Do I need to enable the firewall on my new Mac Air for home Wi-Fi security?

I have a new Mac air computer. I use it at home on my private router Wi-Fi. Do I need to turn the firewall on my Mac air or is this all done automatically for safety?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Should I enable the

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.6

Posted on Nov 29, 2025 9:07 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 1, 2025 10:43 AM

Devices behind your private router are already protected. The use case would be when you enable Port Forwarding for a specific reason on your router to direct network traffic to a particular device or in an enterprise environment with devices connected using Ethernet.


For a typical user with their own router, it is not needed.


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 1, 2025 10:43 AM in response to duderay

Devices behind your private router are already protected. The use case would be when you enable Port Forwarding for a specific reason on your router to direct network traffic to a particular device or in an enterprise environment with devices connected using Ethernet.


For a typical user with their own router, it is not needed.


Do I need to enable the firewall on my new Mac Air for home Wi-Fi security?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.