App settings
One window holds the settings that apply to the whole app: how it looks, how requests travel, and how strictly https connections are checked.
Open Settings
Select Settings on the icon rail. On a phone, open the menu at the top right and choose Settings….
Change what you need.
Select Save. Cancel closes the window without changing anything.
Appearance
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Theme | Teal has teal accents, in light or dark. Graphite and orange is dark grey with orange accents, and is dark only. | Teal |
| Mode | System follows your device's light or dark setting. Light and Dark fix it. Only the Teal theme has a light version. | System |
| Hover help | Shows an explanation when you point at a field, button or badge. | On |
The Light / Dark button on the icon rail switches the Teal theme between light and dark without opening Settings.
Hover help
With Hover help on, almost every field, tab, button and badge explains itself with a short card: a title, an explanation and often an example. On a touch screen, press and hold instead of pointing. Turn it off once you know your way around.
Network
HTTP version
HTTP has three versions in use today. They carry the same requests and responses; they differ in how the data travels.
| Choice | What it does |
|---|---|
| HTTP/1.1 | The classic protocol every server speaks. The safest choice, and the default. |
| HTTP/2 | Used for https addresses when the server supports it. Everything else falls back to HTTP/1.1 automatically. |
| HTTP/3 | The newest protocol, which runs over QUIC. Falls back to HTTP/2 or HTTP/1.1 when a server lacks it. |
The response bar shows the version that was really used.
HTTP/3 works differently on each platform:
| Platform | How HTTP/3 is sent | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Linux and Windows | By the curl program installed on your system. | Your curl must be built with HTTP/3 support. If it is not, sending fails with a message that names your curl version. Install a newer curl, or switch to HTTP/2. |
| Android | By the platform's own network stack. | If a request needs a custom proxy, an extra CA certificate, a client certificate or has certificate checks turned off, it is sent over HTTP/1.1, because the platform stack does not apply those settings. |
Good to know
To check your curl on Linux or Windows, run curl --version in a terminal. The Features line must list HTTP3.
Timeouts
| Setting | What it does | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connect timeout (s) | How long to wait for the server to accept the connection. | 30 | 1 to 600 |
| Response timeout (s) | How long to wait for the server to answer once connected. Raise it for slow reports or uploads. | 60 | 1 to 600 |
One request can have its own response timeout on its Settings tab. See Per-request settings.
Requests
These are the defaults for every request. A request's own Settings tab can override redirects, certificate checks and cookies.
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Follow redirects | Follow 3xx responses to their new address. | On |
| Maximum redirects | How many redirects to follow before stopping, from 0 to 100. | 10 |
| Cookie jar | Keep cookies servers set and send them back on later requests to the same site. Manage cookies… opens the cookie manager. | On |
| Run scripts | Run pre-request and test scripts on every send. Off keeps the scripts but does not run them. | On |
| Script timeout (ms) | How long one script may run, from 100 to 600,000. | 10000 |
TIP
Turn Run scripts off before sending requests from a collection you imported from someone else and have not read yet. See Scripts.
Proxy and certificates
The proxy mode, an extra trusted CA certificate and client certificates for mutual TLS have their own page: Proxy and certificates.
Security
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Verify TLS certificates | Checks that https servers prove who they are. Invalid certificates are rejected. | On |
Turn it off only for your own local servers that use self-signed certificates, such as https://localhost:8443.
DANGER
With Verify TLS certificates off, the app accepts any certificate from any server. Someone on the network could pretend to be the server and read your requests, tokens included. Prefer one of these:
- Turn the check off for a single request on its Settings tab.
- Add your private CA under Proxy and certificates.
Focus and Chaos Mode
The last section, Mode, chooses between two ways of working.
| Mode | What it does |
|---|---|
| Focus | Quiet: no sounds and no effects. This is the default. |
| Chaos | Each response plays a sound for its status, with confetti on success and a shake on errors. |
On a desktop-sized window you can also switch with the Focus / Chaos toggle at the right end of the tab bar. Selecting Chaos there again while it is on opens the sound settings.
Choose the sounds
Select Configure sounds… in Settings to open the Chaos Mode window.
- Statuses are grouped: Success (2xx), Redirects (3xx), Client errors (4xx), Server errors (5xx) and Network failures, which covers requests that get no response at all.
- Each row has a sound list and a play button. Pick (silent) to play nothing.
- + code adds a row for one exact status code, such as 418. Exact codes win; everything else in the group uses the "other" row.
- Surprise me plays a random sound from the library.
Add your own sounds
Under Your sounds:
- File imports an
mp3,wav,oggorm4afile from your device. - URL downloads a clip from a direct audio link, or from a myinstants.com page.
Imported clips appear in every sound list. Importing from a URL is the only time this feature uses the network.
Good to know
The Microsoft Store package leaves out the bundled meme clips and uses the app's own synthesized sounds instead. Only import clips you have the right to use.