Help, FAQ, and how to reach me. SignalDrop is a one-person indie app — I read every message.
The fastest way to reach me. I respond within 1-2 business days, usually faster.
jesse@jessemeria.comPlease include: your macOS version (Apple menu → About This Mac), SignalDrop version (menu bar → About SignalDrop), and a brief description of what you're seeing. Screenshots help.
macOS requires Location permission for any app to read WiFi network names (SSID). Apple changed this in macOS 14 (Sonoma). SignalDrop uses your network name solely to display it in the menu bar and notifications — your geographic location is never determined, stored, or transmitted. SignalDrop makes zero outbound network requests of its own.
If you skip granting Location during onboarding, you can grant it later from System Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → SignalDrop. The app's menu will then show your network name; until then it shows "WiFi on — network name hidden."
If you're on SignalDrop 1.0.1 or earlier, this is a known bug fixed in 1.0.2 and still in place in 1.1. Update via the Mac App Store. The fix adds a periodic self-heal that refreshes the menu every 30 seconds plus reconnects to CoreWLAN's event stream on system wake.
No — closing the welcome window drops the app back to its menubar-only mode. The icon should still be in your menu bar near the system clock. In 1.1 the icon shape reflects connection state: a filled Wi‑Fi glyph when connected (variable strength bars based on signal), a Wi‑Fi glyph with an exclamation mark when Wi‑Fi is up but the internet is unreachable, a slashed Wi‑Fi glyph when Wi‑Fi is off, and a small lock-with-cloud glyph when Location Services is denied. If the menu bar is crowded, macOS may have auto-hidden the icon — try widening your screen or rearranging menu bar items via Cmd-drag.
Open SignalDrop Settings (menu → Settings, or press ⌘,). The Notification Rules section has per-event toggles for every category (Disconnect, Reconnect, Weak signal, Internet unreachable, etc.), a Quiet Hours window with minute precision that uniformly silences every category, a "minimum disconnect duration" slider that suppresses phantom 1–2 second drops caused by roaming, and a "minimum signal-degraded duration" slider that suppresses momentary signal dips. A "Send test notification" button lets you preview your settings.
Two ways. The fast path is Copy Receipt for Support (menu → Copy Receipt, or press ⇧⌘C) — a paste-ready summary lands on your clipboard with timestamps, durations, and a connection-quality grade. The detailed path is the PDF export: open Network Insights (⌘N), switch to the Connection History tab, pick the period (24h / 7d / 30d), and click Export PDF… (or press ⌘E). The PDF is a branded one-page receipt with the grade, the timeline strip, the per-network rollup, and every outage with timestamps — designed to defeat the standard "we ran a line test, everything looks fine" ISP-support deflection.
Menu → Export Log (CSV). You'll get an event-by-event spreadsheet you can open in Numbers or Excel, including SSID, BSSID, RSSI, timestamp, event type, and downtime duration where applicable.
The Mac App Store version cannot — Apple's sandbox blocks programmatic disassociation from WiFi networks. The auto-leave feature is available in the unsandboxed direct-distribution build. If this matters to you, get in touch and I'll point you at the DMG.
Yes. SignalDrop ships a universal binary supporting both Apple Silicon (M-series) and Intel Macs. Minimum macOS is 13 Ventura.
Shipped in 1.1 (current):
Planned next versions:
Existing buyers get all 1.x updates free. The Mac App Store grandfathers older buyers as prices increase.
Yes. SignalDrop Direct is a parallel Developer-ID-signed DMG built from the same source. Same price, same features, same release cadence — the differences are that it updates via Sparkle instead of the Mac App Store, doesn't require an Apple ID, and includes the unsandboxed features that Apple's sandbox blocks (notably auto-leave from bad WiFi). For most users the Mac App Store version is the right choice; the direct DMG exists for power users who specifically want it. Email jesse@jessemeria.com with subject "Direct download" and I'll send you the link.
Mac App Store purchases are refunded by Apple, not by me. Use reportaproblem.apple.com to request a refund through Apple. If something's wrong with the app, I'd appreciate hearing about it before you refund — most issues are fixable in a quick reply.
Settings are stored in your Mac's standard preferences. If they're not persisting, it usually indicates a corrupted preferences file. You can reset by quitting SignalDrop and running this in Terminal:
defaults delete com.meria.signaldropThen relaunch. You'll see the welcome window again as if it's a first install.
macOS's built-in WiFi menu shows a 4-bar approximation. SignalDrop shows the actual dBm value from CoreWLAN — the same reading macOS uses internally to compute its 4-bar approximation. The numerical reading is more precise. Anywhere from −30 to −50 dBm is excellent; −50 to −65 is good; −65 to −75 is fair; below −75 is weak.
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