Lantern Support
Stuck or curious? Email hello@papermint.studio and a human reads every message, usually within a day.
Getting started3
- Install. Download Lantern, open the .dmg and drag Lantern to Applications. It needs macOS 26 Tahoe or later, on Apple silicon.
- The welcome. Four short steps: what Lantern does, letting it look around your local network, showing your Wi-Fi's name (optional), and a first scan you watch fill in.
- The first scan takes about seven seconds on a home network. After that, Scan again (⌘R) whenever you like, or let Lantern scan by itself.
Permissions3
- Local Network. macOS asks once whether Lantern may find devices on your local network. Choose Allow: without it Lantern can't talk to any device. If you said no, turn Lantern on in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network.
- Location, only for the Wi-Fi name. macOS shares a Wi-Fi network's name, and the networks nearby, only with apps allowed Location Services, because names can hint at where you are. Lantern never reads where you are. Without it, everything works except the network's name and the crowded-channel check. Allow it from Show the name on Your network, or in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services.
- Notifications are asked for so Lantern can tell you about new devices, watched devices and low ink. Choose which in Settings › Alerts.
How Lantern finds devices5
- Who's there. Lantern pings every address on your network, taps a few common ports (a refused connection still proves a device is there) and reads the Mac's ARP table, which lists every device that answered, even ones that ignore ping.
- What they are. It then asks each device the ways devices already describe themselves: Bonjour names and details, UPnP descriptions, NetBIOS names, SNMP, IPP for printers, their own info pages (Cast, Roku, Samsung, Sonos) and reverse DNS. The kind, maker and model come from that.
- Who made the network card. The first half of a hardware address names the maker, from the IEEE's public list, bundled in the app.
- Open ports. Lantern checks 44 ports devices commonly use, not all 65,535, and names the service behind each.
- How big a network. Lantern looks at the whole network your Mac is on, up to 510 addresses around it on a bigger office network.
Names and unknown devices6
- "Phone or laptop". Phones, tablets and laptops make up a private hardware address for each Wi-Fi network, so the maker is hidden. Lantern marks these Private address.
- "Unknown device". Some devices don't announce anything and keep every port closed. Lantern still shows them, with the network card's maker when it isn't private.
- Rename. Give any device your own name with Rename; only Lantern uses it. Leave it empty to go back to the name the device gives itself.
- What is this? On a device that doesn't say what it is, What is this? tells you who made its network card and what they usually make, what it answers on, and whether it's answering right now (unplug it and the dot goes grey). Pick its kind and give it a name.
- A device moved address? Since 1.1 Lantern knows each device by its hardware address, so its name, Watch and history follow it to a new IP address. A phone that makes up a new private Wi-Fi address is matched by the name it announces. Forget an old entry from its right-click menu, or all offline ones in Settings › Your data.
- Why doesn't my iPhone show its name? Recent iOS versions announce a random ID instead of "Shiva's iPhone" and don't answer when asked their name, so other devices on the Wi-Fi can't tell whose phone it is. Name it once with Rename and Lantern remembers it. Macs, printers and many Android devices do still give their names.
Printers5
- Ink and toner. Network printers that work with AirPrint report their supplies over IPP, without a password: each tank in its own colour, its level, and a warning when it runs low.
- Pages printed and serial number come from SNMP, which many printers answer. Once Lantern has a few scans, it also shows how many pages were printed in the last week.
- Also shown: the model, name and location, firmware, speed, colour and two-sided printing, paper loaded, what it prints, its status and anything it reports as wrong (out of paper, a jam, a door open).
- Its own page. Open settings page opens the printer's web page; Ink page opens its supplies page when it has one.
- No ink levels? Some printers only report "some left", and USB printers shared from another Mac aren't on the network themselves.
Your router and network3
- The router shows its model, maker and serial number from its UPnP description and, if it allows it, its public address, how long it has been connected, the line type and any ports it forwards to the internet.
- No public address shown? The router has UPnP turned off. Everything else still works.
- Your network shows the Wi-Fi's signal, noise, channel, band, width, security and standard, and this Mac's address, DNS servers and DHCP lease.
The health check5
- What it checks. Double NAT, WPS left on, open, WEP or old WPA Wi-Fi, a weak signal, a crowded Wi-Fi channel, ports forwarded to the internet, Telnet, FTP, Remote Desktop and VNC left open, a router answering SNMP with the default password, low ink and printer errors, new devices, and devices that don't say what they are.
- Double NAT means your router's internet side has a private address, so another box (usually your provider's modem) also shares the connection. Putting that box in bridge mode, or your router in access-point mode, fixes it.
- A crowded channel needs Location (see Permissions), so Lantern can hear the networks around you. It suggests a quieter channel to pick in your router's Wi-Fi settings.
- Lantern never changes anything. Each finding opens the device it's about; changes are made in the device's own settings.
- Hide what you know. Keeping WPS on on purpose? Press I know, hide this on a finding. It moves to the hidden list at the bottom of the page, where Show again brings it back.
Activity and alerts4
- Scanning by itself. Every 5, 15 or 60 minutes (15 by default), or Off, in Settings › General, and after your Mac wakes. It scans while Lantern is open or in the menu bar.
- Activity compares each scan with the one before: devices that joined for the first time, came back or left, and printers that ran low on ink.
- Alerts. A notification when a new device joins, when a device you Watch comes or goes, and when a printer runs low. Choose them in Settings › Alerts.
- The menu bar. With Lantern in the menu bar on, closing the window keeps Lantern watching; the lantern shows what's online, what's new and what needs a look.
Where your lists live1
- One file per network in ~/Library/Application Support/Lantern, with its devices, your names and the activity history. Show in Finder is in Settings › Your data.
Buying and licences8
- Try it first. Everything works for 7 days from the first launch.
- Pay once. $9.99 for one Mac, with every future update included. Buy from Settings › About or Lantern › Buy Lantern…; the payment is handled by Dodo Payments.
- After the trial the devices from your last scan still open. Scanning again needs a licence.
- Activating. After checkout Lantern opens with your key filled in; press Activate. Or paste the key from the Dodo Payments email into Settings › About.
- Moving to another Mac. Deactivate in Settings › About on the old Mac, or remove that Mac at console.papermint.studio, then activate on the new one. Reinstalling on the same Mac doesn't take another place.
- All your licences are at console.papermint.studio (also Lantern › Manage Licences…): your keys, the Mac each is on, and your receipts.
- Refunds. Ask from your receipt at console.papermint.studio or through the Dodo Payments email, or write to hello@papermint.studio.
- Offline is fine. The licence is checked about once a day when the Mac is online, and Lantern keeps working for 30 days without a connection.
Updates3
- Automatic. Lantern checks for a new version about once a day and installs it when you choose, from Settings › About; your devices and history stay as they were.
- Check now from Lantern › Check for Updates… or Settings › About.
- Signed updates. Every update is signed by us and notarized by Apple, and Lantern refuses anything that isn't.
Removing Lantern3
- The app. Quit Lantern (from the menu bar lantern too) and drag it from Applications to the Trash.
- Your lists, if you want them gone too: delete ~/Library/Application Support/Lantern.
- Your licence stays yours. Deactivate this Mac first, or remove it later at console.papermint.studio, to use it on another Mac.