How to Set Up Proxy Settings on Mac

Every mac proxy settings change through the GUI starts in the same place: System Settings > Network, then the connection you want to configure. Pick WiFi or Ethernet, click Details next to the active network, then open the Proxies tab. This is where macOS separates proxy types into distinct fields instead of one shared setting.

Four tabs matter most. Web Proxy (HTTP) covers plain HTTP traffic and takes a server address and port. Secure Web Proxy (HTTPS) is a separate field for encrypted traffic, since macOS does not assume HTTPS should use the same proxy as HTTP unless you enter it twice. SOCKS Proxy accepts a SOCKS5 host and port and covers any TCP traffic, not just web browsing, which makes it the right tab for apps that do not speak HTTP directly. Auto Proxy Discovery, when checked, has macOS look for a WPAD (Web Proxy Auto-Discovery) configuration on the network automatically rather than using a fixed server.

After entering a hostname, port, and (if your provider requires it) a username and password, check the box next to that proxy type to turn it on, then click OK and Apply. The proxy applies only to the network service you configured it under; switching to a different WiFi network reverts to no proxy unless you repeat the steps there too.

One naming detail trips people up when following older guides: this panel lived inside System Preferences on macOS versions before Ventura (13), under Network > Advanced > Proxies. Ventura and later renamed the whole app to System Settings and moved proxy configuration one level shallower, into Network > [Service] > Details > Proxies, without a separate Advanced button. The fields themselves did not change, only where Apple put them.

System-level proxy settings apply to a whole network connection, but some workflows need one specific app routed through a proxy while everything else on the Mac connects normally. That is the gap mac proxifier fills: it intercepts traffic at the application layer and lets you build rules per program instead of per network.

After installing Proxifier, add your proxy server under Profile > Proxy Servers, entering the gateway address, port, and proxy type (HTTP or SOCKS5), plus a username and password if required. Proxifier's Proxification Rules panel is where the per-app control happens: create a rule, select which applications it covers by name or by browsing to the executable, and assign that rule to the proxy server you just added. Any application not covered by a rule falls back to a default action you set, either direct connection or a specified proxy.

Proxifier also supports proxy chaining, routing traffic through more than one proxy server in sequence, which the built-in macOS Proxies tab has no equivalent for. This matters for setups that need traffic to pass through a fixed entry proxy before reaching a rotating exit pool.

DNS handling is the detail that catches new Proxifier users off guard: by default, Proxifier resolves DNS queries through the proxy connection rather than your Mac's own network, which prevents DNS leaks but can break rules that rely on hostname matching if the proxy cannot resolve that specific address. Check the DNS section of a rule if a specific site fails to load under Proxifier but works fine with the system proxy set instead.

Certificate errors after turning on the Secure Web Proxy (HTTPS) field are the most common failure, and they usually mean the proxy is intercepting HTTPS traffic with its own certificate that macOS does not yet trust. If your provider issues a proxy certificate for this purpose, install and trust it in Keychain Access before assuming the proxy itself is broken; a plain forwarding HTTPS proxy that does not intercept traffic should not need this step at all.

A proxy that works in Safari but not in another app usually means that app manages its own network stack instead of reading the system-wide proxy settings. Not every application on macOS respects the Proxies tab; some, particularly command-line tools and certain Java or Electron-based apps, need a proxy set through their own preferences or environment variables instead.

To turn off proxy on mac quickly without hunting through menus, uncheck the relevant proxy type's checkbox in System Settings > Network > [Service] > Details > Proxies and click OK, or run the Terminal off command shown earlier for a one-line disable.

To confirm what is actually active without opening the GUI, check proxy status via Terminal with:

networksetup -getwebproxy Wi-Fi

This prints the current HTTP proxy server, port, and enabled state for that network service, which is the fastest way to confirm a setting actually applied instead of guessing from app behavior alone. Run the same command with -getsecurewebproxy or -getsocksfirewallproxy to check the HTTPS or SOCKS5 fields.