Drippy

Save data when your Mac is tethered

A Mac will happily download a 10 GB update over your phone. These settings stop the background heavy hitters, and a monitor tells you when something slips through.

Updated November 2026

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Turn on Low Data Mode

  1. Connect to the hotspot
  2. System Settings › Wi-FiClick Details… next to the hotspot's network.
  3. Turn on Low Data ModemacOS remembers it for that network. Apps that respect it pause background updates and syncing.

Personal Hotspot from your own iPhone is usually detected automatically and treated as low-data.

Pause the big ones

  • Software updates: System Settings › General › Software Update › Automatic Updates, turn off downloads.
  • iCloud Photos: Photos › Settings › iCloud, or pause syncing from the Library view.
  • Third-party sync: pause Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and backup apps from their menu bar icons.
  • Browser video: drop streaming quality to 480p.

Watch it as it happens

Drippy shows live speeds in the menu bar, so a sudden spike is obvious, and keeps usage separately per network: you see exactly how much went over the hotspot. Set your cap and reset day for a warning before you run out.

Questions

Does Low Data Mode work on Mac?

Yes, on macOS Ventura and later, per Wi-Fi network. Apps that respect it pause background tasks.

How much data does a Mac use per hour?

Idle, very little. Browsing is tens of MB per hour, HD video around 1–3 GB, and a macOS update can be 10 GB or more.

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