How to set up SmartyDNS App for macOS

This tutorial will show you how to set up SmartyDNS App for macOS. If you don’t have a SmartyDNS account, you can try our services for free for 3 days.

Here are the steps you should follow:

1. Part I. Install SmartyDNS app for macOS.

   1. Download the app.
   2. Run the downloaded SmartyDNS app installation file.
   3. Drag and drop the SmartyDNS icon (1) to the Applications folder (2).

   4. Open Finder (3), go to your Applications (4) and there you will find the SmartyDNS app (5). Launch the SmartyDNS app.

   5. You may get a message that our app was downloaded from the Internet. Click “Open” (6).

      Also you may get a message that the SmartyDNS app is trying to install a new helper tool. Enter your Mac user password and click on “Install helper” (8).

   6. First, you have to choose whether you want to sign in to use our VPN services or our Smart DNS services. To do that, choose between “VPN” (9) and “Smart DNS” (10) tabs.

2. Part II. Connect to VPN

   If you want to connect to Smart DNS please skip Part II and go straight to “Part III. Connect to Smart DNS”.

   1. 1. To connect to VPN services, make sure the “VPN” tab (9) is selected, type your VPN username (11) and password (12).

         Assure you use your VPN username and password, NOT the website account credentials. To find your VPN username and password, sign in to your account on our website, go to “Setup” -> “VPN Username & Password“. If you don’t have a SmartyDNS account, you can try our services for free for 3 days.

         Then click “Sign in” (13).

      2. Once you are signed in choose the VPN server location (14), then click on “Connect” button (15).

      3. You may be asked if you allow to add VPN configurations. Click on “Allow” (16).

      4. You will be asked to enter your Mac user password. Enter it and click on “Always Allow” (17), this way you will not be asked for the password till you sign out.

         The password is requested by macOS every first time you connect to VPN after signing in or restarting the app. This is the way macOS handles the IKEv2 protocol in third party apps like ours.

   You are now connected, your IP is changed and your connection is encrypted.

   1. The “Settings” tab (18) will allow you to make the following configurations:

      “Run at start-up” – run the application automatically when macOS starts.

      “Sign in at app. start” – sign in when app starts.

      “Start minimized” – start the SmartyDNS app minimized.

      “Connect VPN on sign in” – automatically connect to VPN with your last used server location and protocol.

      “Minimize on connect” – minimize to tray after connecting to VPN.

      “Reconnect if conn. dropped” – automatically reconnect if connection drops.

      “DNS Leak protection” – turn on/off the DNS leak protections.

      “Group servers by country when sorting by speed” – when you are sorting servers by speed, they will be grouped by country.

   2. The “Apps. Killer” tab (19) will allow you to set up which applications to be closed automatically if your VPN connection drops. We recommend to add applications such as P2P/BitTorrent.

      Click on “Add app” button (20), then select the app you want to add.

      Check the “Restart on connect” checkbox (21) to automatically restart the application after VPN reconnects.

      Click the “Remove” button (22) to remove the application from the Apps. Killer.

   3. In the “Support” tab (23) you can save logs. In case of problems, you can save logs and send them to us. To do that, click the “Save logs” button (24).

3. Part III. Connect to Smart DNS

   1. Open SmartyDNS app, click on the “Smart DNS” tab (9), enter your SmartyDNS key (10) and click “Sign in” (11).

      To find your SmartyDNS key, sign in to your account on our website, go to Setup -> App Login Credentials and copy the key.

      If you don’t have a SmartyDNS account, you can try our services for free for 3 days.

   2. Click on the “Enable Smart DNS” button (12) to enable Smart DNS.

      Here you can also choose:

      “Websites region” (13) – the region that will be used for multi-regional websites.

      “DNS Server” (14) – the server that’s closer to you as it may give you better performance. You will be able to access all the officially unblocked websites no matter which server is chosen.

   3. The “Settings” tab (15) will allow you to make the following configurations:

      Startup settings:

      “Run at start-up” – run the app automatically when macOS starts.

      “Sign in at app. start” – sign in when app starts.

      “Start minimized” – start the SmartyDNS app minimized.

      Connection settings:

      “Enable Smart DNS on Sign in” – automatically enable Smart DNS when you sign in.

      “Minimize on Smart DNS enable” – minimize to tray after enabling Smart DNS.

      “Update IP every” – if you ISP changes you IP address often, you can set up how often our app will automatically update your IP.

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