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Scouted · October 30, 2026

★ Pick of the dayShow HNProductivity· 144 HN points
Auto Dismiss Mac OS "Allow <app> to find devices on local networks?"

auto-dismiss macOS local network permission popups

A sharp, well-received single-purpose macOS utility with real pain behind it, but the addressable market is narrow and Apple could kill it with one OS update — worth a small paid app, not a business.

Why now?

The Show HN post drew 144 points and 106 comments on a single submission, a strong signal that this macOS popup frustration is widely shared among power users. The author notes there is still no global system setting to disable the prompt, so the gap Apple leaves open is real today. Demand is validated as interest, not as proven willingness to pay — there are no download or revenue signals here.

The gap

macOS offers no global toggle to suppress the 'Allow <app> to find devices on local networks?' dialog, and the built-in alternative is clicking through each prompt manually. A tiny accessibility-based utility that auto-dismisses the popup in ~1/4 second and leaves a notification fills that gap. The audience is narrow (annoyed power users), and the workaround depends on Apple's accessibility surface staying stable.

Main competitor

The default macOS behavior itself: manually clicking 'Don't Allow' on each prompt, since no native global setting exists.

Execution plan

  1. Rebuild the core in Swift using the Accessibility API (AXUIElement) to detect and dismiss the local-network permission dialog, with a configurable delay and a post-dismiss notification.
  2. Harden against macOS changes: detect dialog variants across OS versions, fail gracefully, and add a self-test that flags when the dialog UI changes so you can patch quickly.
  3. Ship a signed and notarized build with a clear, minimal accessibility-permission onboarding flow to reduce trust friction for downloads.
  4. Publish the open-source repo (as the original did) to ride the Show HN interest, then offer a paid notarized build or a small one-time purchase for users who don't want to compile it themselves.
  5. Engage the existing HN commenters for feedback and edge cases, and add a lightweight menu-bar toggle plus a log of dismissed prompts as low-effort differentiators.

Monetization

A small one-time paid download (e.g., a few dollars) for a signed, notarized build, with the source free on GitHub. The need is one-time and the audience narrow, so a subscription is not justified by the signals; treat this as a small paid utility, not a recurring-revenue business.