First installation
Install Antify and its system extension
Opening Antify for the first time: install the system extension, approve it in macOS, and choose between setting up manually and restoring a backup.
Only one step in this trips people up: macOS makes you approve the Antify system extension yourself, and that switch sits in a different place on macOS 14, 15, and 26. Each version is spelled out below.
Before you start
- macOS 14.0 or later is required.
- Download from the site, move Antify to Applications, then open it.
- If you exported a backup on another Mac, have that file ready — the second step of the setup asks for it.
Install and approve the system extension
On the Extension step, click Install System Extension. macOS then asks you to approve it yourself. Click Open System Settings and follow the path for your version:
- 1
macOS 26
Go to General → Login Items & Extensions. Under Extensions, switch to the By Category tab — System Settings opens on By App, and Network Extensions only exists under By Category. Then click the ⓘ button next to Network Extensions.
- 2
macOS 15
Go to General → Login Items & Extensions, scroll down to Network Extensions, and click the ⓘ button at the end of that row.
- 3
macOS 14
Go to Privacy & Security and scroll to the Security section, where macOS says system software from Antify was blocked from loading. Click Allow.
- 4
Turn the switch on
In the list that appears, turn on the switch next to Antify, confirm with Touch ID or your password, and click Done. Return to Antify; there is no need to click the install button again.
Set up manually, or restore a backup
With the extension installed, the setup asks how you want to continue. There are two options:
- Set Up Manually (recommended): add a proxy and your first rule, step by step, which is what the following steps do.
- Restore from Backup: use a backup you exported from Settings → General. Pick it and the next button becomes Choose Backup…; selecting the file brings your whole setup over and skips the manual steps.
Finish the remaining steps
Setting up manually walks through the rest in order: add a proxy, choose a global default for apps without a rule of their own, create your first app rule, start Antify, and set notification preferences. Each has its own guide, and any of them can be left until later and finished from the main window.
Confirm it is working
In the main window, the Dashboard shows the state of the system extension and of the proxy. Proxy Active means Antify is running.
That does not mean every upstream proxy you entered works. Whether a proxy itself is reachable is what the latency test on the Proxies page answers.
