both: per-app traffic and live connections, blocking rules by domain, address or app, and daily data limits with profiles for home, café and hotspot networks.