'Lockdown' Firewall App That Lets You Block Ads and Trackers in All Apps Expands to Mac - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

'Lockdown' Firewall App That Lets You Block Ads and Trackers in All Apps Expands to Mac

by

Lockdown, a popular open source firewall app that's designed to let users block any connection to any domain, is now available for Macs in addition to iOS devices.

Launched on the iPhone back in July, Lockdown blocks ad tracking services, analytics platforms that monitor device usage, ads, and more across all apps that you use (rather than just Safari like most ad blockers). Lockdown on iOS has blocked more than a billion trackers for Lockdown users, according to developer Rahul Dewan.

lockdown
Lockdown for Mac is designed to be as simple and as customizable as the iOS version of the app. The app comes with a pre-installed list of recommended domains to block to prevent tracking, such as Facebook tracking and analytics tracking options from companies like Google and Mixpanel, but custom lists can be added as well.

lockdown2
The app is free to use, and since it operates on device, there is no user data collection. Lockdown is designed by the developers behind Duet Display, and it is monetized through an optional Secure Tunnel VPN service.

Lockdown can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

84 months ago
The positioning of that on/off button within the outer circle is going to keep me awake tonight. 🤦‍♂️
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
84 months ago

Tried to download it, but it "requires" Catalina...



Little Snitch only blocks/allows/monitors network traffic and connections. This blocks ad tracking that is used to target you with advertisements and analytics that are sold to marketing firms.
This app is definitly not needed if you have Little Snitch. This morning I just created my own Little Snitch rule blocking the 555 domains that Locknote is blocking (you can find the list on their github). But if you are looking for very good list for Little Snitch (with much much more domains blocked than Locknote), take a look at

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/naveednajam/Little-Snitch---Rule-Groups/master/unified_hosts_base/sb_unified_hosts_base.lsrules

or

https://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/serverlist.php?hostformat=littlesnitch-rule-group-subscriptions&mimetype=plaintext
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
84 months ago

The positioning of that on/off button within the outer circle is going to keep me awake tonight. 🤦‍♂️
Dammit! Cannot unsee. :mad: You are a monster for pointing that out.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
84 months ago

Am I missing something? It looks centered to me.
Power icons like this generally have the circle centered, without regard for the positioning of the bit that sticks up (if it does actually protrude). Your diagram shows that this is not the case here.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
84 months ago

100 Dollar subscription cost per year vs. one time.
It is only a subscription for a VPN upgrade. Our firewall is free and open source!


Lockdown for iOS is great when it’s working. Problem is, it’ll stop functioning randomly but appear to still be blocking URLs as intended. I’d hoped they’d address this before launching other projects.

For the Mac I’m wary of installing Lockdown. I used to use Duet display, made by the same developers according to the article, and enjoyed it. Until one day the Genius Bar traced kernel panics I had been having back to Duet as the source and told me to get rid of it. As soon as I did the problems went away.
Hey there - creator of Duet Display here. I am so sorry about this issue, but it was actually a macOS bug that caused a kernel panic for a very small number of users, so there was nothing we could do. We did not require any code changes, but they helped us resolve the issue in a future OS update and it has been resolved for some time now.


Its probably coded in SwiftUI which is only in Catalina.
Yes, this is exactly it. We are very limited on resources, and SwiftUI really helped us accelerate development for the macOS version.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pafoofnik Avatar
84 months ago

Tried to download it, but it "requires" Catalina...

Yep. I'm told that it'll run on my MacBook Pro (yippee!) but it requires MacOS 10.15 and a 64-bit processor. I guess my MacOS 10.14.6 and a 64-bit processor doesn't make the grade. (boo!)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Wednesday July 29, 2026 11:39 am PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system that is essentially a mix of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In a report this week, he said the operating system will feature a grid of icons, widgets, and apps, along with customizable clock faces. The new software platform is intended for Apple's long-rumored smart home hub. With built-in facial recognition,...
imac video apple feature

Apple Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever This Year

Wednesday July 29, 2026 12:03 pm PDT by
Apple this year acquired Israeli startup Q.ai for close to $2 billion, according to the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone maker Beats in 2014. This is also the largest known Apple acquisition since the company purchased Intel's smartphone modem business and patents for $1 billion in 2019. Q.ai...
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

iPhone 18 Pro: Twelve Changes Coming to Apple's Next Flagship

Thursday July 30, 2026 3:43 am PDT by
We're less than two months out from the launch of Apple's premium next-generation smartphone lineup, and while we're not expecting a dramatic change in terms of functionality, there are still several enhancements rumored to be coming to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth noting is that Apple is reportedly planning a major change to its iPhone release cycle this year,...

🔗 Related Apple News & Rumors

Stay updated with the latest Apple ecosystem news and verified rumors