The native SwitchHosts for macOS.
Pure Swift. No Electron. Tiny binary, millisecond cold start. Manages multiple hosts environments and writes /etc/hosts safely through a real privileged helper — not a sketchy osascript wrapper.
macOS 26.4 (Tahoe) or later · arm64
Features
Native NavigationSplitView
macOS 15+ sidebar with folders, drag-to-reorder and full keyboard navigation.
MenuBarExtra
Switch schemes from the menu bar without opening a window.
Live Syntax Highlighting
Hosts editor highlights IPs, hostnames and comments in real time. No WebView.
Privileged Helper
Writes /etc/hosts safely via SMAppService XPC. No osascript, no per-write password popups.
Remote Subscriptions
Subscribe to a hosts URL and refresh on a schedule with async URLSession.
Auto DNS Flush
dscacheutil -flushcache and mDNSResponder restart after every successful write.
Free download
SwiftyHosts is free during the early-access period. A paid version may launch later — early users will be offered a fair upgrade path.
Questions or feedback? Get in touch.
FAQ
- Why isn't this on the Mac App Store?
- Writing /etc/hosts requires escalated privileges, which the App Sandbox forbids. Sold directly via our site instead.
- Does SwiftyHosts phone home?
- No. The only outbound network requests are to URLs you yourself add as Remote schemes. Read our privacy policy for details.
- Will my hosts be lost if I uninstall?
- No. Your hosts file is yours; SwiftyHosts only writes when you flip a Toggle and always keeps a backup at /etc/hosts.swiftyhosts.bak.
- Universal binary?
- Apple Silicon native (arm64) primary, Intel build available on request.
- Refunds?
- SwiftyHosts is free during the early-access period, so refunds aren't applicable. If a paid version launches later we will publish a clear refund policy at that time.