You could check out the suggestions here https://github.com/drduh/macOS-Security-and-Privacy-Guide
this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2026
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Thanks I'll check it out!
If you use apps from the App Store, they will be sandboxed.
If you download apps elsewhere, they may or may not be sandboxed. It's an opt-in thing.
Whether you choose to have guaranteed Sandboxing from the App Store but at the cost of Apple's increased meddling is up to you.
I heard there is an option of using brew... What are your thoughts? I'm new to all things Mac.
Brew applications are also unsandboxed unless the app developer chose to opt-into sandboxing.
Personally, I while I love sandboxing, I chose to use brew and other third-party installation methods because I didn't want to use the App Store (and actually couldn't unless I signed in using an Apple account, which I didn't want to do).
Purchase a little snitch license
Or if you don't want to spend the money, LuLu works pretty well.
Little snitch looks polished, but lulu supposedly can do the same thing and be FOSS.
I will be trying out lulu, thanks! 🙂
Unless I’m not aware of anything deeper, Apple makes all their privacy settings available under the Settings app > Privacy & Security. There are a lot of menus to go through in here, but for max privacy, you’ll want to disable nearly everything available in here ranging from location services to apps getting access to the local network and other apps as well as access to hardware.
macOS is similar to Windows in that a lot of apps will request permission on first launch and you’ll enter your password/TouchID/Apple Watch to confirm you want to grant access or not. But you can proactively block access here and also supposedly block Apple from some of these as well.
Beyond that will likely be up to you as to what you want in terms of privacy. Some people may go as far as airgapping it from the internet while others are okay with an app or two having access to the local network.