Speed test

MeowX has a built-in network speed test. It measures latency, download and upload speed through a node you choose, or directly to see what your own connection can do.

Unlike the latency chips on the Nodes tab, which only time a tiny request, the speed test tries to fill your bandwidth for several seconds.

Opening the speed test

iPhone and iPad

Tap the speed card on the Home tab (the card with the upload and download rates; a small gauge icon sits in its corner).

Mac

Click the traffic overview at the top of the panel’s Nodes tab, or go to Settings › Tools › Network speed test.

MeowX must be connected. The test runs inside the proxy engine, so while disconnected the page asks you to connect first.

Running a test

1. Pick what to test through. The row at the top of the gauge card shows the node; tap it (Change) to choose another.
   • Direct is always at the top of the list: “Test this device’s network without a node (DIRECT)”.
   • Below it, every node in your subscription, with a search field.
   • Proxy groups cannot be chosen, only individual nodes or Direct, so you always know exactly what was measured.
   • By default MeowX picks the node your traffic is currently using (the current exit on the Home tab).
2. Pick a source (the server to test against): Google, Apple, Speedtest or Cloudflare.
3. Pick threads: Single thread (default) or Multi-thread (8), which opens 8 connections at once.
4. Tap Start test. Tap Stop to cancel.

The gauge shows the current phase and speed live. Under it, MeowX shows which server it is testing against, which node it goes via, the node’s exit location and IP, and how much data has been used so far. The traffic also appears in the Home tab’s speed chart.

Caution

A speed test can use hundreds of megabytes in 10 to 20 seconds. On iPhone and iPad, if you are on a metered network such as cellular data, MeowX asks you to confirm first (“Continue test” / “Cancel”).

How it measures

1. Latency: several small requests on the same connection; the median is reported. If the first attempt fails, it is retried once.
2. Download: 10 seconds. The first 2 seconds are ignored (connections need time to ramp up) and the rest is averaged. The peak is the best 1-second window.
3. Upload: 10 seconds, measured the same way. Skipped for Google.

Downloaded data is discarded as it arrives, but it still counts against your data plan and your provider’s quota.

Note

The test goes straight from the chosen node to the test server, without consulting your rules. This is deliberate: in Rule mode, a site like dl.google.com may be routed direct by your subscription, and testing “through the rules” would then measure your local line instead of the node.

Sources

Source	Server	Measures	Notes
Google	A ~1 GB file on dl.google.com, fetched in chunks	Download only	Large and stable; the most reliable download measurement. Listed first
Apple	Apple’s network quality servers (the same ones used by macOS’s networkQuality tool)	Download and upload
Speedtest	Ookla Speedtest servers	Download and upload	MeowX asks speedtest.net for the servers nearest to the node’s exit, pings a few and uses the fastest
Cloudflare	speed.cloudflare.com	Download and upload	Each download is capped at about 60 MB, and Cloudflare throttles an exit after roughly 1 GB per day

All sources use HTTPS. There is also a link, Open web speed test in browser, which opens a web-based speed test in Safari (or your browser) instead.

History

Every completed or failed test is saved (tests you stop are not). History is kept only on this device, up to 100 records, and is not cleared when you sign out or switch subscriptions.

iPhone and iPad

• Tap History (clock icon) at the top right of the speed test, or the Last result card under the start button.
• The history page starts with a summary for the last 30 days: number of tests, fastest download, fastest upload, lowest latency, and a chart of the download speed over time.
• Filter chips let you show All or just one node (or Direct).
• Records are grouped by day. Swipe left to delete one; Clear at the top deletes them all after confirmation.

Mac

• In the speed test page, open Test history (it also shows the last result, such as “Last 312 Mbps”). It is not available while a test is running, and leaving the speed test page stops a running test.
• The same summary, filters and records as on iPhone. Right-click a record to delete it; Clear (click again to confirm) deletes them all.

Tap a record to see its details:

• The node (or “Direct · this device’s network”) and when it ran.
• Download and Upload averages with their peaks, and the rate curve for both.
• Latency, Via, Exit, Test server, Source · threads and Data used.
• If the test failed, the error.

Run again with the same settings fills in the same node, source and thread count so you can compare results directly. The detail page also has a Delete button.