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Install OrbTorrent
OrbTorrent is one universal app for Macs with Apple silicon or Intel. It’s free, with no account and no ads.
What it needs
Section titled “What it needs”| macOS | 26 (Tahoe) or later |
| Mac | Apple silicon or Intel |
| Price | Free and open source, under the GNU GPL |
OrbTorrent is built with the SwiftUI and Liquid Glass that came with macOS 26, so it can’t run on earlier versions of macOS. It runs on macOS 26 and every version since.
Install it
Section titled “Install it”- Download the disk image from orbtorrent.com/download. It’s called
OrbTorrent-<version>-universal.dmg. Every version is also on GitHub Releases, with its release notes. - Open the disk image, and drag OrbTorrent into the Applications folder.
- Open OrbTorrent from your Applications folder. The first time, macOS asks whether you’re sure you want to open an app from the internet, and says Apple checked it for malicious software. Click Open.
Every release is notarized by Apple, and every update is signed. If macOS won’t open OrbTorrent, see Troubleshooting.
With Homebrew
Section titled “With Homebrew”If you use Homebrew, install OrbTorrent from its tap instead:
brew install orbtorrent/tap/orbtorrentOrbTorrent still updates itself, so brew upgrade leaves it alone unless you add --greedy. To uninstall it, brew uninstall orbtorrent, and Uninstall OrbTorrent has the rest.
The first time it opens
Section titled “The first time it opens”A short welcome walks you through setting up:
- Bring your downloads over. If OrbTorrent finds Transmission or qBittorrent on your Mac, it offers to bring their downloads over, and the settings of the one you used most recently. You see what would come over before anything changes. Switch from another app has the details.
- Open torrents with OrbTorrent. Click Make Default, and magnet links in your browser and
.torrentfiles in Finder open in OrbTorrent. - Start at login. OrbTorrent waits quietly in the menu bar, so your downloads carry on after you restart your Mac.
You can change all of these later in Settings. If you skip making OrbTorrent the default, a banner at the top of its window offers again, until you click Not Now.
Where it lives
Section titled “Where it lives”OrbTorrent lives in your menu bar, as a small orb that fills up as your downloads progress. Click it for your downloads and their speeds. The menu bar explains what it shows.
The OrbTorrent window has your whole library, with each download’s files, peers and trackers. Open it with Open App in the menu bar panel, or by opening OrbTorrent again from your Applications folder. While the window is open, OrbTorrent shows in the Dock.
Downloads keep going when the window is closed. To stop them all, quit OrbTorrent: click More (…) at the bottom of the menu bar panel, then Quit OrbTorrent.
What it sets up
Section titled “What it sets up”On its first launch, OrbTorrent sets its download engine up for a Mac:
- New downloads are saved to your Downloads folder.
- Uploads are limited to 5,000 KB/s, so sharing doesn’t slow down the rest of your internet use. Downloads aren’t limited.
- Your router’s port is opened automatically, with UPnP or NAT-PMP, so other peers can reach you.
- OrbTorrent asks before each download, so you can choose its files and folder first.
- Deleted downloads’ files go to the Trash.
- It finds more peers for public torrents, from a public list of trackers that’s tested every day.
Every one of these is a setting. Settings lists them all.
Updates
Section titled “Updates”OrbTorrent checks for a new version once a day, and the update is signed, so your Mac knows it came from OrbTorrent. After an update, What’s New shows what changed. Updates explains the settings.