iHosts For Mac

iHosts is a low-key and user-friendly little tool created to help you take control of your Mac's /etc/hosts file using a status bar item.

The iHosts app makes it possible to summon its menu with the help of a customizable global keyboard shortcut, the default one being ⌘ + ⇧ + E.

It is important to mention that upon starting iHosts on your Mac you will be asked to permit it to access your Mac's /etc/hosts file because the app runs in Sandbox mode and does not have access to it by default.

You will also be asked to run a Terminal command so that your user can edit the /etc/hosts file, as by default this is reserved only for the system admin account.

iHosts allows you to create hosts nodes which make it very easy and straightforward to add extra entries to the default hosts files. You can also make node groups which make it possible to organize your hosts files by creating a folder structure to understand what each node you created is supposed to do.

iHosts helps you edit hosts nodes in plain text mode, allowing you to comment the entries you don't want to be enabled using a "#" symbol, and to separate the IP addresses and domains using either a space character or a tab.

To enable or disable hosts nodes, you have to either select or deselect them, with the ones being toggled on having a checkmark symbol in front of them.

iHosts allows you to choose if you want to have multiple nodes in a group activated at the same time or just one at a time and you can toggle it on by checking the "Only activate one item in a hosts group" option in the General preferences tab.

As a bonus, iHosts also gives you a hand in viewing the currently enabled hosts records by clicking the "View Hosts" command or tapping the V key when the menu is activated.

iHosts also comes with a very helpful online tutorial which can be accessed by clicking the "Tutorial" option in the status bar menu.

You should definitely give iHosts a spin if you're looking for a simple way to organize the records in your Mac's /etc/hosts file without having to use the command line to edit the file directly.