Mac – How to access App Store using only IPv6

ipv6mac-appstoreNetwork

There must be people curious about why I have to do this, so let me explain the reason first—Now I'm in an institute of Chinese Academic of Science, and the network environment is irritating. I'm allowed to use IPv4 traffic only no more than 1GB per day AND a total of 10GB per month (when exceeded the network is automatically cut off); however, the IPv6 traffic is unlimited. Thus, I can hardly update any software.

I've tried these two methods but I am new to Mac so I didn't find useful information yet:

  1. Modify /etc/hosts and add some IPv6 addresses and the corresponding domain names. But I can't find them in Google.

  2. Add a DNS that can resolve Mac App Store domain names into IPv6. I'm using one (which can perfectly resolve youtube video stream addresses into IPv6 in mainland China, wow), but it doesn't work for the app store.

So, can anyone provide

  1. A list for what I should add into /etc/hosts; or
  2. A DNS that works for Mac App Store; or
  3. Other methods that can restrict the traffic of the app store in IPv6?

Best Answer

Just post my settings in case anyone need it.

  1. System Preferences -> Network -> Advance

    TCP/IP: set "Configure IPv4" off.

    DNS: add 2001:778::37, and drag it to the top

    Now you should be able to see contents in Mac app store. And it might take quite a while to establish connections for downloading. Just be patient.

  2. I also found a line in my /etc/hosts (copied from this IPv6 hosts project, which was up-to-date and very useful for IPv6 users in mainland China):

    2600:140b:4:18c::c77 www.apple.com #e3191.dscc.akamaiedge.net

    I'm not sure if it affects the result. If Step 1 doesn't work, you can consider to add it into your /etc/hosts file. Just remember to make a backup first.

Related Question