For digital nomads
A new café, a coworking space, a phone hotspot at the airport. Kilobat tells you within seconds whether the Wi-Fi will hold a call, keeps your Mac from eating your data plan, and turns a good café into a card for the next nomad.
brew install seifip/kilobat/kilobat
Every network is a new problem. Here is what Kilobat does at each stop.
Mark the hotspot Metered once and Kilobat remembers it. Travel keeps everything but the apps you choose offline, updaters from Google, Microsoft, macOS and the App Store wait, and a budget that starts over like your plan stops new connections when it’s used up.
ProWhy can’t it connect? names the layer that’s stuck, including a login page in the way, so you know to find the café’s portal rather than restart the Wi-Fi.
FreeOne speed test says whether voice and video calls will hold up, with latency under load. The stutter test catches the short drops a speed test averages away. Then share This place: a card with the café, a small map, the numbers and your tags.
FreeKilobat checks the line five minutes before the meeting and tells you if something would freeze it. Afterwards, the call’s report card says whether it froze and why.
FreeThe report button makes a summary of outages, latency and speed tests to show them, without your network’s name or addresses. Health shows whether your VPN carries everything, only some traffic, or nothing.
FreeThis place
This place is a share card for the café, coworking space, hotel or library you’re working from. Pick it from Apple Maps search and the card shows a small map with a dot, your newest download, upload and ping on that network, video-call readiness, latency under load and the Wi-Fi band, plus tags such as Power outlets, Quiet or Open late and a one-line note.
Free. The numbers come from your newest speed test on that network. Right-click the menu-bar icon › Share & Export, or open kilobat://share/place. The card at the top of this page is drawn from sample numbers, for a café we made up.
Will this call hold up? A speed test for capacity, and a stutter test for the short spikes that speed tests average away.
Metered networks
A Mac assumes it’s on unlimited Wi-Fi. On a hotspot that means photo sync, backups and updates the moment you tether. Kilobat holds them back on metered networks, and the apps you allowed keep working.
More on the hotspot data page.
Hotspot data gone in an hour? Travel blocks backups, and updaters wait until you’re off the hotspot. The apps keep working.
Signal radar
Signal radar scores the Wi-Fi as you carry the laptop around and tells you when you’ve found the strongest spot, or when the last one was better. Save spots by name to compare the window seat with the back room.
Radar is part of Pro. Keep-awake is free.
Getting warmer. Keep going.
DNS lookups are slow. Compare Cloudflare or Google DNS, then restore Automatic if it does not help.
Slow internet, but why? Kilobat checks Wi-Fi, router, internet and DNS, and names the culprit.
Pro is $19 once for two Macs, with a 7-day free trial and 14-day refunds. Free for students.
macOS flags iPhone hotspots as metered. Mark any other network, such as an Android hotspot, a travel router or a pocket Wi-Fi, as metered once, and Kilobat remembers it.
Yes. Kilobat reads the routes on your Mac to show whether the VPN carries all, some or none of your traffic, and checks sites through the tunnel and directly. Proxy apps such as Clash and Surge are covered too: see Kilobat for proxy and VPN users.
No. It shows the place you pick from Apple Maps search, never the Wi-Fi name, and uses your location only if you choose Use my location.
Live traffic, speed and stutter tests, This place cards, the VPN view and the provider report are free. Travel, budgets, radar and history are part of Pro, $19 once, with a 7-day free trial. Students get Pro free.
brew install seifip/kilobat/kilobat