Nov 02, 2017 Question: Q: Little Snitch blocks Mac App Store. After hours of searching, I found that if I have Little Snitch running, the Mac App Store does not work. It gives a white screen, and clicking on the top buttons does not do anything. When I disable the Little Snitch.
By Malcolm Owen
Saturday, June 16, 2018, 04:50 am PT (07:50 am ET)
This week's highlighted apps include changes to iWork on both iOS and macOS, ARK: Survival Evolved makes its way to iOS, and network-monitoring tool Little Snitch for macOS gains a focus mode and rule group subscriptions.
Gmail
Google is silently rolling out an option for iPhone and iPad users that will only trigger notifications for 'high priority' emails. The technology relies on machine learning and AI to gauge which messages are most relevant.
Until now, Gmail's iOS notifications have been triggered for the Primary inbox or all inboxes, regardless of content.
Get it for iOS: Free. Requires iOS 10 or later.
Little Snitch 4.1
Little Snitch is a Mac network monitoring utility, keeping track of which apps are trying to go online and what they're trying to connect to, with menus and pop-up notifications offering greenlight control, whether permanently or temporarily.
The 4.1 update introduces Rule Group subscriptions which can be published on a server and others can follow. This is mostly useful for businesses and other organizations, allowing permissions changes to be pushed on the fly.
Some other improvements include a Focus Mode for working with a rule subset, easier activation of profiles, and vetting of the code-signing certificate used to create an app code signature.
Get it for macOS: $45. Requires macOS 10.11 or later.
Pages 4.1 for iOS
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The update for the iOS version of this iWork app primarily adds the ability to record, edit, and play audio directly on the page. Smart annotation marks also stretch and wrap to follow text during edits, and it is also now possible to quickly switch between drawing and smart annotation modes.Apple Pencil users can enable a setting to use the stylus to select and scroll around a page. Text changes in shapes and text boxes can also be tracked.
Colors and images can be applied as backgrounds in page layout documents, with charts also getting a graphical treatment with a new rounded corners look for columns and bars. New editable shapes, gradient and image fills of items, and other changes are available in this release.
Mathematical equations using LaTeX and MathML notation can be added to a document. For presenter mode, it is possible to set a different auto scroll speed on a per document basis.
Lastly, this release has improved support for Arabic and Hebrew.
Get it for iOS: Free. Requires iOS 11.0 or later.
Keynote 4.1 for iOS
Just as with Pages 4.1 for iOS above, Keynote includes updates relating to the Apple Pencil settings, adding and editing audio, graphical chart additions, support for mathematical notation, and improved Arabic and Hebrew support.
Specific for this app is the ability to edit and create new master slides, and the option to export presentations as a movie or a series of images.
Get it for iOS: Free. Requires iOS 11.0 or later.
Numbers 4.3 for iOS
A similar story to the other two iWork iOS apps, Numbers includes many of the additions included with its stablemates. This includes the audio recording feature, Apple Pencil select and scroll, mathematical notation support, and various graphical options to improve the appearance of a document.
Numbers also adds the ability to easily browse templates for documents by category.
Get it for iOS: Free. Requires iOS 11.0 or later.
Pages 7.1, Keynote 8.1, and Numbers 5.1 for macOS
Released at the same time as updates for the iOS counterparts, the macOS versions of Pages, Keynote, and Numbers have quite similar additions to the apps.
For Keynote and Numbers, the changes are identical, starting with support for mathematical equations using LaTeX and MathML notation, as well as new editable shapes, and a rounded corners update to column and bar charts.
Both also include improved support for Arabic and Hebrew, and have better compatibility with their Microsoft counterparts, PowerPoint and Excel.
Pages includes the same equations, charts, and Arabic and Hebrew updates as the other two. On top, colors and images can be added to the backgrounds in page layout documents, and there is the added ability to track text changes in shapes and text boxes.
Get them for macOS: Free. Pages, Keynote, Numbers.
GraphicConverter 10.6.1
As its name suggests, GraphicConverter lets users convert images en masse. It can import about 200 formats and export to 80, but also supports some more advanced functions such as color management, catalog generation, editing, and effects.
The 10.6.1 update includes an enhanced browser, for instance expanding 'convert and modify' actions. It also implements miscellaneous small changes and fixes, such as GPS detection in RW2 files and better multi-core support for batch conversions.
Get it for macOS: $39.95.
ARK: Survival Evolved
Previously available only on PCs and consoles, ARK is a survival game that asks players to gather resources to craft weapons and shelter. As the game progresses players will tame dinosaurs, meet other gamers, and optionally join with them in tribes.
The iOS port is free-to-play, unlike its counterparts, but makes up for this with in-app purchases such as a $34.99 annual 'Primal Pass' for access to better servers, and reserved slots on free servers. It also has relatively high hardware requirements for an iOS game, demanding at least an iPad Air 2 or iPhone 7.
Get it for iOS: Free. Requires iOS 9 or later.
Hearthstone
Blizzard's popular Warcraft-based card game has been updated with a number of changes to game mechanics, with a focus on changing card interactions in a more intuitive way. The Arena has been updated with several new pick 'buckets' for both legendary and non-legendary cards, which are intended to offer more choice when drafting a deck.
A new Tavern Brawl that started on June 11 and running until July 2 will be based on the 'Taverns of Time,' promising activities with 'alternate realities.' Players will be able to draft from 28 special cards unique to the event, with gold and dust awarded for special daily quests.
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Lastly, a new ten-pack bundle is being offered, including two packs each from Classic, The Witchwood, Kobolds & Catacombs, Knights of the Frozen Throne, and the Journey to Un'Goro expansions.
Get it for macOS: Free with in-app purchases. Requires OS X 10.10 or later on a Mac with an Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM, and Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT or ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro GPU or better specifications.
Get it for iOS: Free with in-app purchases for extra cards. Requires iOS 8.0 or later.
This release contains changes in the following areas:
Improved detection of program modification
Little Snitch has a security mechanism that ensures rules are only applied to programs for which they were originally created. This is to prevent malware from hijacking existing rules for legitimate programs. To do that, Little Snitch must be able to detect whether a program was modified. How Little Snitch does that changes with this version.
Previous versions required a program to have a valid code signature in order to be able to detect illegitimate modifications later on. Programs without a code signature could not be validated and Little Snitch warned accordingly. The focus was therefore on a program’s code signature.
Beginning with version 4.3, Little Snitch can always check whether a program has been tampered with, even if it’s not code signed at all. The focus is now on checking for modifications with the best means available. That is usually still the code signature but for programs that are not code signed, Little Snitch now computes a secure hash over the program’s executable. (There’s still a warning if a process is not signed, but only to inform you about a possible anomaly.)
This change leads to a different terminology. When editing a rule, Little Snitch Configuration no longer shows a checkbox titled “requires valid code signature” but instead one that is titled “check process identity” (or if the rule is for any process: “apply to trusted processes only”).
Instead of a “code signature mismatch”, Little Snitch’s connection alert now informs that “the program has been modified”.
In cases where Little Snitch detects such a modification, it now also better explains the possible underlying cause and the potential consequences.
For more information see the chapter Code identity checks in the online help.
Configuration File Compatibility
This version uses a new format with speed and size improvements for the configuration file in which the current rule set and the preferences are stored. This new file format is not compatible with older versions of Little Snitch, though.When updating to Little Snitch 4.3, the old configuration file is left untouched in case you want to downgrade to a previous version of Little Snitch. All changes made in Little Snitch 4.3 or later are not included in the old file, of course.Note that backup files created using File > Create Backup… in Little Snitch Configuration use the old file format and are therefore backward-compatible with previous versions of Little Snitch.
Improved Support for macOS Mojave
- Improved appearance in Dark Mode.
- Fixed backup restore from Time Machine not working in Little Snitch Configuration due to the new “Full Disk Access” security mechanism.
- Fixed creating Diagnostics Reports for non-admin users (on macOS High Sierra and later). When you contact our tech support, we sometimes ask you to create these reports.
Performance Improvements
- Improved overall performance for large rule sets.
- Reduced CPU load of Little Snitch Daemon during DNS lookups.
- Reduced CPU load of Network Monitor while inactive.
- Improved performance of rule sorting in Little Snitch Configuration, which leads to better overall performance.
- Fixed Little Snitch Daemon hanging while updating a rule group subscription that contains many rules.
- Fixed a memory leak that occurred when closing a snapshot window in Network Monitor.
Internet Access Policy
- Fixed an issue causing an app’s Internet Access Policy not being shown if that app was running in App Translocation.
- Fixed clickable links not working in the “Deny Consequences” popover when creating rules in connection alert or Network Monitor.
- Internet Access Policy file: Fixed large values for a connection’s “Port” being rejected.
Process Identity and Code Signature Check Improvements
- Added support for detecting revoked code signing certificates when checking a process’ code signature. The connection alert and Network Monitor now treat such processes like processes without a valid code signature and show relevant information. Also, rules created will use an appropriate identity check (based on the executable’s checksum, not based on the code signature).
- When showing a connection alert for a process that has no valid code signature, Little Snitch now tries to find out if loading a shared library may have caused the issue with the code signature. If so, this is pointed out in the connection alert.
- Fixed handling of app updates while the app is still running: Previous versions of Little Snitch would complain that the code signature could not be checked if the running app was replaced on disk, e.g. during an update.
- Fixed an issue where connection alerts would erroneously contain a warning that an application’s code signing certificate was unacceptable. This mainly happened when a process’ first connection was an incoming connection.
Improved Handling of Connection Denials and Override Rules
- Improved handling of override deny-rules that were created as a consequence of a suspicious program modification (“Connection Denials”). In Network Monitor, these rules are now marked with a dedicated symbol. Clicking that symbol allows to remove that override rule, if the modification is confirmed to be legitimate.
- Changed override deny-rules created for failed code identity checks to not be editable or deletable. Instead, double-clicking such a rule allows you to fix the underlying issue, which then automatically deletes the override rule.
UI and UX Improvements
- Automatically combine rules: For improved handling of large rule sets with many similar rules that only differ in host or domain names. This is common when subscribing to blocklists, which may contain thousands of similar, individual rules denying connections to various servers. The new “Automatically combine rules” option in Little Snitch Configuration (on by default) now combines such similar rules into a single row, making it much easier to keep track of large lists of rules.
- Improved appearance when Accessibility option 'Increase contrast' is active.
- Improved floating window mode in Network Monitor.
- When choosing File > Restore from Backup in Little Snitch Configuration, the list showing possible backup files now includes backups that Little Snitch created automatically.
- Improved the map shown in the “Known Networks” window in Little Snitch Configuration.
- Improved the legibility of traffic rates in the status menu on Retina displays.
- Fixed data rates shown in Network Monitor to match the values shown in the status menu.
- Fixed the “Duration” setting in Preferences > Alert > Preselected Options not being respected.
- Fixed an issue with “undo” when unsubscribing from a rule group or when deleting a profile.
- Fixed an issue in Little Snitch Configuration where the “Turn into global rule” action did not work.
- Fixed an issue where an error that occurred in the course of a previous rule group subscription update was still displayed, even though the problem no longer existed.
Other Improvements and Bug Fixes
- Increased the maximum number of host names allowed in a rule group subscription to 200.000.
- Fixed an issue causing XPC services inside bundled frameworks to not be recognized as XPC. This resulted in connection alerts to be shown for the XPC services themselves instead of for the app the service belongs to.
- Fixed an issue causing Time Machine backups to Samba servers to stop working under some circumstances.
- Fixed an issue related to VPN connections with Split DNS configuration that caused only the server’s IP address to be displayed instead of its hostname.
- Reduced the snap length in PCAP files, allowing them to be analyzed not only with Wireshark but also with “tcpdump”.