Watch Net Speed For Mac

It’s surprising that a simple way to monitor your download and upload speed still isn’t included by default in either macOS or Windows. Sure, you can use Activity Monitor, but it isn’t exactly the quickest solution, and it won’t be visible on your desktop at all times.

If you feel that monitoring your traffic is useful, Watch Net Speed can be quite handy. It is one of the simpler applications of its kind, and it is very easy to configure, but some users may not be happy with the limited feature set.

Simplicity was clearly the primary goal when developing this tool, as you can start using it in just a few seconds. Once launched, the download and upload meters will be visible in the menu bar, with down and up arrows for easy identification.

The speed readings will be updated every couple of seconds, but the interval is not customizable. If the transfer speed is lower than 1kb/s, it can be ignored; this is a helpful feature, but it would be great if the threshold could be increased.

If you’re only interested in your download or upload speed, you can choose which meter will be displayed in the menu bar. Moreover, the app can combine the values to show the total transfer rate.

Visually, you can choose from a few arrow styles if you don’t like the default option. However, it would be nice if users had the option of hiding arrows when only download or upload speed is monitored.

Watch Net Speed was designed as an elegant, straightforward Internet speed monitor, and that’s exactly what it delivers. There are no additional features that some will find unnecessary, and that certainly isn’t a bad thing, but I feel it is a bit too pricey considering its capabilities.