Trusted settings

Outbound ships with a set of allow rules called Trusted by default. They keep the Mac’s own plumbing and the VPNs you use from filling the screen with alerts, while every other connection is still decided by your rules. The Trusted page lists these groups and lets you switch each one off. See Trusted apps.

The page is disabled while Protect these settings is on and this session is locked. The organization’s rule-editing lock leaves the switches usable. See Security.

Trusted by default

The section is titled “Trusted by default”. One row per group: a toggle, the group’s name, its count, and a sentence on what it covers. Switching a group off removes its rules; switching it on installs them again. The count is what that group would install with the current snapshot, whether or not the switch is on. iCloud & Apple services counts domains. Apps you already have and VPN apps count apps. The other groups count rules.

Example data.

macOS services, shown as “1 rule”: “System processes signed by Apple, such as mDNSResponder, trustd and softwareupdated, where macOS keeps them. Command-line tools you run yourself, and copies of Apple programs elsewhere, are not included.” The rule matches Apple-signed code in the service locations macOS protects: /System/, /usr/libexec/, /usr/sbin/ and /Library/Apple/. Tools in /usr/bin and /bin, such as curl, ssh and python3, are not included, and neither is a copy you placed somewhere writable. On by default.

iCloud & Apple services, shown as “10 domains”: “Apple’s system services and built-in apps talking to apple.com, icloud.com and Apple’s content networks.” The ten domains are apple.com, icloud.com, icloud-content.com, mzstatic.com, apple-cloudkit.com, aaplimg.com, cdn-apple.com, apple-dns.net, apple-mapkit.com and apple-livephotoskit.com. A domain matches that name and its subdomains. Each domain is two rules: one for Apple-signed system code in the service locations above, and one for Apple-signed apps under /System/Applications/, /System/Library/, /System/Cryptexes/, /System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/ and /Library/Apple/. The row counts domains, not those twenty rules. On by default.

Apple apps, shown as “1 rule”: “Safari, Mail, Music and Apple’s other built-in apps. Apple apps you install yourself, such as Xcode or Pages, are asked about like any app.” The rule is Apple-signed apps in those protected app locations. One rule covers all of them. On by default.

Apps you already have, shown as “N apps”: “The signed apps in Applications right now, matched by developer and app identity. Apps you install later are not included.” Switching it on takes a moment, with a spinner while Outbound reads /Applications and one folder level below it. Apple-signed, ad-hoc and unsigned apps are skipped. Each app that remains becomes one allow rule for its team ID and signing ID. The group is then a snapshot that never grows on its own. Off by default, and until you turn it on the count is the snapshot, which starts empty.

Local network, shown as “1 rule”: “Connections to the local network. Off until you turn it on. A rule of your own still wins.” See Local network traffic. Off by default.

VPN apps, shown as “N apps”: “VPN and proxy apps you have installed, such as Tailscale or Mullvad, stay connected in every mode. Their tunnel only carries other apps’ connections, and each of those is still decided by its own rules. VPNs you install later are added.” Each detected VPN is one allow rule for its team ID and signing ID, any destination, both directions. A VPN needs this rule before its first connection. Installing one already took an administrator’s approval. On by default. The count follows the VPN apps found on this Mac.

Note

In Ask mode, a VPN that was not trusted would have every one of its flows held for a decision. The pause budget for that program then fills within a second, and the tunnel dies. Strict’s own description says the group stays: “VPN apps you have installed stay connected; turn this off in Trusted.”

Under the VPN row, Outbound lists the VPN apps it found, each by name. Hovering a name shows its signing ID and team ID. If none were found the row says “No VPN app found on this Mac.”

Simulator processes: “The simulated system’s own processes in the iOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS simulators you have installed, checked by Apple’s signature and their protected location. Off until you turn it on. Apps you build and run in a simulator are asked about like any app.” It is for Mac developers: turned on, the simulator’s own system services connect without alerts, while the app you are building still asks. Off by default.

How the groups work

The footer ties the Apple groups together: “Apple software is recognised by Apple’s signature and by where macOS keeps it, not by a checksum of the file, so a macOS update does not bring the alerts back. These rules appear in Rules under Trusted by default; a rule of your own always wins over them.”

So the groups are ordinary allow rules with a shared source. You can see them in the Rules window under the Trusted by default group. When one of these rules and a rule of your own both match, yours wins, which is also what the footer says. Block one connection and it stays blocked even while a group allows the app. See Rules in the main window and Rules.

Apple groups match Apple’s signature and those protected locations, not a checksum of the file, so a macOS update does not bring the alerts back. Apps you already have, and VPN apps, match the team ID and the signing ID, not the path. An update that keeps both still matches. A different team or a different signing ID does not.