Installation

Get the app from the Download page first. The iPhone and iPad public beta opens soon; the Mac, Android and Windows apps are available now.

iPhone and iPad

Requirements

• iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later.
• A subscription URL from your provider, or access to a compatible provider dashboard you can sign in to.

Interactive Home Screen widgets need iOS 17; the Control Center toggle needs iOS 18. The Liquid Glass theme style appears on iOS 26 and later.

The VPN permission

MeowX works as a VPN on iPhone and iPad: iOS gives it a virtual network interface and sends your traffic through it, and MeowX decides where each connection goes. This is how every proxy client on iOS works. MeowX does not send your traffic anywhere except the nodes and destinations your configuration selects.

The first time you tap the power button, iOS shows a prompt asking whether MeowX may add VPN configurations.

1. Tap Allow.
2. Confirm with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.
3. MeowX connects. From now on you will see the VPN indicator in the status bar while it is connected.

If you tap Don’t Allow, nothing is installed and the connection card stays at Not connected. Tap the power button again to see the prompt again.

You can inspect or remove the configuration in Settings › General › VPN & Device Management › VPN. If you delete it there, MeowX shows Not installed and will ask again the next time you connect.

Tip

Only one VPN can be active at a time on iOS. If another VPN or proxy app is connected, iOS disconnects it when MeowX connects, and vice versa.

Other permissions you may see

When	Permission	Why
Signing in by QR code	Camera	To scan the login QR code shown by your provider’s dashboard
Enabling Allow LAN connections for the local proxy	Local Network	So other devices on your Wi-Fi can reach MeowX’s HTTP / SOCKS5 port
Optional	Background App Refresh (system setting)	Lets iOS refresh an outdated subscription in the background. See Settings

Mac

Requirements

• macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.
• Move MeowX.app into your Applications folder before opening it. The privileged helper that changes your system proxy settings can only be registered from there; if MeowX is run from elsewhere, Settings shows “helper not found”.

MeowX for Mac is a menu bar app. It has no Dock icon and no main window: click the cat icon in the menu bar to open the panel. See Mac menu bar app.

Two ways to capture traffic

MeowX on the Mac can work in two modes. You can switch between them at any time with the TUN mode toggle on the panel.

	System proxy mode (default)	TUN mode
How it works	MeowX runs a local HTTP / SOCKS5 proxy on 127.0.0.1 and points macOS’s system proxy settings at it	A Network Extension (system extension) creates a virtual network interface and captures traffic at the IP level
What gets proxied	Apps that respect the system proxy setting (browsers, most apps)	Practically everything, including command-line tools and apps that ignore proxy settings
What it needs	The system proxy helper (a background item)	The network extension approval
Good for	Everyday browsing, lowest friction	Games, terminals, apps that ignore proxies

In TUN mode MeowX additionally points the system proxy at the extension’s own local proxy (unless you turn the System proxy toggle off), so proxy-aware apps hand their traffic over with the destination hostname already known. Local network ranges (your router, printers, NAS) are excluded from TUN mode by default.

Approving the system proxy helper

To change system proxy settings, macOS requires a small privileged helper that runs in the background. MeowX registers it the first time you connect in system proxy mode.

1. Connect from the panel (power button).
2. If macOS shows a notification about a new background item, or the panel says the helper needs approval, open System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions.
3. Under Allow in the Background, turn on MeowX.
4. Connect again. The panel’s System status section (in Settings) should now show the helper as enabled.

The helper only accepts requests from MeowX itself. It backs up your previous proxy settings before changing them and restores them automatically when MeowX disconnects, quits or crashes.

Not ready to approve the helper?

You can still use system proxy mode without it: the local proxy runs anyway. Use Copy terminal command or point individual apps at 127.0.0.1:7890 (the default port). Settings shows the helper as “not registered; you can still use the local proxy manually”.

Approving the network extension (TUN mode)

TUN mode uses a system extension, which macOS asks you to approve once.

1. On the panel, turn on TUN mode.
2. When the panel shows that the extension needs approval, click Allow next to the toggle (or open the settings yourself).
3. In System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions › Network Extensions, turn on MeowX. On macOS 14, the approval is under System Settings › Privacy & Security instead.
4. Return to the panel and turn on TUN mode again if it switched back off.

The first TUN connection can take a little longer (the extension unpacks its geo databases and downloads rule sets it does not have yet). The panel says so while it waits.

You can check or re-run the activation from Settings › System status › Network extension (TUN), which also offers Uninstall.

Caution

If another VPN or another proxy client is running on your Mac, they will compete for the same system settings. Quit the other client, or turn off MeowX’s System proxy toggle if you only want TUN mode.

Other permissions you may see

When	Permission	Why
Scanning a QR code on your screen (login or subscription)	Screen Recording	MeowX takes a still capture of the screen and looks for a QR code. Nothing is recorded or uploaded
Reading the current Wi-Fi name for Wi-Fi rules	Location Services	macOS only reveals the Wi-Fi network name to apps with location permission
Launch at login	Login item	So MeowX starts with your Mac

Updates

The Mac app checks for updates itself. You can also trigger a check from Settings › About › Check for updates.

Next step

Continue with Your first connection to import a subscription and connect.