Radio Silence 3.4 — macOS

Some apps phone home when you least expect it. Radio Silence is a small firewall and network monitor for Mac that lets you stop that, one application at a time. It does not nag you with alerts or clutter the menu bar — there is no icon up there at all.

Block a specific app

The main job is simple. You pick an installed app and press the Block Application button. That is it. The app can no longer reach its servers or any other internet address, while everything else keeps working as usual.

See what is being blocked

The Firewall tab lists every app you have blocked. When something tries to connect, it shows up there, so you can keep an eye on what is happening without digging through logs.

Pause the firewall when needed

Sometimes you need to let something through temporarily. You can pause the firewall for a while, then turn it back on when the task is done. The app also shows connections started by applications, so you get a clear picture of network activity before deciding what to block.

Control individual app connections without complex firewall rules

If you have ever installed an app and wondered later why it is sending data across the network, you are the audience. Radio Silence is useful for anyone who wants control over individual app connections without learning complex firewall rules. It is also handy for anyone managing an older Intel Mac that has been passed down to a younger family member, because you can block telemetry from apps they do not need phoning home.

For office users, especially in a small shop like mine, it is a straightforward way to keep accounting software, PDF tools and utilities from sending data when they should be quiet. No need to configure a network-wide firewall or mess with system-level settings. You just block what you do not trust and move on.

Guidance during setup for permissions on macOS Tahoe

The latest update, version 3.4, focuses on making the installation process more reliable on newer macOS versions. If you are running macOS Tahoe, the app now gives you guidance during setup so you know exactly what permissions are needed and why. That saves time compared to hunting through System Settings on your own.

• Better handling of installation errors — if something goes wrong during setup, the app explains what happened rather than leaving you with a generic failure.
• Clearer feedback when permissions are missing. Instead of silently failing to block connections, Radio Silence shows you what is missing so you can fix it.
• A new help view appears if the app cannot launch properly. It includes troubleshooting steps specific to your situation, which is helpful on machines where previous firewall tools may have left conflicts.

None of these changes alter how you block apps day to day. The workflow is identical. But the setup experience is smoother, particularly if you are installing on a Mac that has just been updated to a major new OS version.

Lightweight app that doesn't slow boot or eat memory

Radio Silence requires macOS 10.15 or later and runs on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. The app is lightweight — it does not install a background daemon that eats memory or slow down boot time. Because there is no menu bar icon, it stays out of your way until you open it to check or change a block.

The interface is in English and the download comes as a standard disk image. You mount it and run the installation procedure. There are no extra kernel extensions or system-level hooks beyond what macOS itself provides for network filtering. That means uninstalling is as straightforward as dragging the app to the Trash — nothing lingers.

Because the firewall can be paused, you do not have to disable it entirely if a blocked app needs temporary access. That is useful for updates or one-time activations. Just pause, let it through, and resume blocking.

Stopping a label printer utility from phoning home

Here is a situation that comes up in my office. A label printer from a smaller manufacturer ships with a utility that checks for firmware updates every time the Mac is awake. The utility is not strictly necessary — the printer works fine without it — but it keeps sending small packets out every few minutes.

With Radio Silence, you open the app, find that printer utility in the list of running applications, click Block Application, and the traffic stops. The printer keeps printing. The utility keeps running locally. It just cannot reach the internet anymore. If you later need to update the printer firmware, you pause the firewall, run the update, and re-enable the block. Total time: maybe twenty seconds. No configuration files, no terminal commands, no network-wide changes.

That is the kind of use case where Radio Silence earns its place on a Mac. It does one thing, does not get in the way, and does not require you to learn firewall internals to stop a single app from phoning home.

• New help view with troubleshooting information if the app fails to launch.
• Better handling for installation errors and missing permissions.
• Installation guidance for macOS Tahoe.

• macOS 10.15 or later
• Works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs
• Interface language: English