ES

Privacy Guard

Who's watching this Mac?

A menu-bar app that answers two questions: is someone watching me right now, and what has been installed to monitor or control this Mac — by a company, or by anyone else? Works on any Mac, company or personal, with no admin rights.

macOS 13 (Ventura) or later · Intel or Apple Silicon · app in Spanish · sends nothing to the internet

InstallSee what it cannot know

What it checks

Right now: whether someone is connected to your screen (Apple Screen Sharing, VNC), whether a remote-control app such as AnyDesk or TeamViewer is open, and whether your VPN sends all your traffic through someone else's network. The shield in the menu bar changes colour and alerts you only when something changes.

What is installed: management software (MDM), company antivirus (EDR), and monitoring, parental-control or remote-control tools. Also configuration profiles and the permissions they grant without asking you, and certificates that would let someone read your encrypted traffic. Then browser extensions that can read every site you visit, including ones loaded by hand. Finally, other administrator accounts or hidden accounts, and exam apps that can watch you while they are open.

Each item comes with a plain explanation: what it can and cannot do, and whether it is normal, worth keeping in mind or worth checking. The “Tu día a día” (your day to day) tab turns this into what matters to you: who could see your screen, the content of your windows, the sites you visit or your files. If something new appears, it tells you. And you can save the report as a PDF, with a SHA-256 fingerprint that shows it has not been altered.

It works on a company Mac, your own, one bought used or one lent to you: the app asks which it is and adapts what it tells you. If your company declares what it has installed, the app compares that claim with what it finds.

Download it

Two ways. With a double click: download the installer (.pkg); macOS asks for a Mac administrator's password to let it open, once for each new version. Without admin rights (usual on a company Mac): a Terminal command. Both install the app for your user only and replace the one you have, keeping your settings.

Download the installer (.pkg)v3.7.5 ·PrivacyGuard-3.7.5.pkg ·2.2 MB

macOS 13 Ventura or later · universal binary (Intel and Apple Silicon) · the installer needs an administrator's password for each new version; the Terminal command, none

Before you open it: three warnings you may see

  • When you open the installer, macOS will say it was not opened because “Apple could not verify it is free of malware”. It appears because the app isn't notarized by Apple (that needs a paid developer account), not because anything was found. Click OK, go to System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll to the bottom and click Open Anyway: macOS asks for a Mac administrator's name and password. The installer opens (Continue, Install) and, when it finishes, Privacy Guard opens by itself. It happens again with each version you download. If you don't have that password, use the Terminal command below, which doesn't need it.
  • On a company Mac, its antivirus or security software (EDR) may flag or block the app: it reads the Mac's configuration, which looks like what a program exploring the system does. Some management tools (MDM) also block apps that aren't notarized, and then Open Anyway doesn't appear. If that happens, ask your IT team: you can show them this page and the code inside the app, which can be read in full. Don't try to get around your company's protection, and keep in mind it can see you've installed the app.
  • If you then don't see the shield at the top, the app hasn't failed to open: macOS hides the icons that don't fit in the menu bar, especially on Macs with a notch. Open Privacy Guard again from Applications and its window appears.

Without admin rights: install or update from Terminal

curl -fsSL https://ibanrios.com/privacy-guard/install.sh | bash
  1. Click Copy (or select the line and copy it with ⌘ C).
  2. Open Terminal: press ⌘ and the space bar together, type Terminal and press Return.
  3. In the Terminal window, paste with ⌘ V and press Return.
  4. Wait a few seconds: when it finishes it says “instalada” or “actualizada” (installed or updated) and Privacy Guard opens by itself.

What it does: it downloads the app from this site, checks its SHA-256 fingerprint, installs it in Applications (or replaces the one you have, keeping your settings), opens it and tells you “installed” or “updated”. It asks for no password. This way it skips Apple's check, which blocks apps that aren't notarized: only use it if you trust this site, and on a company Mac ask IT first. Before pasting it, you can read what it does: open that same address in your browser.

4d0c6158cec5f8c18b3a71c39f57ad869069d6f221a5ee371c3d55f6189cce1f

To check the file downloaded intact, run shasum -a 256 PrivacyGuard-3.7.5.pkg in Terminal and compare the result with the hash above. The hash is served from this same site, so it catches a corrupted or incomplete download, not a compromised site. When you open the installer, macOS asks you to confirm it: see the first warning above.

How to install

With a double click: download the installer (.pkg) from the box above and follow the first note in that box. Without admin rights, paste the command from the download box into Terminal. Both ways replace the version you have and keep your settings.

When it finishes, Privacy Guard opens by itself. If you ever don't see it, open it from Applications or with Spotlight (the app is in Spanish).

A short guide asks which Mac this is (company, your own, bought used or lent) so it only shows you what applies. It explains what each shield colour and each mark in the window means, and asks for permission to send alerts: allow them. You can see it again from the shield's menu. A shield appears in the menu bar, and the app opens by itself every time you log in. Apart from that one installer confirmation, Privacy Guard never asks for an administrator password: it works without admin rights. If its shield doesn't fit in the menu bar, the app offers to show itself in the Dock too.

What it cannot know

It only reads what macOS lets it read without admin rights. That is enough for everything under “What it checks”, but not for everything a Mac can hold.

It recognises the most common programs, but not all of them: an unknown or disguised one can go unnoticed. And a program installed with administrator rights can hide from what this app checks.

It tells you what programs can do, not what they are doing: it doesn't look at your traffic or at what they send. It only checks this Mac: online services you use (email, chat, cloud documents) can log what you do in them without installing anything here.

It isn't an antivirus: it doesn't delete anything or protect you from viruses. And if a company tells you what it has installed, that's a claim, never proof.

Privacy

Privacy Guard makes no network calls. Everything it finds stays on your Mac: no server, no analytics, no account. Everything it checks is written in a single text file you can read in full. Check for updates opens this page in your browser, which tells you whether there is a newer version; the app itself checks nothing online.

Having it installed is visible too: a company's management tools can list the apps on each Mac, and anyone with access to this Mac, or controlling it remotely, can see it's there. The app reminds you of this at the end of its report.

Who makes it

Privacy Guard is an independent, free project. I build and maintain it from Valencia, Spain. I also made ValidWise, a compliance scanner for European websites (GDPR, accessibility, security headers), GeoAdsFinder and AIsWise. More about me and what I build on the “Why me” page.

If the app misses something you have installed, or explains it badly, write to me at iban@ibanrios.com. The program's name is enough: you don't need to send me your report. That is how detection of extensions loaded by hand got into the app.