diff --git a/daisy/server.py b/daisy/server.py
index 50faf69c..011c38fc 100644
--- a/daisy/server.py
+++ b/daisy/server.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 
 
 class Server(ServerObservee):
-    def __init__(self, stop_event=None):
+    def __init__(self, stop_event=None, host=None):
         super().__init__()
 
         if stop_event is None:
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def __init__(self, stop_event=None):
         else:
             self.stop_event = stop_event
 
-        self.tcp_server = TCPServer()
+        self.tcp_server = TCPServer(host=host)
         self.hostname, self.port = self.tcp_server.address
 
         logger.debug("Started server listening at %s:%s", self.hostname, self.port)
diff --git a/daisy/tcp/tcp_server.py b/daisy/tcp/tcp_server.py
index 6a9028f3..6ed4f9b7 100644
--- a/daisy/tcp/tcp_server.py
+++ b/daisy/tcp/tcp_server.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class TCPServer(tornado.tcpserver.TCPServer, IOLooper):
             How many times to try to find an empty random port.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, max_port_tries=1000):
+    def __init__(self, host=None, max_port_tries=1000):
         tornado.tcpserver.TCPServer.__init__(self)
         IOLooper.__init__(self)
 
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def __init__(self, max_port_tries=1000):
                         % self.max_port_tries
                     )
 
-        self.address = self._get_address()
+        self.address = self._get_address(host)
 
     def get_message(self, timeout=None):
         """Get a message that was sent to this server.
@@ -125,20 +125,85 @@ def _check_for_errors(self):
         except queue.Empty:
             return
 
-    def _get_address(self):
-        """Get the host and port of the tcp server"""
+    def _get_address(self, host=None):
+        """Get the host and port of the tcp server.
+
+        Args:
+
+            host (str, optional):
+
+                If given, use this as the server host address. If not given,
+                auto-detect the host by finding the default route IP, and
+                validate that TCP connections to it work. Falls back to
+                ``127.0.0.1`` if auto-detection fails or the detected address
+                is not connectable (e.g., blocked by a macOS firewall).
+        """
 
         sock = self._sockets[list(self._sockets.keys())[0]]
         port = sock.getsockname()[1]
+
+        if host is not None:
+            return (host, port)
+
+        # Auto-detect: find the IP of the default route interface
+        ip = None
         outside_sock = None
         try:
             outside_sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
             outside_sock.connect(("8.8.8.8", port))
             ip = outside_sock.getsockname()[0]
         except Exception:
-            logger.error("Could not detect own IP address, returning bogus IP")
-            return "8.8.8.8"
+            pass
         finally:
             if outside_sock:
                 outside_sock.close()
+
+        # Validate the detected IP with a loopback TCP test. On macOS the
+        # application firewall blocks incoming connections on non-loopback
+        # interfaces by default, causing recv on accepted sockets to fail
+        # with ENOTCONN even though the connection appeared to succeed.
+        if ip is not None and ip != "127.0.0.1":
+            if not self._validate_address(ip):
+                logger.warning(
+                    "Auto-detected address %s failed connectivity check, "
+                    "falling back to 127.0.0.1",
+                    ip,
+                )
+                ip = None
+
+        if ip is None:
+            ip = "127.0.0.1"
+
         return (ip, port)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _validate_address(ip):
+        """Validate that a TCP server on the given IP can accept connections
+        and recv data. Returns True if the address is usable."""
+
+        server_sock = None
+        client_sock = None
+        conn = None
+        try:
+            server_sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+            server_sock.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)
+            server_sock.settimeout(1)
+            server_sock.bind((ip, 0))
+            server_sock.listen(1)
+            test_port = server_sock.getsockname()[1]
+
+            client_sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+            client_sock.settimeout(1)
+            client_sock.connect((ip, test_port))
+            client_sock.sendall(b"test")
+
+            conn, _ = server_sock.accept()
+            conn.settimeout(1)
+            data = conn.recv(4)
+            return data == b"test"
+        except OSError:
+            return False
+        finally:
+            for s in (conn, client_sock, server_sock):
+                if s is not None:
+                    s.close()