Setup guide · TorrentLock for Mac · Version 2.0

Set up TorrentLock on your Mac

Setup takes about two minutes: install PremierVPN, install TorrentLock, connect. This guide then covers everything else, from feeds and streaming to the Privacy page, every setting and remote access.

macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel
An active PremierVPN plan
The PremierVPN app for Mac

Download TorrentLock About TorrentLock

Two looks, same app

TorrentLock has two styles, Glass (calm and simple, the default) and Signal (every detail, live). The pages and settings are in the same place in both. Where the status words differ, this guide gives both, for example Protected / Secure.

01 Install

Install TorrentLock

Install PremierVPN for Mac and sign in, if you haven't already.
Download TorrentLock from the Downloads page in your account (TorrentLock-2.0.0.dmg) and open the DMG.
Drag TorrentLock into the Applications folder.
Open TorrentLock from Applications. It's signed and notarised by Apple, so it opens without warnings.
Allow notifications when asked, if you want to know when downloads finish.
Connect PremierVPN. The status in TorrentLock changes from Held to Protected, and transfers can start.

Moving from TorrentLock 1.x

Your settings and RSS feeds are brought across automatically the first time 2.0 opens. Transfers aren't: add them again and point them at the same folder, and TorrentLock checks the files you already have instead of downloading them again.

02 Open your torrents

Make TorrentLock open your torrents

Go to Settings › General.
Click Make TorrentLock the default.
Magnet links in your browser and .torrent files in Finder now open in TorrentLock.

03 First steps

Optional first steps

Choose where downloads go: Settings › Downloads › Save downloads to. The default is ~/Downloads/TorrentLock.
Open TorrentLock at login: Settings › General › Startup.
Pick a look: Settings › Appearance, Glass or Signal, and an accent colour (Frost, Teal or Snow).

TorrentLock Settings, Downloads tab: Save downloads to ~/Downloads/TorrentLock, move finished downloads, start immediately, download in order, reserve disk space, watch folder, queue limits of 5, 5 and 10, stop seeding at ratio 2 and keep 2 GB free — Settings › Downloads · click to enlarge

TorrentLock Settings, Appearance tab: the Glass and Signal styles, the Frost, Teal and Snow accents, menu bar popover style and the option to show download speed next to the menu bar icon — Settings › Appearance · click to enlarge

04 PremierVPN

How TorrentLock works with PremierVPN

TorrentLock starts every session with transfers held and only lets them run once PremierVPN's tunnel is your Mac's active connection.

Status (Glass / Signal)	What it means	What to do
Protected / Secure.	PremierVPN is connected and TorrentLock is bound to its tunnel. Transfers run.	Nothing.
Checking route… / Checking.	PremierVPN has just connected and TorrentLock is confirming the exit address.	Wait a few seconds.
Transfers held / Held.	PremierVPN isn't connected, or another VPN is in use. Nothing downloads or uploads, and no port is open.	Click Open PremierVPN and connect. Transfers start by themselves. If PremierVPN isn't installed, the button says Get PremierVPN.
Leak blocked / Blocked.	A peer reported your real IP, so every transfer was stopped.	Check PremierVPN is connected, then click Check again.
Not protected / Exposed.	You turned off "Only transfer through PremierVPN". Peers can see your IP.	Turn the setting back on in Settings › Privacy.

Why it can't leak when the VPN drops

Every connection is tied to PremierVPN's network interface, not just to "the internet". If the tunnel disappears, the connections have nowhere to go, even in the split second before TorrentLock notices and holds everything.

How it knows it's PremierVPN: macOS names the VPN as PremierVPN, or the PremierVPN app or its tunnel is running and carrying your traffic. The Privacy page lists which of these matched.
Your transfers are remembered. If you pause something yourself, it stays paused when PremierVPN reconnects. Everything else picks up where it left off, including after a restart.

TorrentLock Settings, Privacy tab: Only transfer through PremierVPN and Stop everything if peers see my own IP switched on, feeds wait for PremierVPN, and the banner shown when PremierVPN is not installed — Settings › Privacy · click to enlarge

TorrentLock Overview after Only transfer through PremierVPN was switched off: Not protected, the visible IP address and the Open PremierVPN button — Overview with protection switched off · click to enlarge

05 Transfers

Add and manage transfers

TorrentLock has six pages: Overview, Transfers, Feeds, Privacy, Activity and Settings. Jump between them with ⌘1 to ⌘6.

Add a torrent

Any of these opens the Add sheet:

Click a magnet link in your browser, or double-click a .torrent file (once TorrentLock is the default).
Drag .torrent files or a magnet link onto the TorrentLock window.
Press ⌘O to choose .torrent files, or ⌘U to paste magnet links. A magnet link already on your clipboard is filled in for you.

In the Add sheet you can paste several magnet links at once (one per line), untick files you don't want, choose the save folder and a label, and choose Start now or Download in order. If PremierVPN isn't connected yet, the torrent is added and waits.

Manage transfers

The Transfers page lists everything, filtered by All, Downloading, Seeding, Done or Paused, or by label. Press ⌘K to search.

Click a transfer to open its details: progress, a piece map, files, peers and trackers.
Right-click for Pause, Resume, Force start, queue order, label, Check files, Copy magnet link and Remove.
⌘P pauses or resumes the selected transfer. ⇧⌘P pauses everything, ⇧⌘R resumes everything.
When removing, you can keep the downloaded files or delete them too.

Choose files and priorities

In a transfer's Files tab, untick files to skip them, or set each file to High, Normal, Low or Skip.

Stream a video

Open the transfer's Files tab.
Click the play button next to a video or audio file. TorrentLock downloads that file in order, beginning with the start of it.
When the play button lights up, click it again to open the file in your player.

Labels

Create labels in the sidebar (Glass) or on the Transfers page (Signal), give a transfer a label from its right-click menu, then filter by label. Labels are kept between launches.

The TorrentLock Transfers page with the All, Downloading, Seeding, Done and Paused filters, search on ⌘K and the Add button — Transfers · click to enlarge

06 Feeds

Feeds (automatic downloads)

Go to Feeds and click Add feed. Paste the RSS address.
Click New rule. Enter words the title must contain and must not contain; regular expressions are supported.
Keep Skip episodes already downloaded on to avoid duplicates of the same episode.
Tick Download what rules match on the feed. Matching items are added automatically, with the rule's folder and label.

Feeds refresh every 15 minutes to 6 hours, and only while PremierVPN is protecting you.

07 Menu bar

Menu bar and the Activity log

Menu bar

TorrentLock lives in the menu bar too, with a padlock icon that shows your status at a glance. Click it for status, live speeds, active transfers, Pause all and Add. Closing the main window keeps TorrentLock running there; quit from the menu bar's … menu.

Activity log

The Activity page records what happened and when: transfers, trackers, network changes and privacy checks. Filter by category, show problems only, or Export… the log to send to support. For extra detail, tick Include debug detail.

The TorrentLock Activity page: Engine, Transfers, Trackers, Network, Privacy, Feeds and Remote filters, Problems only, Export and Clear, with the first events of a session — Activity · click to enlarge

08 Privacy

The Privacy page

The Privacy page shows what the swarm can see about you, measured live rather than assumed.

Check	What it shows
Pinned to PremierVPN	The PremierVPN tunnel and protocol TorrentLock is bound to, or "Held" when nothing can leave your Mac.
What peers see	The IP address peers and trackers report seeing. It should match your PremierVPN exit address.
Exit address	Your PremierVPN exit IP and server name, measured through the tunnel.
Router port mapping	Always Off: TorrentLock never asks your router to open a port.
DNS lookups	Whether tracker names are looked up through PremierVPN.
Peer encryption	Off, Preferred or Required (Settings › Connection).

Run full check makes one extra request outside the VPN to learn your real IP, so TorrentLock can recognise it if a peer ever reports it. If PremierVPN's kill switch blocks that request, the result says Hidden by PremierVPN's kill switch, which is a pass.
How TorrentLock knows lists the evidence that identified the tunnel as PremierVPN.
The two switches at the bottom are the same as in Settings › Privacy: Only transfer through PremierVPN and Stop everything if peers see my own IP. Both are on by default and we recommend leaving them on.

The TorrentLock Privacy page with its six checks, the leak test readout and How TorrentLock knows, shown here with protection switched off — Privacy · click to enlarge

09 Settings

Settings reference

Open Settings with ⌘,. Every setting takes effect straight away; only Peer exchange needs TorrentLock to be restarted.

General6 settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Open TorrentLock at login	`Off`	Starts TorrentLock when you log in.
Magnet links and .torrent files	`Not set`	Makes TorrentLock the app that opens them.
Notify me	`On`	A notification when a download finishes.
Put the Mac to sleep when everything has finished	`Off`	Sleeps the Mac once all downloads are done.
Keep the Mac awake while transferring	`On`	Stops the Mac sleeping mid-transfer; the display can still sleep.
Include debug detail	`Off`	Adds technical detail to the Activity log for support.

Downloads9 settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Save downloads to	`~/Downloads/TorrentLock`	The default folder for new transfers.
Move finished downloads	`Off`	Moves completed files to another folder.
Start immediately	`On`	New transfers start straight away rather than paused.
Download in order	`Off`	Downloads files start to finish, for previewing video.
Reserve the full disk space up front	`Off`	Allocates the whole size when a transfer is added.
Watch folder	`Off`	Adds any .torrent file saved to a chosen folder, then moves it to "Added" or deletes it.
Queue	`On: 5 downloading, 5 seeding, 10 in total`	Extra transfers wait their turn.
Stop seeding	`Ratio 2, no time limit`	Stops seeding at a ratio or after a number of minutes; 0 means keep seeding. Resuming by hand lets a transfer seed on.
Disk space	`On, keep 2 GB free`	Pauses downloads before the disk fills and resumes them when there's room.

Speed3 settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Normal limits	`Unlimited`	Download and upload caps in KB/s.
Alternative limits	`1,024 / 256 KB/s`	A second set of limits, switched on by hand or on a schedule.
Schedule	`Off; 08:00 to 18:00, Mon to Fri`	When the alternative limits apply automatically.

Connection6 settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Listening port	`New random port each launch`	The port peers connect to, open only inside the VPN.
Connections	`200 in total, 50 per transfer`	Maximum peer connections.
Finding peers	`DHT, Peer exchange and µTP on; local discovery off`	How TorrentLock finds peers.
Peer encryption	`Prefer`	Off, Prefer, or Require (refuses peers that won't encrypt).
Anonymous mode	`Off`	Hides the client name and version; some private trackers refuse it.
Router port mapping	`Always off`	UPnP and NAT-PMP would open a port on your home router, outside the VPN.

Privacy2 settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Only transfer through PremierVPN	`On`	Holds every transfer unless PremierVPN is protecting you.
Leak guard	`On`	Stops everything if peers report your real IP.

Appearance4 settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Style	`Glass`	Glass (calm) or Signal (every detail).
Accent	`Frost`	Frost, Teal or Snow.
Menu bar popover	`Match style`	Follow the app's style, or always Glass or Signal.
Show download speed next to the icon	`On`	Download speed in the menu bar.

Remote1 setting

Setting	Default	What it does
Web portal	`Off`	Manage TorrentLock from a browser (see Remote access).

10 Remote

Remote access (web portal)

The web portal lets you check and control TorrentLock from a browser. It's off by default, only this Mac can reach it until you allow your network, and every request needs your access key.

Turn it on

Go to Settings › Remote and switch on Turn on the web portal.
Click Open. Your browser opens the portal and signs in automatically.
To use it from a phone or another computer on the same Wi-Fi, tick Allow devices on my network. Open the address shown (for example http://your-mac.local:9092) and enter the access key when asked.

In the portal you can see your protection status and speeds, add magnet links or .torrent files, and pause, resume or remove transfers.

Access key: Settings › Remote shows it (click Show), lets you Copy it, and New key replaces it. Browsers using the old key are asked for the new one.
Port: 9092 by default; change it in Settings › Remote.

For scripts

The same API works from the command line. Send the key in the X-TorrentLock-Key header.

Request	What it does
`GET /api/state`	Protection status, speeds and every transfer, as JSON.
`POST /api/add`	Adds a torrent: `{"magnet": "magnet:?…"}` or `{"torrent_b64": "…"}`.
`POST /api/action`	Acts on one transfer: `{"hash": "…", "action": "pause"}`. Actions: pause, resume, remove, remove_files, recheck, reannounce.
`POST /api/all`	Pauses or resumes everything: `{"action": "pause"}` or `"resume"`.

Example curl -H 'X-TorrentLock-Key: YOUR_KEY' http://127.0.0.1:9092/api/state

11 Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Nothing is downloading and the status says Transfers held

PremierVPN isn't connected, or another VPN is. Open PremierVPN and connect; transfers resume by themselves within a couple of seconds.

PremierVPN is connected but TorrentLock still says held

Make sure PremierVPN, not another VPN, is the active connection, then look at Privacy › How TorrentLock knows. If it still doesn't recognise the tunnel, export the Activity log and send it to support.

It says Leak blocked

A peer reported your real IP, so TorrentLock stopped everything. Reconnect PremierVPN, then click Check again.

Downloads are slow or have no peers

Check the transfer's Trackers and Peers tabs. Try Ask for peers, try a different PremierVPN server, and make sure DHT and Peer exchange are on (Settings › Connection). Some torrents simply have few seeders.

Downloads paused on their own

The disk-space guard paused them because free space fell below your limit (2 GB by default). Free up space and they resume, or change the limit in Settings › Downloads.

A transfer stopped seeding

It reached the seeding limit (ratio 2 by default). Resume it to keep seeding, or change the limit in Settings › Downloads.

Magnet links open in another app

Go to Settings › General and click Make TorrentLock the default.

The window is gone

TorrentLock keeps running in the menu bar. Click the padlock icon and choose Open TorrentLock, or click TorrentLock in the Dock.

Does TorrentLock work without PremierVPN?

It's designed not to: by default it only transfers through PremierVPN. You can turn that off in Settings › Privacy, but your IP is then visible to everyone in the swarm, so we don't recommend it.

Does it work with other VPNs?

No. TorrentLock holds transfers when any VPN other than PremierVPN is active.

Will my 1.x transfers carry over?

Settings and feeds do. Add transfers again pointing at the same folder, and TorrentLock checks the existing files instead of downloading them again.

Getting help

In TorrentLock, go to Settings › General › Help › PremierVPN support, or visit the support and help centre. Attach the exported Activity log.

Use TorrentLock only for content you have the right to download and share.

TorrentLock 2.0 for Mac

Ready to start?

Download TorrentLock PremierVPN for Mac