VPN Peek
See if your VPN is actually working from your menu bar
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anhphong

VPN Peek - See if your VPN is actually working from your menu bar

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VPN Peek
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VPN Peek monitors your VPN status from the macOS menu bar and detects DNS & IPv6 leaks. Get instant notifications when your VPN drops or your traffic leaks. Works with any VPN provider. $3.99, pay once.

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anhphong
Maker
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Hey Product Hunt! 👋 I built VPN Peek because I got tired of not knowing if my VPN was actually protecting me. Here's the problem: macOS doesn't make VPN status obvious. The icon is buried in System Settings, and even when you're "connected," your DNS queries or IPv6 traffic might be leaking outside the tunnel, completely bypassing your VPN. VPN Peek fixes this by: 🔒 Showing real-time VPN status in your menu bar 🔍 Detecting DNS leaks (checks if queries go through your ISP) 🌐 Detecting IPv6 leaks (spots exposed IPv6 addresses) 📍 Displaying your current public IP and location 🔔 Alerting you instantly when VPN drops or leaks detected It works with any VPN provider since it monitors at the system level, not tied to any specific app. Built native for macOS with SwiftUI, lightweight, fast, and respects your privacy. The app only reaches out to check your public IP for leak detection. No tracking, no data collection. $3.99 on the Mac App Store. One-time purchase, yours forever. VPN Peek is part of my "Peek" series, simple menu bar utilities that surface info macOS normally hides. More apps coming soon! I'd love your feedback. What other "hidden" macOS info would you want in your menu bar? Thanks for checking it out! 🙏
Sally Liu

The notification is great, but does VPN Peek have the ability to act as a system-wide 'Kill Switch' (cutting internet access instantly) when a leak is detected, or is it strictly for monitoring/alerting only?

anhphong
Maker

@liusally4 Monitoring only!

Kill switch would need system-level network access that macOS App Store sandbox doesn't allow.

Think of it as an early warning system that works alongside your VPN's built-in kill switch 👍

Sally Liu

@anhphong Thank you for your reply.

Samet Sezer

congrats! clean and simple idea. do you detect leaks continuously or only on manual checks?

mees schiks

Clean concept and I like the focus on verification instead of just “VPN on/off.”
That said, I’m curious how deep the leak detection really goes. DNS + IPv6 checks are great, but how often are they sampled, and are edge cases like split tunneling or per-app VPNs handled correctly?

Also, the value prop depends a lot on trust, since the app checks public IP/location, it’d be nice to see a short technical breakdown (or whitepaper) explaining exactly what requests are made and how false positives are avoided.

anhphong
Maker

@mees_schiks 

Good questions!

Quick summary: checks are event-driven (instant on network changes) + configurable auto-refresh (30s–10m). DNS detection runs locally, IPv6 check uses a single external request.

Split tunneling isn't handled yet, but on the roadmap.

You're right about trust/transparency. Working on a technical breakdown covering exactly what requests are made and how detection works. Will share soon 👍

Jay Dev

Wow, VPN Peek is genius! Love the menu bar integration for quick checks. Does it handle split tunneling VPN configurations effectively to avoid false leak positives?

anhphong
Maker

@jaydev13 

Thanks! Honestly, VPN Peek would flag split tunneling as "leaking" because it detects traffic leaving the VPN tunnel, even if that's intentional on your end.

For those who prefer to have all their traffic go through the VPN, that's the right call. However, power users with split tunneling would experience false positives.

I'm noting this for a future config option. Appreciate the feedback! 🙇‍♂️

Evan Ya

This VPN monitor is solid for working remotely. It’d be awesome if it had native OpenVPN support—like a Tunnelblick alternative.