The optional subscription behind PingKit's monitoring. $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year on iPhone and on Mac, with a 1-week free trial. Here is exactly what it unlocks, what it does not, and what stays free without it.
So is the Mac Agent. Download it from the Mac App Store and it monitors your network from the menu bar, raises alerts on the Mac, runs scheduled speed tests and builds the network report, none of which needs a subscription. One Uptime Watch URL and one Cert Monitor domain are free permanently, with push notifications. The AI assistant has a free pool of 15 interactions a week, capped at 5 a day.
What Guardian adds
Guardian is the layer that watches your network for you and brings the result to your iPhone. Everything below is checked against the app: if it is not in this list, Guardian does not do it.
The Mac half. The Agent runs free on the Mac; Guardian is what puts this pane's contents on your iPhone.
The Mac Agent on your iPhone
The Agent's device list, timeline and alerts sync to your iPhone through your private iCloud. A new device, an internet drop or a device going quiet reaches your phone wherever you are, from a Mac that stays on at home.
Uptime Watch for 10 URLs
Hourly checks from Cloudflare's network with a push when a site goes down and another when it recovers. One URL is free; Guardian watches ten, on iPhone and on Mac.
Scheduled speed test results
Your Mac Agent tests your ISP on a schedule and the results appear on your iPhone, so the slow hour you keep missing is on record.
Trends per network
Latency, speed, jitter and security score charted by day for every network you use, with the direction of travel once there are four days of readings.
The security checkup, over time
What is new, resolved or worse since the last checkup, which device each finding belongs to, a Fix It walkthrough for your router brand, and an optional re-check when you open the app.
Where the problem is
Smart Diagnostics names the failing segment: this device, inside your network, between your router and your ISP, your DNS settings, or beyond.
Watch Mode
Repeats the diagnostic for 10, 30 or 60 minutes and separates an intermittent fault from a constant one. Foreground only, by design.
A daily AI allowance
The assistant, security explanations, remediation steps and scan summaries move from the free weekly pool to a daily allowance, in 27 languages, and Guardian's cloud AI suggests a category for devices that signature matching cannot label.
The iPhone side, over time
Guardian's iPhone features are the ones that only make sense across days. Trends charts latency, speed, jitter and security score per network by day, and states the direction only once four days of readings exist. Compared with normal judges a reading against a per-network baseline built from a median of at least five readings, with an absolute floor per metric so a tiny movement is not reported as a large one. The security checkup remembers its last run on the same network and tells you what is new, what is resolved and how the score moved.
Trends on the iPhone: download speed, internet latency and security score over a fortnight, each with its change across the period.
None of this needs a Mac. It needs you to open the app now and then, because the readings come from the tools you run.
Watch Mode and where the fault is
A speed test or a ping answers "what is happening now". Watch Mode repeats the whole Smart Diagnostics flow for 10, 30 or 60 minutes, at least 30 seconds apart, and reports how many checks failed and the longest healthy run, which is the difference between "the Wi-Fi is bad" and "the Wi-Fi drops for 40 seconds every 8 minutes". Fault localisation then names the segment: this device, inside your network, between your router and your ISP, your DNS settings, or beyond. Both run while the app is open; iOS does not let an app keep probing in the background, and PingKit does not pretend otherwise.
Watch Mode after a run: four of thirty checks failed and the longest healthy run was ten, which is a fault with a rhythm rather than a dead connection.
What Guardian is not
iOS never monitors in the background. Every alert that reaches your iPhone comes from the Mac Agent or from PingKit's backend on Cloudflare. With no Mac and no Uptime Watch target, Guardian will not wake your phone with anything.
Uptime Watch checks from the internet, once an hour, with no keyword matching and no custom interval. A NAS or a Pi that only exists on your LAN cannot be a target; the Agent's device-offline alert is the tool for that.
Cert Monitor beyond one domain, the signed compliance PDF and scheduled branded reports are Guardian Plus, not Guardian.
On the Mac itself, Guardian changes two things: Uptime Watch rises from one URL to ten and the AI allowance grows. Every other Agent feature is free there.
Price, by platform
Guardian costs the same on both platforms. Guardian Plus does not, and one of its Mac plans has no trial, so the table is worth a look before you subscribe.
Plan
iPhone and iPad
Mac Agent
Guardian monthly
$2.99, 1-week free trial
$2.99, 1-week free trial
Guardian yearly
$24.99, 1-week free trial
$24.99, 1-week free trial
Guardian Plus
$9.99 a month or $79.99 a year, 1-week free trial on both
$4.99 a month with a 1-week free trial, or $39.99 a year with no trial
Entitlement travels one way. A Guardian subscription bought on the iPhone unlocks the Mac Agent through iCloud; one bought inside the Mac Agent covers that Mac only. If you own both, subscribe on the iPhone.
Guardian or Guardian Plus?
Guardian is the right tier for a home or a small office: the Agent on your phone, ten watched sites, the trend charts and the AI allowance. Guardian Plus is for people who manage TLS certificates or answer to an auditor: Cert Monitor for 25 domains instead of one, a compliance PDF that carries its own Ed25519 signature, and scheduled, branded reports. It is $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year on iPhone and iPad and $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year on Mac. Read what Plus adds.
Yes. All 19 tools, unlimited history, the Mac Agent and everything it does on the Mac, one Uptime Watch URL, one Cert Monitor domain and 15 AI interactions a week are free, with no ads and no account. Guardian is optional.
Do I need a Mac to get anything from Guardian?
No. Uptime Watch for ten URLs, the trend charts, the checkup history, Watch Mode, fault localisation and the daily AI allowance are all on the iPhone. The Mac Agent features need a Mac that stays on; without one, those cards in the Monitor tab simply stay empty.
What does Guardian change inside the Mac Agent?
Two things. Uptime Watch rises from one URL to ten, and the AI moves from the free weekly pool to a daily allowance. Monitoring, alerts, scheduled speed tests, the network report and iCloud sync are all free on the Mac; Guardian on the iPhone is what lets the iPhone read them.
If I subscribe on my iPhone, does my Mac get it too?
Yes. The subscription is written to your private iCloud and the Mac Agent reads it. The reverse is not true: a subscription bought inside the Mac Agent covers that Mac only, so if you use both, subscribe on the iPhone.
Is there a free trial on the yearly plan?
Yes. Guardian monthly and yearly carry a 1-week free trial on iPhone and on Mac. The only PingKit plan without a trial is Guardian Plus yearly on Mac, at $39.99. Cancel during the trial and you are not charged.
Try Guardian free for a week.
Download PingKit, open the Monitor tab, and start the trial when you want your network watched for you.
