Help & setup
Everything you need to know about FRITZ!Box connection, live calls, answering machine messages, contacts, notes, call barring and privacy.
fritz.box or the IP address of your FRITZ!Box in Penvyn.#96*5*.49000 or 49443.1012, so Penvyn can detect calls while they ring.Penvyn shows your FRITZ!Box call history directly on your Mac. The app detects live calls, plays messages from integrated FRITZ!Box answering machines, matches contacts and stores conversation notes locally.
No. Penvyn is an independent third-party app and is not affiliated with FRITZ! GmbH. FRITZ!Box and FRITZ! are trademarks of FRITZ! GmbH. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Penvyn needs a FRITZ!Box that is reachable in your local network and allows application access. Penvyn uses TR-064 for call history. For live calls it uses the local call monitor on port 1012.
It is the most reliable and transparent setup. Recent FRITZ!OS versions usually expect a username and password for applications. The user should have telephony permissions so call history, phonebook and call barring can work.
Some FRITZ!Box setups allow the web interface to be opened with a password only. For applications, the FRITZ!Box often still has an internal user. For Penvyn, we recommend creating a dedicated user so the live monitor, TR-064 and call barring use the same clear credentials.
In most networks fritz.box works. If it does not, enter the direct IP address, often 192.168.178.1. Custom home or office networks may use a different address.
macOS manages this permission. Click Save and Connect in Penvyn and allow access in the system prompt. If access was denied, enable Penvyn under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network. Penvyn also shows a direct System Settings button when access is denied.
Yes. Penvyn can store multiple profiles, for example home and office. On launch, the app automatically tries to connect to the FRITZ!Box reachable at the current location.
Enter the area code in the corresponding FRITZ!Box profile, for example 0261 for Koblenz, and enable “Show area from prefix”. A local number such as 39400400 is then shown as 0261 39400400. The lookup stays local and does not use an online service.
Yes. Disable “Show Own Line” under Appearance. This is useful when you only use one line and the value would be identical for every call.
When the live call monitor is enabled, Penvyn keeps a local connection to the FRITZ!Box open. Incoming and outgoing calls can then appear in the top-right corner of your Mac while they ring or during the call.
The switch controls the permanent local connection to the FRITZ!Box via port 1012. When it is enabled, Penvyn can detect calls while they ring. When it is disabled, Penvyn only refreshes the call list, for example on launch, manually or at the configured interval.
The local call monitor is very likely disabled on that FRITZ!Box. In Penvyn diagnostics this often appears as Port closed. Enable the call monitor from a connected phone with #96*5*. After that, Penvyn should detect calls while they ring.
Open Settings → Support and choose Export Diagnostic Data. The report contains technical states for the connection, live monitor, answering machine, call barring and contact transfer, plus the app, macOS and FRITZ!OS versions. Phone numbers, contacts, notes, profile names, usernames, passwords and audio are not logged. Penvyn never transmits the file automatically.
In Settings you can choose between Penvyn alerts, macOS notifications and no alerts. Penvyn alerts are custom desktop alerts shown by the app. macOS notifications use the system notification settings.
Yes. In Settings you can keep missed calls visible as persistent Penvyn alerts. Repeated calls from the same number are grouped so the desktop stays tidy.
The optional macOS menu bar icon shows Penvyn's status and opens a compact menu for call list, missed calls, refresh, notes and settings. New missed calls can be marked with a small count. Names and phone numbers are deliberately not shown there.
Yes. Under Settings → Automation, first enable Start Penvyn at Login and then Show Call List after Login. Without the second option, Penvyn continues to start discreetly in the background or menu bar.
Right-clicking a call opens a context menu. Search Number opens a Google search via google.de. Copy Number puts the phone number on the clipboard. Create Contact opens a contact draft with the phone number prefilled for unknown numbers. Penvyn refreshes Mac Contacts immediately after saving; the action is hidden for existing Mac contacts. Block Number asks for confirmation first and then adds the number to the FRITZ!Box call barring list if the FRITZ!Box user has the required permissions. Manage Call Barring opens the complete list from the active FRITZ!Box.
Yes. Open Window → Call Barring, use a call's context menu or open it from Settings. You can add phone numbers and remove supported entries from the connected FRITZ!Box after confirmation. For safety, Penvyn shows rules without a unique FRITZ!Box ID as read only.
The callback workflow is optional. When enabled, Penvyn shows callback status directly in the call list, offers context-menu actions and adds the “Open Callbacks” filter.
This feature is optional. When enabled, Penvyn highlights known contacts and shows helpful hints for unknown numbers, such as search, contact creation or blocking. Right-click blocking works even when these hints are disabled. Penvyn never adds call barring automatically without explicit confirmation.
Notes are written directly on a call and saved locally while you type. In the Notes view you can search by name, number and words. Notes can also be deleted.
Yes. Penvyn maintains a persistent local archive for each FRITZ!Box profile. Calls already captured remain visible even after the FRITZ!Box no longer provides older records. The archive can be deleted after confirmation under Settings → Local Data.
Yes. The File menu contains CSV import and export. Edit → Undo Last CSV Import removes the latest imported batch from the active profile. An imported file needs a header row and at least Phone Number, Direction, Date and Time; a combined timestamp can be used instead. Penvyn detects semicolon, comma and tab separators. The easiest option is to export a call list from Penvyn first and use that file as a template. Before importing, Penvyn shows the target profile, new calls, duplicates, date range and possible errors. Files containing errors are not partially imported.
When Show Contact Photos is enabled, Penvyn loads available photos from Mac Contacts only for visible or active calls. Photos appear in the live call, call list and detail view. They are not copied into Penvyn's call archive or uploaded.
Yes. When the active FRITZ!Box provides at least one integrated answering machine, the Answering Machine section appears automatically. You can select and play new or read messages and, after confirmation, delete individual, selected or all messages from the FRITZ!Box. Audio is fetched locally only when playback starts and is not stored permanently by Penvyn.
The section only appears for integrated answering machines visible on the active FRITZ!Box. Provider voicemail and recordings already emailed and removed from the FRITZ!Box are unavailable. Also verify that the FRITZ!Box user has telephony permissions.
Yes. Open File → Transfer Mac Contacts to FRITZ!Box or go to Settings → Contacts. Select a local target phonebook and the contacts you want. The preview marks existing entries and conflicts; transfer only starts after a final confirmation. Names containing umlauts and other Unicode characters are transferred correctly. Penvyn does not overwrite or delete existing contacts and does not transfer contact photos.
No. Contacts are read locally to match names and optional photos to phone numbers. An explicitly confirmed phonebook transfer sends selected names and phone numbers only to the active FRITZ!Box on the local network. Penvyn does not send contacts or contact photos to a Penvyn server.
By default, no call data, imports or notes leave your Mac. An external connection is only opened when you explicitly choose Search Number or the magnifying glass on a live call. Penvyn then opens a Google search via google.de in your default browser.
The FRITZ!Box call monitor is disabled. Dial #96*5* from a connected phone. To disable it again, #96*4* can be used.
Check whether your Mac and FRITZ!Box are in the same network, whether a guest network, VPN or firewall blocks access and whether the address is correct. Try the direct IP address instead of fritz.box.
Often the FRITZ!Box user is missing telephony permissions or the credentials are no longer valid. Create a dedicated user for Penvyn, grant telephony permissions and save the credentials again.
Many FRITZ!Box routers do not use a publicly trusted certificate in the local network. Penvyn prefers a secure local connection but can fall back to HTTP/TR-064 for the local FRITZ!Box query when HTTPS is not usable on the LAN.
Enable contact matching in Penvyn and allow macOS contact access. Penvyn can also read the FRITZ!Box phonebook if the FRITZ!Box user has the required permissions.
If you have questions or run into issues, contact support@penvyn.de. Helpful details are your macOS version, FRITZ!Box model, FRITZ!OS version, connection type and the last visible error message.