# Fry WiFi > Wi-Fi troubleshooting fluent in human — a free macOS menu-bar app that pinpoints Wi-Fi, router, DNS, and ISP problems in seconds and explains every fix in plain English. 100% private, runs locally on your Mac. No accounts, no telemetry, no subscriptions. ## About Fry WiFi is a free utility for macOS 15 (Sequoia) and newer that lives in the menu bar and continuously watches every layer of your network connection — Wi-Fi, router, DNS, and ISP. Instead of dumping raw RSSI, SNR, jitter, or DNS lookup numbers, it translates the underlying metrics into short declarative status messages and concrete next steps. If your Wi-Fi is bad, Fry WiFi tells you why, in a sentence anyone can act on. The app is built for people who do not want to learn what dBm means in order to fix a slow connection. It runs entirely on the local Mac and never phones home: no accounts to create, no telemetry servers, no analytics, no advertising SDKs, no in-app purchases. Fast Mode is tuned for low-latency use cases — cloud gaming, live streaming, and video calls — by sampling internet behaviour at higher rates so brief dropouts surface immediately. Latest version: 1.0.21. App size: 5.5 MB. Distributed exclusively through the Mac App Store. ## Key features - Real-time menu bar monitor with a glanceable view of Wi-Fi, Router, DNS, and Internet health. - Instant diagnostics: every alert is a complete sentence with a recommended next step. - Wi-Fi monitoring covering signal, noise, interference, link speed, and roaming stability. - Router stability monitoring. - DNS performance monitoring (lookup time, resolver health). - ISP quality monitoring (delay, stability/jitter, packet drops on the internet path). - Built-in speed test with history tracking download, upload, and latency over time — exposes ISP throttling. - Degradation alerts the moment signal strength, noise levels, or packet loss cross actionable thresholds. - Fast Mode tuned for cloud gaming (GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming, PlayStation Plus Cloud), live streaming, and video calls; samples at higher rates than the default monitor. - Share Wi-Fi status snapshots as images via the macOS share sheet. - Plain-English explanations: every alert is paired with a concrete fix, not a chart. - Local-only architecture: no telemetry servers, no accounts, no in-app purchases, no advertising SDKs. ## How it works Fry WiFi reads the same low-level Wi-Fi and network statistics that macOS exposes to professional tools, then runs them through a rule-based interpreter that maps numeric thresholds to plain-language status messages. When signal drops below usable levels, when interference rises, when DNS lookups stall, when packets are silently dropped between the Mac and the router, or when the ISP path degrades, the menu-bar icon changes colour and a popover surfaces the specific cause — for example "your Mac is too far from the router", "channel 6 is congested by neighbour networks", "DNS is slow — switch to a faster resolver", or "internet path is unstable — likely an ISP problem, not your router". Each message is paired with a recommended fix that does not assume technical knowledge. The popover also exposes a one-tap speed test, a Fast Mode toggle, and a share button to export the current connection state as an image. ## Frequently asked - **Is Fry WiFi free?** Yes. Completely free with no subscriptions, no in-app purchases, and no advertising. - **What macOS version does it require?** macOS 15 (Sequoia) or newer. Apple Silicon and Intel Macs are both supported. - **Does Fry WiFi collect my data?** No. There are no telemetry servers and no user accounts. All diagnostics run locally on your Mac. The built-in speed test connects to public measurement endpoints only when you explicitly run it. - **What does Fast Mode do?** Fast Mode samples internet latency, jitter, and packet loss at a higher rate than the default monitor, surfacing the brief dropouts that ruin cloud gaming and live calls. Enable it for the duration of a session and turn it off afterwards. - **How is Fry WiFi different from macOS Wireless Diagnostics?** Wireless Diagnostics is a one-shot deep-inspection tool aimed at engineers; it dumps raw data and expects the operator to interpret it. Fry WiFi runs continuously, watches Wi-Fi, router, DNS, and internet behaviour together, and translates results into actionable plain English. - **How is Fry WiFi different from NetSpot or WiFi Explorer?** NetSpot and WiFi Explorer are scanner / site-survey tools focused on neighbourhood Wi-Fi inventory and heat-mapping. Fry WiFi is a continuous quality monitor focused on the connection your Mac is currently on, plus the router, DNS, and the internet path beyond it. - **How is Fry WiFi different from speedtest.net or fast.com?** Bandwidth tests answer "how fast is my pipe?" but cloud gaming, video calls, and live streaming break on jitter and latency spikes that a megabits-per-second number cannot show. Fry WiFi's Fast Mode samples those signals continuously. - **Does Fry WiFi work with cloud gaming?** Yes. Fast Mode is tuned for low-latency use cases including GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming, PlayStation Plus Cloud, live streaming, and video calls. ## Pricing and license Fry WiFi is free of charge with no paid tiers, no trial limits, and no telemetry. The app is distributed exclusively through the Mac App Store. Source code is not currently public. ## Requirements - macOS 15.0 (Sequoia) or newer - Apple Silicon or Intel - Standard Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection - 5.5 MB free disk space ## Author Fry WiFi is built and maintained by Viacheslav Gordeev, a software developer based in Ostfildern, Germany. The app is a single-purpose utility — no upsells, no growth team, no roadmap pressure to bolt on features that compromise the core promise of clear, plain-English diagnostics. ## Links - Homepage: https://frywifi.com/ - Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/fry-wifi/id6758467121 - Privacy policy: https://frywifi.com/privacy/ - Impressum: https://frywifi.com/impressum/ - Support: support@frywifi.com Last updated: 2026-05-05