Stumbled upon Gas Mask, intrigued but confused as to main purpose.

[jacobjivanov]

I stumbled upon Gas Mask, and while I gotta say the name is great, I'm confused as to what the point is. What exactly would this app do?

[oliveratgithub]

@jacobjivanov It gives you control over configuring local Hosts file entries on-the-fly, thanks to an easy to use UI editor.

[NickDimou]

I stumbled upon Gas Mask, and while I gotta say the name is great, I'm confused as to what the point is. What exactly would this app do?

In other words it denies access to all domains/connections that are included in the list, before reaching the browser OR any app (tracking, ads, scripts, etc.). It's a life saver.

In my opinion one of the most necessary macOS apps nobody knows.

[2ndalpha]

I originally created it to aid in development. For example let's say I would be working on website for example.com With the hosts file I could map this website to run from my own computer.

As Nick mentioned most people seem to be using it to block ads and tracking, though.