AWDLess — Steady Call

A macOS menu bar app that keeps AWDL (Apple Wireless Direct Link, the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi behind AirDrop, Handoff, Continuity Camera, Universal Control and Sidecar) switched off exactly while a camera is in use, and switches it back on afterwards.

Why

AWDL makes the Mac's Wi-Fi radio leave its channel on a shared schedule. During a video call that shows up as freezes of one to three seconds every 10–20 s, on the Mac in the call and on every Mac nearby (they hop in sync). Measured on a FRITZ!Box 6660 / Vodafone cable line, same call, only AWDL toggled:

	Router pings (0.5 s)
Call, AWDL on, 2.4 min	3 lost, max 1822 ms, 13 samples over 500 ms
Call, AWDL off, 3.6 min	0 lost, max 102 ms, 0 over 500 ms

The ISP, the cable modem and the router were ruled out first. Full write-up: see the investigation notes.

What it does

• Triggers: camera in use (default), microphone in use, chosen apps running, or a manual override (off / on, timed).
• Wi-Fi only: on Ethernet AWDL is harmless, so nothing happens.
• Grace period: AWDL stays off a configurable number of seconds after the camera stops, so brief toggles do not flap AirDrop.
• Link health: pings the router once a second while AWDL is off (or always), shows a 60 s sparkline and stall count, and badges the menu bar icon when the link stalls. This is how you see the fix working.
• Notifications on state changes, launch at login.
• Safety: the root helper restores AWDL whenever the app quits, crashes or disconnects.

How it works

Two parts, like Apple's own privileged-helper pattern:

1. AWDLess.app (SwiftUI, menu bar). Detects camera use via CoreMediaIO's DeviceIsRunningSomewhere (no camera permission needed), microphone use via CoreAudio, apps via NSWorkspace. Decides the desired state and tells the helper.
2. AWDLessHelper (LaunchDaemon, root, registered with SMAppService). Flips IFF_UP on awdl0 with an ioctl and watches the kernel routing socket: when macOS brings awdl0 back up by itself (it does, within seconds), the helper takes it down again immediately. No polling. It accepts XPC only from AWDLess signed by the same Team ID.

The helper mechanism is inspired by AWDLControl by James Howard (which targets games). Thank you.

Build

Requires Xcode 16+, macOS 14+ and XcodeGen.

xcodegen generate
open AWDLess.xcodeproj        # or: scripts/build.sh

Set DEVELOPMENT_TEAM in project.yml to your Team ID. For distribution outside your own Macs you need a "Developer ID Application" certificate and notarization (scripts/notarize.sh). This app cannot be sandboxed, so it cannot go on the Mac App Store.

First run

1. Launch AWDLess. The menu bar icon shows a warning triangle until the helper is installed.
2. Click Install Helper…. macOS asks you to allow it under System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions.
3. Start a video call. The icon switches to the slashed antenna; the menu shows which camera triggered it and the live link-health sparkline.

Lessons taken from AWDLControl's issue tracker

Issue	What went wrong there	AWDLess
#8	Frequent helper status checks flooded Background Task Management with notifications	Service status is read on user action and when the menu opens; no periodic registration attempts
#1	Removing the menu bar icon left the app running invisibly	Removing the icon quits the app; the helper restores AWDL
#2	Chosen mode was lost after reboot	"Protect now / Pause until…" is persisted and restored
#5	Web-app games could not be detected; author suggested Shortcuts	Shortcuts / App Intents: "Set AWDLess Mode", "Get AWDLess Status". Browser meetings are covered by the camera trigger
#6	No at-a-glance state	Outline icon = standing by, filled = protecting, badge = link stalling
#9	User looked for the app in the Dock	First-launch notification points to the menu bar; warning when not in /Applications

Product plan (not App Store)

The fix needs a root helper, which the App Store sandbox forbids; there is no entitlement for it. So:

• AWDLess (this app): direct download, notarized. Free diagnostic mode (link-health check during a call, demo run with AWDL off, honest verdict), paid unlock for the automatic fix.
• Optionally a free App Store companion that only diagnoses and links to the website. It must not sell or unlock the download (App Review guidelines 2.4.5 and 3.1.1).

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Field results

• 2026-10-06: A/B on one call, AWDL toggled mid-call: 13 stalls over 500 ms in 2.4 min with AWDL on, 0 in 3.6 min with it off.
• 2026-10-07: first real meeting with AWDLess 0.1.0 on the MacBook, Universal Control in use: no freezes.