Enable live bandwidth

DeviceShelf can show, in real time, which device on your network is sending and receiving data right now. This uses packet capture, so it needs a one-time setup with elevated access. Here is how to turn it on per platform.

This guide describes the desktop app. There, the toggle is the switch right next to the “Live bandwidth” heading. It stays greyed out until capture is available. In the Server edition, capture is under Network › Bandwidth and starts with a Start button, which only appears when the container runs with network_mode: host. The mobile app has no live bandwidth.

macOS built in

  1. Open DeviceShelf and go to the Bandwidth tab in the left sidebar.
  2. Click “Set up BPF access”. This grants the capture permission once — no sudo and no logout required.
  3. Turn on the Live bandwidth toggle at the top of the page. Per-device traffic starts appearing immediately.

Alternative: launch DeviceShelf with sudo once. The BPF button is the easier, persistent option.

The setup installs a small helper that runs once at startup. System Settings lists it as DeviceShelf-Helper. To remove it, click “Remove BPF access” on the same screen.

Windows needs Npcap

  1. Download and install Npcap from npcap.com (the free installer — keep the default options).
  2. Restart DeviceShelf so it picks up the newly installed capture driver.
  3. Open the Bandwidth tab and turn on the Live bandwidth toggle.

Npcap is the standard Windows packet-capture driver (also used by Wireshark). DeviceShelf does not bundle it for licensing reasons, which is why this one-time install is needed. Works on both Intel/AMD (x64) and ARM PCs.

Linux built in

  1. Open DeviceShelf and go to the Bandwidth tab.
  2. Click “Set up BPF access” to grant capture rights, or start DeviceShelf with sudo.
  3. Turn on the Live bandwidth toggle.

Capture uses your system’s built-in libpcap — nothing extra to install.

Your data stays local

Packet capture only counts bytes per device on your own network to show who is busy. Nothing is recorded, inspected or sent anywhere — all measurement happens on your machine, like the rest of DeviceShelf.