NetCheck is a macOS menu bar globe that tells you your internet died.
introduction
I work remotely, so my whole job sits on one connection. I built this for myself first, then handed it to a friend to find out whether it survived contact with someone who is not me.
Role
Design Lead / Motion design / UX/UI Design / Website / Prototyping
Year
2026
Category
Tools
project details
You are always the last to know your internet has failed.
The Wi-Fi icon says you are connected while nothing gets through. Mine died in the middle of a presentation and I kept talking to a frozen video for a full minute. The fallback is opening fast.com again, which only works if I remember to check.
Solution
I did not need a number at a glance. I needed proof of life.
My first version showed live speed and the number never sat still. So the readout disappeared and a globe took its place, spinning with live traffic and sounding the moment the connection dies. A friend said the spin tugged at his eye, so I added a calm mode.
result
NetCheck ships as a real macOS app that auto-updates, public since June 2026.
Three states went out publicly: green at 240 Mbps, amber at 12 Mbps, red offline. The honest outcome is smaller and better than a metric. I had a problem and now it does not exist, and the fix a friend asked for reached his machine overnight.
Not whether it works for you. Whether it survives someone else.