WiFiSpoof — An Interview with Russell Gray
Russell Gray explains why WiFiSpoof began, the App Sandbox challenge, and what helped this focused Mac utility survive years of platform changes.
WiFiSpoof helped me reduce tracking on untrusted Wi-Fi networks by changing the MAC address my Mac presented to them. For My Mac Apps Story, I asked Russell Gray of SweetP Productions what inspired the app, what made supporting it difficult as Apple’s security requirements changed, and why he still maintains it.
Interview by Ighor July for Reverse Everything.
Interview
Ighor July
What originally inspired you to create WiFiSpoof?
Russell Gray
I traveled a lot when I was younger and kept running up against hostile WiFi usage limits on public networks. This is not really an issue now, but it was a very real problem when I first started working on WiFiSpoof.
Ighor July
What was the greatest technical challenge in keeping WiFiSpoof working as macOS and the Mac App Store changed?
Russell Gray
The biggest challenges for WiFiSpoof were complying with Apple App Store policies regarding privilege escalation. WiFiSpoof uses elevated privileges to change the Mac Address, but also so users don’t need to authorise the Mac Address change each time. So effectively there was one major hurdle, and that was making WiFiSpoof compliant with Apple Sandbox.
I forget when Sandbox became a thing, which according to ChatGPT was back in macOS Lion!
Ighor July
What motivates you to continue developing and supporting it after so many years?
Russell Gray
I “enjoyed”… the challenge of keeping it working across the various limitations that Apple introduced into macOS and the App Store over the years. Now that Apple’s security model seems mature, I am more interested in trying to make it more useful and user friendly without adding too much bloat.
Ighor July
How has user feedback influenced its development? Were any important features or decisions based directly on user requests?
Russell Gray
It didn’t greatly affect development, as I had a clear goal of what I wanted WiFiSpoof to do, and didn’t want to add too many obscure features. I did take note of similar complaints though and have tried to improve UX based on this.
Ighor July
What advice would you give to independent developers who hope to maintain and support their apps for ten years or longer?
Russell Gray
Build apps you have a personal need for and enjoy working on.
This interview is part of the developer interview series connected to My Mac Apps Story, Part 4.