Using Periscopes on macOS
Once set up, Periscopes lives in the menu bar. The icon tells you at a glance whether your traffic is being inspected.
The menu bar icon
Section titled “The menu bar icon”| Icon | Menu says | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Half-filled shield | Routing traffic through the proxy | The extension is on and the Periscopes proxy answers. Traffic is inspected. |
| Shield with an exclamation mark | Proxy unreachable, traffic not inspected | The extension is on but the proxy doesn’t answer. Connections go straight out. |
| Empty shield | Checking proxy… | The extension is on and the proxy’s status isn’t known yet. |
| Shield with a slash | Paused | The extension is installed but switched off. |
| Shield with a cross | Extension not installed | Open Periscopes and run the setup guide. |
The menu also shows the proxy address and has these items:
- Enabled pauses or resumes routing without uninstalling anything.
- Open Periscopes… opens the main window.
- Quit Periscopes closes the app. The network extension keeps running.
Periscopes checks the proxy every 5 seconds, so the icon can take a few seconds to change.
The main window
Section titled “The main window”The window shows the network extension’s state with its Enabled switch, and the proxy address with a live reachability check. If the extension isn’t installed, it offers Run Setup Guide.
The proxy address defaults to 127.0.0.1:8089. You can change it in the window, and Reset puts the default back. A new address takes effect the next time the extension starts, so switch Enabled off and on after changing it.
Notifications
Section titled “Notifications”When the proxy stops answering, Periscopes posts a notification: Proxy unreachable, traffic is passing through directly and isn’t being inspected. When it answers again, you get Proxy reachable again. macOS asks whether Periscopes may send notifications the first time this happens.