Hide IP Address on Mac OS X

The instructions below will show you how to hide your IP address on Mac OS X using a special type of relay server (so that websites only see the IP address of the relay). Such servers are known as proxies, and you can either use "public" ones (free but risky), or you can use a paid service like ours.

The instructions below are useful for Mac users who have purchased the iPrivacyTools service, but don't want to use our Firefox software. However, if you don't want to perform this tedious process, we recommend that you install our convenient IP changing software.

Please note that "hiding" your IP really amounts to changing it, or "masking" it will a second IP that is not your own. It would not be possible to surf the Internet without any IP address at all, as that is how websites and other services know how to route your requests (web pages).

This guide covers Firefox and Safari (iPrivacyTools only works with Firefox, "Hide my IP" works with both). For Safari instructions, skip down to Step #4.

On the first dropdown menu of Firefox, select Preferences

• Go to the "Advanced" tab, then click the "Network" tab.
• In the section "Configure how Firefox connects to the internet", choose "Settings".

• Check "Manual proxy configuration" and "Use this proxy server for all protocols"
• In the white text area that says "No Proxy for", type "localhost, 127.0.0.1" (prevents relaying of internal connections).
• For the HTTP Proxy and Port entries, see Step #7.
• Click OK out of there.
• Skip to Step #8 if you're only using Firefox (and not Safari).

On Safari's first dropdown menu, select Preferences

• Go to the "Advanced" tab, and next to "Proxies", select "Change Settings..."

• Next to "Configure Proxies", choose "Manually".
• Tick the boxes for "Web Proxy (HTTP)" and "Secure Web Proxy (HTTPS)"
• In the text area "Bypass proxy settings for these Hosts and Domains", type "localhost, 127.0.0.1"
• In the box "Web Proxy Server", enter settings from Step #7.
• Click "Apply Now"

For the proxy settings (and port) on both browsers, you will need to type the IP+port of a valid proxy server. These can be obtained from free websites (one example is here) or from a paid service like ours.

If you choose to use free settings to hide your IP on Mac, be aware of their risks. In addition to being rather unstable (slow), free proxies are usually not compatible with SSL pages AND it is quite difficult to know who is operating them. In other words, risk of your data being intercepted by someone with ill intent is significant. Therefore, free settings are probably fine if you're just surfing around (viewing pages) for fun. But if you intend to login to any secure sites using a password, or if you intend to submit any forms with personal/financial info, then the free option is probably not a good idea.

Fully SSL compatible proxy setting may be obtained from a service like ours (visit our homepage), or from others on the Internet.

• Visit iPrivacyTools.com/my-ip-address/ to verify that your real IP address is hidden.

Congratulations - you now know how to hide your IP address in Mac OS X!

Be sure to delete your browser cookies before surfing, as cookies are another tracking method used by many websites and marketers

*To revert to your direct Internet connection, repeat the steps you just followed, but remove any of the proxy and port settings that you entered. On Firefox step #3, you can tick "No proxy". And on Safari (step #6), you can UNcheck "Web Proxy" and "Secure Web Proxy".