Outbound 1.3.0 release notes: what’s new

New

Explore the Network Monitor’s traffic chart from one minute to a year, with totals for data sent and received and connections blocked in the period you choose.
Choose from a library of 60 privacy, advertising and malware blocklists.
Add blocklists with over a million entries; existing lists keep entries you edited or switched off when they move to the new format.
Turn a blocklist off without unsubscribing, check its refresh schedule and status, or refresh it immediately.
Search a blocklist’s entries, switch individual entries off and bring them back with Undo.
Keep the Network Monitor above other windows with Float on Top.
Hide local connections, network extensions such as VPN helpers, or connections without an identified process from the Network Monitor.
Focus the Network Monitor on an app, destination or country, then return to the previous view.
Open, edit, turn off or delete matching rules directly from an app or connection’s details.
See how often a rule has been used and when it last decided a connection.
Reset connection counters for an app or destination, and switch an app’s traffic display between totals and current speed.
Minimize connection alerts to a small countdown panel, with an option to keep new alerts minimized.
Use Stop Countdown to give a connection alert more time before it answers automatically.
See when an app has quit before you answer, and dismiss its waiting alerts together.
Connection alerts explain what allowing or blocking a connection will do, with the developer’s explanation when available.
When hiding an app or destination, choose whether to keep its connections listed or remove them from view.
Let individual rules show notifications or play sounds when they allow or block a connection; busy rules group their notices.
Preview imported rules, choose how to combine them with your own and undo the import.
Preview which rules an export will leave out and why.
Edit several rules together with one approval and one Undo.
Replay How to Read an Alert from Help for a guided explanation of connection alerts.
Optionally trust Apple’s installed simulator processes without answering each connection alert.
Answer waiting connection alerts and activate your licence from Terminal.
Customize Outbound’s Control Center with a grid of widgets for traffic, blocked connections and more, in small, wide or large sizes.
Open Control Center in its own floating window and assign it a keyboard shortcut.
Temporarily allow or block an app or connection, with a timer or until you log out or restart.
Review temporary decisions when they end and make the ones you want permanent.
Change a rule’s priority from its details, with a preview of what will change and Undo.
Allow a blocklisted connection for just one app, with separate confirmation before allowing it for every app.
See which blocklist entry blocked a connection and open or change that entry directly.
Browse your blocklists’ entries together and filter by use, enabled status or entries awaiting review.
See how often blocklist entries decided connections and when they were last used, where recorded.
Optionally mark newly added blocklist entries for review after updates.
Switch to Connection Log for a dated list of connections, with search filters, pause and follow controls.
Open the rule behind a logged connection, allow or block it, or copy its details.
Delete saved connection history for an app, destination or domain from the Network Monitor or Terminal, separately from hiding current connections.
See measured traffic totals for hidden connections while keeping their destinations hidden.
Prepare a recording of network traffic for troubleshooting, with time and size limits and a command to review before running it in Terminal.
Mute rule sounds for an hour or turn them off separately from answer sounds.
See why a rule is locked or inactive and where it came from.
Merge matching rules when editing, add notes, copy and paste rules, and find rules affecting an app.
Choose this Mac’s location on the map or find an approximate location with your permission.
See why a destination has no map location, including local addresses, published iCloud Private Relay ranges and missing location data.
Connection alerts show when an attempt began and let you choose an individual waiting request.
Alerts offer app actions and optional explanations, and use the answer duration you choose in Settings.
Filter connections by country, continent, user or rules awaiting review.
Choose more time ranges, sorting and grouping options, and copy or reset counters for several selections together.
Select a period in the traffic chart to focus the list, map and app details on that time.
Saved connection and traffic history is encrypted on your Mac, with its keys kept in Keychain.
Choose from a catalogue of encrypted DNS providers, with details about each provider’s operator, jurisdiction, filtering and logging policy.
Require DNS evidence before saved host and domain allow rules apply, with the setting on for new installations.
Alerts explain which destination names have supporting evidence.
Connection rows distinguish system traffic and traffic from other Mac users, with an option to hide your connection details from other users.
Scripted control of connection alerts is off by default and requires administrator approval; accessibility actions remain available.
Group connections awaiting review by app, domain, host or port.
Preview a broader rule’s scope and the connections awaiting review that it covers before saving it, and undo the change in one step.
Set upload and download speed limits for an app’s internet TCP connections from app details or Terminal. Speed limits stay on while the firewall is paused.
App details show data sent and received, connection summaries, countries and available details about the app’s signing certificate.
Choose how much time each traffic-chart bar represents.
Block unencrypted DNS connection attempts from apps while encrypted DNS is on, or add a block for one app.
Pause encrypted DNS for 15 minutes to sign in to a hotel or café network.

Improved

Settings now has a System Settings layout, with a sidebar, back and forward navigation, grouped options and help at the end of each page.
Connection alerts offer more remembered durations, including five minutes, one day and one week, and rules can cover your local network.
When an app’s identity cannot be verified or changes after approval, its details explain why and let you review the change before updating its rule.
Recent blocks in the menu bar open the rule that caused them and explain when that rule has changed or been removed.
Choose a menu bar icon with a graph of traffic over the last two minutes.
An empty Network Monitor explains which filters are hiding connections and offers Clear Active Restrictions to show them again.
Apps with many destinations offer Show All, and connection menus offer Copy, Filter and Focus with full names available when you point at them.
Tidy Rules and Insights find more duplicate rules and let you fix findings directly, with warnings when another rule overrides the one you are editing.
Automatic profiles can distinguish configured VPN servers and show more recognizable VPN names.
Activity rows give app and destination names more room, with small dots replacing full-row flashes for traffic and blocked connections.
Traffic charts have clearer controls, navigation and loading states, without repeated time labels.
Trackers show more recognizable company and app icons, with this Mac’s activity and blocking status first.
Tracker details include more known services and avoid showing zero servers when information is incomplete.
The island fits more neatly around the camera notch and is easier to read in light and dark appearances.
Highlights and share cards have clearer labels and illustrated passport stamps for 52 countries.
More privacy controls let you choose which connection details to share with AI tools.
Remote AI services require encrypted connections and cannot redirect requests to another server.
AI answers have clearer labels showing where they came from, including when Outbound used saved records.
AI settings explain which services write Analytics summaries and where chat runs.
Review setup choices before applying them, revisit them later and undo completed changes.
Traffic charts keep recent history after you quit or restart Outbound.
Administrators can remove Outbound data across user accounts, with a checklist showing what was removed or needs attention.
Inspect upload and download rates in the Control Center chart with the pointer, keyboard or VoiceOver, then open that moment in the Network Monitor.
Connection menus in Control Center and the menu bar can copy details and open the relevant connection or rule.
Blocklist updates run separately from the app with restricted access to your Mac.
Blocklist details have clearer status, readable update errors and a separate review action.
Overview recommendations show their full explanation.
Alert settings explain what happens in plain language.
Assistant setup commands wrap and remain selectable.
Organization management is easier to find in Settings.
The Network Monitor’s Summary has clearer traffic totals and connection counts.
Disabled rules stay readable, and sidebar counts and rule details align more clearly.
Tracking Report has larger text, more space, clearer app and company details, and more compact actions.
Earlier tracking decisions remain available to review and undo, and empty reports keep their time-range control.
DNS settings distinguish verified encryption from settings that have not been verified and show observed bypass attempts.
When the Network Monitor’s map is beside the list, app details float over it.
See recent unencrypted DNS connection attempts and choose domain exceptions for individual profiles.

Fixed

Automatic profile switching works again on macOS 26; after updating, Outbound may ask once about your usual Wi-Fi or Ethernet networks.
Background Spotlight and Focus updates no longer show error banners at launch; Spotlight keeps its indexing state and tries again when unavailable.
Traffic meters stay inside their tracks.
Kept compact and expanded connection rows aligned, including partially measured traffic and mixed allow and block states.
Centered empty states and added Back navigation to details panels.
Details panels retain their place when you switch sections and adapt to the window’s size.
The island’s connection notices show clearer maps, routes and app details.
Added clearer company icons in Trackers and Summary, including Hetzner.
Blocklist entries you switched off stay off when their list refreshes.
Incomplete destination traffic totals are clearly marked as “at least” the measured amount.
Live app traffic rates in the menu bar no longer read too low or go missing.
Recent blocks show the reason for the latest block.
Searching rules clears the details panel when the selected rule is no longer visible.
Improved singular and plural counts, number grouping, and German, French and Japanese report text.
Ask rules have their own symbol in the details panel, and long values can be read in full.
Map animations respect Reduce Motion, and repeated health notices are limited to once a day for each finding.
When a connected AI assistant quits, Outbound keeps its last message, such as a request to sign in again.
Closing a Terminal command also closes its waiting approval prompt without applying the change.
History and audit output from Terminal preserves small numbers and writes new entries promptly when saved to a file or passed to another app.
Traffic history and Assistant release cached data sooner, and background search avoids rebuilding unchanged entries.
Connection maps show more accurate destinations and pick up location-data updates without restarting.
Live chart ranges read Last 24 hours or Last 7 days; browsing older traffic shows its actual dates.
Corrected French punctuation and incomplete countdown sentences.
Settings starts directly below its toolbar and shows the account status in full.
Settings keeps a page you select under the pointer instead of scrolling it away.
Pending mode changes clearly identify the mode still in use.
Codex uses its own icon consistently in alerts, Activity and Connection Log.
Long translated labels and app names fit better in connection controls, blocklist headings, rule groups, Assistant settings and traffic summaries.
Assistant suggestion cards stay aligned in translated layouts.
App and blocklist timestamps follow your Mac’s date and time format.
Floating answer confirmations are replaced by messages in their window, with grouped macOS notifications when attention is needed.
Saved answers recover more reliably after a lost connection, and expired answers are no longer reported as waiting.
Expired temporary rules stay inactive after a restart.
Older automatically created blocklist exceptions appear in Review so you can check whether they should apply to every app.
Erasing connection history from Terminal also removes its rows from the app.
Reduced interruptions to allowed VPN connections, including Tailscale, while checking destination details or applying configuration changes.
Long names, controls and explanations fit more reliably in the menu bar panel, Control Center and island.
Map widgets have clearer geography and complete markers at their edges.
Traffic charts and legends are clearer in light appearance, and the app details panel keeps its final controls reachable.
Setup buttons stay readable while work is running, and repeated clicks do not start duplicate work.
The welcome screen follows light appearance.
The island uses recorded block decisions to announce recent blocks, including connections stopped by blocklists.
Expand controls, counts and bars line up in connection and tracker lists, and footers leave the last row visible.
App helpers have clearer names.
Settings controls align with their descriptions, and Labs previews and sample buttons remain visible.
The app details panel stays below the toolbar so the search area remains clear.
Erased connection history no longer reappears when older pages finish loading or the connection list is paused.

Requires macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon or Intel. Signed with Developer ID and notarised by Apple. You’ll need a licence key. See pricing.