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

[Smigit]

Why not just use a PiHole or a service like nextdns.io it covers every device with way more flexibility?

In regards to PiHole you answered the question yourself later on...it covers “your” network. If your device is mobile then chances are much of the time is spent on other networks and unless you’re going to create a VPN and connect back to your home permanently, your access to PiHole ends as soon as you walk out the door. It’s a great product and I use it myself, but I still have on device filtering for mobile devices for that very reason.


That DNS option you posted looks interesting but it also carries a subscription cost so if this is free then I’m semi inclined to use PiHole at home across the entire network and then some on-device options for my mobile systems. Home desktop, TV, Console etc all can get serviced by PiHole but this or similar covers you on the go.

Again could set up a VPN to home but I’d likely see a huge performance hit in doing so compared to my 4G speeds.

curious how this compares to AdGuard which has some system wide options for various devices.

 

[QuarterSwede]

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!)

Its probably coded in SwiftUI which is only in Catalina.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

The positioning of that on/off button within the outer circle is going to keep me awake tonight. 🤦‍♂️

Am I missing something? It looks centered to me.

 

[macintoshmac]

The positioning of that on/off button within the outer circle is going to keep me awake tonight. 🤦‍♂️

You just had to point that out, right, instead of giving that feedback to developers quietly? But yes, I saw it too in the screenshots. It stands out in a bad way but it is most likely centred.
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Am I missing something? It looks centered to me.

View attachment 894227

Yes, it seems to be one those times when something looks off but is otherwise spot on.

 

[nicho]

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.

 

[Smigit]

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.

Yeah this is very common. Not sure of the term but it’s about centering based on how it’ll be perceived more so that actually making sure each element is in a certain bounds. Tends to go based on where the weight of the object is and where the eye will in turn be drawn, which in this case is the circle.

here’s an old article about it relating to numbers such as 1 for calendar icons.

 

[vmachiel]

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!)

they are probably using some catalyst stuff. They have no choice but to require Catalina.

 

[DDustiNN]

Wait wait wait... all iOS apps? Does this mean it will block the massively intrusive ads that interrupt YouTube and Facebook videos?? I’d pay good money for that feature.

 

[Pektin]

I have it always on on iphone ( only the free firewall, not the paid tunnel), doesnt seem to introduce any lags. Seems a great open source project.
Only thing I noticed:
Nord with ikev protocol introduces quite a lot of lags to my phone, when i open, close browsers, websites. when i switch there to open vpn protocol (inside nord app) everything has a lot less lags.
But then lockdown goes off. Also in settings > vpn lockdown is in a group together with nord ovpn ,
Nord ike is in another group ( personal vpn) , it can run together with lockdown.
Adguard is also running always.. would much prefer ublock origin ( which seems to have the best reputation), there android users have the best choice.

Anyway thanks to the great open source project lockdown, will install on macbook.

 

[akuma13]

I thought this would block ads on Hulu. I guess not lol.

 

[jennyp]

So I downloaded this app from the MAS, launched it (on Mojave 10.14.6), and all it does is throw up a dialog box saying "No Lockdown Data Detected ... Ensure you are signed into the same iCloud account as Lockdown on iOS to view your accounts". Only way to quit is via Activity Monitor force-quit. "Accounts"? What?

UPDATE: Wrong "Lockdown" app ! oops!

 

[Release]

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

Wow. Can you explain the process for adding this list? I'm not sure how to do it. Thanks.

 

[rahulda1]

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!
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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.
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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.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

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.

I beg to differ. This is the MacBook keyboard. I know a few other examples that centers the whole icon, not the circle.

 

[Dayo]

Wow. Can you explain the process for adding this list? I'm not sure how to do it. Thanks.

See https://help.obdev.at/littlesnitch/lsc-rule-group-subscriptions.

 

[nicho]

I beg to differ. This is the MacBook keyboard. I know a few other examples that centers the whole icon, not the circle.

View attachment 894287

Here's something more recent that is centered...

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Here's something more recent that is centered...

View attachment 894326

Interesting... My example was from the MacBook keyboard so it's not exactly old. I would imagine the current MacBook Air has the same alignment. After going through a few more it seems that there is no consistency among manufacturers. Apple seems to prefer centered circles for circular buttons. Admitted centered circles look more balanced in a circular frame.


New Mac Pro:

iMac

SurfaceBook:

Nintendo Switch:

Sony Xperia:

 

[nicho]

Interesting... My example was from the MacBook keyboard so it's not exactly old. I would imagine the current MacBook Air has the same alignment. After going through a few more it seems that there is no consistency among manufacturers. Apple seems to prefer centered circles for circular buttons. Admitted centered circles look more balanced in a circular frame.


New Mac Pro:
View attachment 894334

iMac
View attachment 894335

SurfaceBook:
View attachment 894344


Nintendo Switch:

View attachment 894339

Sony Xperia:

View attachment 894343

Thanks for the research - this icon is pretty much exactly like the one in the switch yet this looks weird and that doesn't. I guess colour plays a part.

Current mac laptops don't have a power key at all.

 

[Smigit]

I beg to differ. This is the MacBook keyboard. I know a few other examples that centers the whole icon, not the circle.

View attachment 894287

I think the Mac one looks ‘right’ to the naked eye though and that’s probably due to the fact the part of the circle that is missing is substantially bigger on the keyboard icon than it is in the application icon, which is missing just a very minor wedge. As such the impact of the vertical line varies somewhat between the two icons in determining where the icons mass is situated. The app icon with very little cut away at the top makes the circle far more dominant than some other examples where there’s almost 45 degrees of the circle missing.

Also think having the power icon inside another circle vs a rectangle has a big impact on what looks right.

 

[donlab]

You can build your own with a raspberrypi running pihole and pivpn.

 

[iRutherford]

Not sure. This seems like the kind of thing that Apple would support.

Like Steam Link? Stuff that would compete with Apple's services, or introduces features Apple wants to implement natively on future iOS release?

 

[dukebound85]

this doesn’t seem to want to work with 1.1.1.1

will work with PIA however

 

[Kabeyun]

Like Steam Link? Stuff that would compete with Apple's services, or introduces features Apple wants to implement natively on future iOS release?

I’ve been using the similar Little Snitch for forever. Still there.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Has anyone tried 'Pi-Hole'? It's obviously not mac based, but I've been thinking of trying it to get a handle on the junk I experience.

pi-hole.net

 

[Plutonius]

I thought this would block ads on Hulu. I guess not lol.

You can always pay for ad free Hulu.