How to set a proxy on macOS

Your proxy details

After you buy a plan, open My proxies. Choose the Proxy Type (Rotating or Sticky), the Protocol (HTTP or SOCKS5) and a Format, then copy a line. The generator offers three formats:

In the examples on this page, replace USERNAME, PASSWORD, HOST and PORT with the values from your line. SOCKS5_PORT is the port the generator shows when you pick SOCKS5.

Residential lines are either rotating (a new IP on new connections) or sticky (one IP for the time you choose). Datacenter and ISP plans give you a list of dedicated IPs, one per line as IP:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD, and each line is one fixed IP.

To test a line, open https://ipinfo.io/json through it: it shows the exit IP and country. For HTTP lines you can also use the free proxy checker.

Set the proxy

1. 1Open the Apple menu → System Settings → Network.
2. 2Select the connection you use (for example Wi-Fi) and click Details….
3. 3Select Proxies.
4. 4Turn on Web proxy (HTTP) and enter HOST as the server and PORT as the port. Turn on Proxy server requires password and enter USERNAME and PASSWORD.
5. 5Do the same for Secure web proxy (HTTPS).
6. 6Click OK, then open https://ipinfo.io/json in Safari to check.

Note: Settings are per connection: if you switch from Wi-Fi to Ethernet, set the proxy there too.

Skip the proxy for some sites

Add hosts and domains to Bypass proxy settings for these hosts & domains, separated by commas, and keep Exclude simple hostnames on for local names.

Terminal and developer tools

Tools such as cURL don’t read the macOS proxy settings. Set environment variables in your shell instead:

export https_proxy="http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT"
export http_proxy="http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT"
curl https://ipinfo.io/json

SOCKS proxy

macOS also has SOCKS proxy, with the same password option, for apps that use the system SOCKS setting. Browsers such as Chrome can’t log in to SOCKS5 with a password, so HTTP lines are the safer choice. For per-app routing, use Proxifier.

Choose the country

On residential plans, add -country- and a two-letter country code to the end of the username, for example USERNAME-country-us or USERNAME-country-gb. To combine a country with a state, a city or a sticky session, build the line in the generator, which shows only the options your plan supports. Datacenter and ISP IPs have a fixed location that you choose when you buy them.

Tips

• Use a sticky line for the system proxy, so all apps keep one IP.
• To turn the proxy off, switch off Web proxy and Secure web proxy in the same Proxies panel.

Troubleshooting

• Safari can’t open pages

  Check the host and port, and that both the HTTP and HTTPS proxies are set.More on this error →

• Repeated password prompts

  Re-enter the username and password from the generator under Proxy server requires password.More on this error →

• Wrong country

  Set the country in the generator or add -country-xx to the username on residential plans, then check https://ipinfo.io/json.More on this error →

Seeing another error? Read proxy errors and how to fix them, or contact support.

Questions