Features, Pricing, and Privacy
Explore Ping Warden features, the $15 Ping Protection license, the existing-user transition, privacy, system requirements, and source builds.
On this page
Ping Warden (formerly AWDL Control) is an open source (MIT) macOS menu bar app built for cloud gaming on a Mac. AWDL can contribute to Wi-Fi stutters in GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and other latency-sensitive games or calls. Ping Warden keeps it paused while you play. The source stays MIT and everything except enabling Ping Protection is free. Ping Protection watches Apple Wireless Direct Link (AWDL), the interface used by AirDrop, AirPlay, Handoff, and other nearby-device features, and keeps that interface down while it is active. The prebuilt app requires a one-time $15 license to enable Ping Protection. Eligible existing users receive the 90-day transition described below. Visit pingwarden.app for the product website and complete documentation.
The tradeoff
Ping Protection temporarily makes AirDrop, AirPlay, Handoff, and other AWDL-dependent features unavailable on your Mac. Turn protection off when you need them, or use the 10-minute pause from the menu bar. Ping Warden restores AWDL when protection stops and during its removal flow.
That tradeoff is the point of the app. You choose when a latency-sensitive game or call matters more than nearby-device features.
Why this exists
Running sudo ifconfig awdl0 down once is not enough because macOS can bring AWDL back up within seconds. A timer-based script reacts after the interface is already active, which still leaves time for channel switching to affect the connection.
How it works
Ping Warden uses a privileged helper that waits for kernel route and interface events. When macOS tries to raise awdl0 while Ping Protection is on, the helper takes it back down and increments an intervention counter. The dashboard puts that counter next to live latency, jitter, probe failures, and history so you can see what happened on your own network.
Install, approve, and verify
1. Get the app
Buy the Ping Warden License on Gumroad. The signed, notarized DMG is attached to the purchase, so it is in your receipt and your Gumroad library, and the license key arrives in the same email. Open the DMG, drag Ping Warden to /Applications, and launch the copy in Applications.
Want to try the free features first? The same build is on Releases. Everything except enabling Ping Protection works without a key, and any official build accepts the key from a later purchase.
2. Activate your license
Open Settings → License and enter the key from your receipt. The app verifies once with Gumroad and then works offline for up to 14 days. If you have an active transition, protection remains available until the deadline shown in that pane. If you donated through Buy Me a Coffee before version 4, email oliver@ames.consulting with your receipt and it will be honored as a full license.
3. Approve the helper
The welcome appears automatically once. Choose Not Now to use the free dashboard and finish setup later.
In the welcome window, click Turn On Ping Protection after activation. If you already closed it, open Settings → General and click Finish Setup. Approve Ping Warden in System Settings when macOS asks. This one-time approval lets the app control wireless sharing.
4. Turn on Ping Protection and verify it
Enable Ping Protection from the menu bar. Without a key (and outside the transition window) the app points you back to Settings → License instead of turning protection on. Open the dashboard and confirm that protection is active. The dashboard shows live latency and counts each time the helper blocks macOS from reactivating AWDL.
The Quick Start guide covers first-run setup and the optional automation features.
What Ping Warden includes
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ping Protection | Keeps awdl0 down with an event-driven privileged helper |
| Live dashboard | Tracks latency, jitter, probe failures, history, and helper interventions |
| Game Mode auto-detect | Turns protection on when a recognized game is the frontmost app, with no permission needed; optional Screen Recording access also catches fullscreen games behind other windows |
| Quick pause | Restores nearby-device features for 10 minutes, then returns to your previous protection state |
| Control Center widget | Provides a system toggle on macOS 26 or newer in signed release builds |
| Diagnostics export | Creates a local support snapshot that you can review before sharing |
| Automatic updates | Uses Sparkle and signed update metadata to deliver new releases |
Apple added third-party Mac controls to Control Center in macOS Tahoe 26, which is why the widget has a newer requirement than the rest of the app.
Ping targets include common public services, discovered GeForce NOW regions, your network gateway, and targets you add yourself.
Pricing
Ping Warden stays open source under MIT. You can build from source, inspect it, and modify it under MIT whether you pay or not. The prebuilt, signed, and notarized app is free to download and everything except enabling Ping Protection is free to use.
Why a license: After two years of free builds, donations cover only a fraction of the ongoing work — Developer ID signing, Apple notarization, testing across macOS releases, and release engineering. A one-time $15 license for the Ping Protection feature makes that work sustainable without subscriptions, ads, or analytics. The tradeoff that defines this app stays exactly the same, and the source stays auditable under MIT.
Enabling Ping Protection in the prebuilt app requires that license at Gumroad. One key works on the Macs you own. The app verifies once with Gumroad, then re-checks roughly every 6 hours while it runs and once at launch; verification is offline-friendly for up to 14 days.
Transition for existing users: If protection was enabled with an approved helper when you first launched version 4, it remains available for 90 days from that launch. Updates preserve the original deadline. Check the time remaining in Settings → License. When the transition ends, enter a license key to keep protection available. The app introduces the transition once and reminds eligible users weekly during app use, showing the days remaining. Reminders wait until a detected game or latency session ends and stop after license activation. Missed weeks do not produce stacked reminders.
Donors: If you supported Ping Warden through Buy Me a Coffee before version 4, email oliver@ames.consulting with your receipt and it will be honored as a full license.
Privacy
Latency history, protection state, settings, and intervention counts stay on your Mac. Ping Warden does not send usage analytics.
The app makes a few narrow outbound requests:
- Sparkle checks the public appcast for updates.
- License activation and refresh send your license key and the product ID to Gumroad over HTTPS. Your key stays in the macOS Keychain between checks.
- The dashboard checks
status.geforcenow.comto discover GeForce NOW target hostnames. - Anonymous crash reporting is off by default. If you opt in under Settings > Advanced > Privacy, reports exclude IP addresses, ping targets, network breadcrumbs, performance traces, and app-lifecycle tracking.
- TCP latency probes connect only to the target you select or ask Ping Warden to choose.
Diagnostics exports are written locally. Ping Warden never uploads them for you.
Support Ping Warden
The source stays MIT and you can build it yourself whether you buy anything or not. The prebuilt, signed, and notarized app is free to download and everything except enabling Ping Protection is free to use.
If you supported Ping Warden on Buy Me a Coffee before version 4, email oliver@ames.consulting with your receipt and I'll honor it as a full license. New licenses are a one-time $15 at Gumroad and cover the Macs you own. Donations since version 4 still help with signing and testing. To activate Ping Protection, purchase the Gumroad license.
Documentation
- Documentation website includes the complete guides below, pricing, privacy, and release notes.
- Quick Start covers installation and first-run setup.
- Full documentation explains the architecture, settings, and operating model.
- Troubleshooting provides safe recovery steps and diagnostic commands.
- Release notes record changes by version.
- GitHub Issues is the place to report a reproducible problem or request a feature.
Build from source
git clone https://github.com/oliverames/ping-warden.git
cd ping-warden
swift test
open PingWarden/PingWarden.xcodeproj
The app requires macOS 13 or newer. Configure signing for the app, helper, and widget targets before running from Xcode. The full helper-registration flow only works when the built app is installed in /Applications; non-helper UI work can run from Xcode.
Credits
- jamestut/awdlkiller provided inspiration for Ping Warden's approach to AWDL control.
- james-howard/AWDLControl provided a reference for the SMAppService and XPC architecture.
License
The source code is MIT, Copyright (c) 2025-2026 Oliver Ames — build it, inspect it, and modify it under MIT whether you buy a license or not. See LICENSE for the full terms.
The prebuilt, signed, and notarized app is free to download. Everything except enabling Ping Protection is free to use. Enabling Ping Protection in the prebuilt app requires a one-time $15 license at Gumroad. One key works on the Macs you own. The app verifies once with Gumroad, then works offline for up to 14 days.
If protection was enabled with an approved helper when you first launched version 4, it remains available for 90 days from that launch. Updates preserve the original deadline. Check the time remaining in Settings → License and enter a license before it ends to keep protection available. If you donated before version 4, email oliver@ames.consulting with your receipt and it will be honored as a license.