Justin Pot

Justin Pot Editorial Author

Experience

Justin Pot is a freelance journalist who helps people get more out of technology.

If you’ve ever searched online for a specific tech problem you’ve read Justin’s work, because he’s been doing it for a long time. Since 2009, he has written tutorials and essays about technology for outlets including WIRED, The Atlantic, PCMag, Popular Science, How-to Geek, and The Wall Street Journal. For Lifehacker, he mostly writes about software, with a particular focus on open source programs and indie apps.

Justin has a bachelor’s degree in Communications and International Relations. He once worked in marketing for a software company and hated it, but it did teach him a lot about why software tends to get worse over time in large companies. He lives in Oregon with his cat (and his wife). He enjoys brewing beer, exploring nature, and spending time with friends. You can follow Justin on Mastodon and Bluesky, or sign up for his newsletter, Connectivity.

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January 9, 2026 Add as a preferred source on Google

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Credit: Justin Pot

Table of Contents

Most people haven’t actively managed a firewall in at least a decade, assuming they ever have. But keeping track of which applications are using the internet—and how much data they’re using—is still useful at times, as is blocking apps from accessing the net entirely.

While you’re traveling, for example, internet access might be limited, so it’s a good idea to cut off applications that constantly churn through data. But even while at home, it’s a good security practice to review which applications are connecting to the internet. And while macOS comes with a firewall, it’s not really a useful tool for that.

Which is why I like FireWally. This totally free application, offered by the Ukraine-based indie Mac developers Nektony, isn’t a tool for power users—it’s streamlined and user friendly. Click the menu bar icon and you’ll see a list of applications using the internet. You can see a summary of all traffic today, in the past hour, or monitor incoming traffic in real time.

Beside every application is its data usage. You can see a breakdown of inbound and outbound traffic for any application by hovering the mouse over it. You can block any application from accessing the internet by toggling the switch.

What do you think so far?

Credit: Justin Pot

What if you don’t recognize an application? I, traditionally, ended up copying the name of the application and pasting it into a search engine. FireWally tries to save you some time by providing AI-generated summaries of each application using Apple Intelligence (assuming your Mac supports that feature). It’s a useful way to quickly remind yourself what a particular application is, or to identify one you don’t recognize.

It’s a very streamlined application, but perfect for anyone hoping to understand a bit more about how much data their various Mac applications are using. Give it a spin if you’re looking for a simple firewall application.

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