Known issues & fixes

NetMute

• Awaiting releaseNetMute 2.3.4: DNS proxy beta enabled by default can break name resolutionReported Sep 9, 2026 — fix ships with the next update→

  Affected: NetMute 2.3.4 (build 45 and later)

  Symptom: After updating, some Macs lose network access for apps that rely on the system resolver. Safari stops loading pages entirely, while browsers that bring their own DNS (Chrome, Brave, Edge, Arc) and most other traffic keep working. Removing the NetMute network filters in System Settings restores it immediately.

  Cause: 2.3.4 enabled the beta option "Check addresses before your Mac reaches them" by default. It installs a second network configuration, a DNS proxy, that sits in front of every name lookup on the Mac. On machines that already run another DNS filter or a local resolver of their own, the two get in each other's way and name resolution stops.

  Workaround: Open NetMute and switch off "Check addresses before your Mac reaches them" under Tracker Shield. The DNS proxy is removed and the content filter keeps working normally. Nothing else needs to change.

  Fix: In the next build the option is off unless you switch it on, an unwanted DNS proxy left over from the update is removed automatically, and the switch moves into Settings next to the other DNS options.

  View on GitHub ↗
• FixedNetMute 2.3.3: crash on launch when notifications are allowedReported Sep 4, 2026 — fixed Sep 9, 2026→

  Status: cause found, fix written and tested — ships with 2.3.4.

  NetMute 2.3.3 can crash within a second of launch, before the window appears.

  This is a bug in our code, not in your setup. Right after launch the app builds its weekly protection summary, and that query asks the database for something it cannot answer. The app goes down with it.

  Two things it is not:

  • →Not the network filter. macOS switches the filter off after the crash,

  not before it — the crash comes first, the filter follows.

  • →Not a broken installation. Two NetMute folders in

  /Library/SystemExtensions are normal: macOS keeps the previous version, marked "terminated waiting to uninstall on reboot", and removes it itself at the next restart. It is protected, there is nothing to delete by hand.

  Workaround until 2.3.4

  Turn NetMute's notifications off, then start the app again:

  System Settings → Notifications → NetMute → off

  With notifications off, the weekly summary is never scheduled and the crashing code is never reached. Turn them back on once you are on 2.3.4.

  Fix

  Written and tested, shipping in 2.3.4.

  If it still crashes

  Please add:

  • →the crash report — Console.app → "Crash Reports" → newest NetMute entry, or

  ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/NetMute-….ips

  • →the output of systemextensionsctl list

  View on GitHub ↗