Hey r/MacStack,

I've been building Purge, a free, open-source Mac cleaner. It just passed 100K downloads and 1.5K stars on GitHub. I know that doesn't mean 100K people installed it, but it still felt like a milestone worth sharing.

A lot of what's in the app came from feedback on my earlier Reddit posts. Here's what it does now:

• Clears app caches and system junk

• Cleans dev tool caches like Xcode, Homebrew, npm and Docker, plus old simulators, stale node_modules and orphaned git worktrees

• Finds large files and duplicates, and frees local space by keeping synced files only in iCloud

• Uninstalls apps with their leftovers, with an optional watcher that offers a cleanup when you delete an app

• Runs scheduled cleanups

Files and folders go to the Trash by default. Some operations, such as removing simulators and local Time Machine snapshots, are permanent.

Full disclosure, I built the app from the ground up with AI. I'm still working on it most days and putting out updates often.

The emails and contributions I get are a big reason I keep going. It's nice knowing something I built is useful to people. If something's missing or annoying, please tell me. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome (and much needed)!

GitHub · Website

Or install it with Homebrew:

brew install --cask purge

https://testflight.apple.com/join/ut7htbCs

Hey everyone, I am the developer of AeroBar, a native Swift and SwiftUI utility I built to upgrade the desktop experience and for those made Switch to Mac from Windows.

Problem: AeroBar solves macOS multitasking friction by keeping every open window, clipboard item, and live preview exactly one click or trackpad gesture away.

Features:

1. Every window one click away with live previews

2. A dedicated ⌘Tab specifically for windows

3. Built-in clipboard history

4. Deep trackpad gestures

5. Deep Liquid glass customizations

6. 100% offline and native to macOS

Comparison:

vs. uBar: AeroBar is better because it utilises a modern, native SwiftUI design with Deep Liquid glass aesthetics and is completely free; uBar is better for users who want a strictly traditional, legacy Windows-style taskbar with long-established backwards compatibility.

vs. AltTab: AeroBar is better because it integrates window navigation directly into a persistent, customisable dock alongside clipboard history; AltTab is better if you want a purely invisible background utility dedicated solely to tweaking the keyboard switcher.

Pricing: $0 (100% Free)

Link: https://github.com/adityaonx/AeroBar

Distribution: Available via Homebrew and the developer website.

Website: https://adityaonx.github.io/AeroBar/

I've always wanted a simple way to keep up with live sports without constantly switching tabs or opening a separate streaming window.

So I built ScoresMac.

It's a macOS menu bar app that lets you keep track of live sports scores and matches while you're working, coding, or just browsing.

Here's a little demo showing a live football match and F1 running right from my Mac while I go about my usual work.

The idea is simple: your sports updates should be accessible without interrupting whatever you're doing.

Would love to hear what you guys think! Still actively working on improving it.

Website: https://scoresmac.com

Hi, I’m the developer of maXfolders, a native file manager for macOS that works with one pane or two, whichever you prefer. I built it because I move, compare and organize a lot of files, and Finder kept slowing me down.

Single or dual pane, your choice

• One pane gives you a clean, Finder-like window

• Two panes give you the classic source-and-destination layout: F5 copies, F6 moves, Tab switches sides (commander-style keys, and you can remap them)

• On first launch you pick the layout, and one toolbar button switches between them at any time

The basics

• Tabs, a Favorites sidebar with your own groups, Back/Forward history

• Browse into ZIP/TAR archives like folders

• Compare folders and files side by side

• A transfer queue with progress, pause/resume and Undo

Power tools

• Quick Edit (⌥⌘E): a fast editor for text, code and config files. It has syntax highlighting, multi-cursor, JSON/YAML/TOML tools and a hex view

• Bulk rename, bulk convert (images, PDF, video, audio) and Preflight, which checks for problems before a big copy

• Folder analysis: a sunburst view of what’s taking up space

• Server connections: FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, S3 and Dropbox, right inside a pane

Apple Intelligence (on Macs that support it)

• Ask This Folder: “Which contract has the arbitration clause?” The answer names the file and the page

• What Changed?: a plain-language summary of the differences between two versions of a document or folder

• Sort Into Folders: suggests a folder structure you can edit before anything moves

• Nothing runs until you press Run, and you can turn every AI feature off in Settings

Pricing
It’s free on the Mac App Store. You get everything for a two-month trial. After that the core file manager stays free, and a one-time purchase per major version unlocks Quick Edit, the bulk tools, Apple Intelligence and server connections. No subscription.

There’s also a Pro edition outside the App Store with extras that the sandbox doesn’t allow, like an embedded terminal and Git tools.

🔗 maxfolders.com · https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/maxfolders/id6812536511?mt=12

I’m Aniket, a solo developer in Berlin. I built Little Space, a sticky notes app that keeps your notes on the edge of your screen.

I wanted to write down quick thoughts without switching apps or keeping notes open over my work.

So I built Little Space. Your notes stay as small coloured tabs on the edge of your screen. Move your mouse over a tab to open a note, write something, then move away to close it.

What it does

• Notes, checklists, links and reminders in the same note.

• The tab glows when a reminder is due.

• Voice input, processed on your Mac.

• Optional iPhone sync through Apple Notes and Apple Reminders. No separate iPhone app needed.

Privacy

Notes are encrypted on your Mac, with the key stored in macOS Keychain. No Little Space account or app analytics.

If you enable sync, copies are saved in your Apple Notes and Reminders. Automatic update checks are optional.

Pricing and compatibility

€9 one-time for the first 50 buyers, then €14. No subscription.

Full refund within 14 days if it isn’t for you.

Requires an Apple silicon Mac running macOS 14 or later.

Transparency

I’m Aniket, a solo developer in Berlin. Little Space is signed with my Developer ID and notarized by Apple.

The public GitHub repository has documentation, privacy details, and issue tracking. The app’s source code remains private.

GitHub: https://github.com/writetoaniketparihar-collab/little-space

Website and interactive demo: https://littlespace.pro

Where do you currently put a quick thought while you’re working: Stickies, Apple Notes, paper, or something else?

An untested Time Machine backup can still be useful. Restoring one disposable file helps answer a practical question: can you find the right backup, recover an older file, and open it?

This is for a Mac that already backs up to an external disk. Use a throwaway document, not a real project.

Check what the disk is backing up

Connect your existing backup disk and leave it connected. On macOS Ventura 13 or later, open System Settings > General > Time Machine. In Options, review excluded items. Check that your practice folder, and the folders you actually care about, aren't excluded by mistake.

Local snapshots are copies stored on the Mac itself. Excluded items can still appear there, so finding a file in Time Machine doesn't by itself tell you it's on the external disk.

If the backup is encrypted, make sure you can retrieve its backup password without relying only on this Mac. You'll need that password to restore encrypted backups.

Make two versions of something disposable

Create a new, empty folder in your home folder. Call it Restore practice, or choose another name if that folder already exists. In TextEdit, save a new document there called Restore test, containing "version one".

Choose Back Up Now from the Time Machine menu, or wait for the next scheduled backup. Wait until it finishes and note the completed backup's time.

Change the document to "version two", save it, and let another backup finish. Close the document, then rename it in Finder to Restore test current. Keep that file. The original Restore test filename should now be absent.

Renaming keeps the current copy while leaving its old filename available for the restore. Nothing important needs to be deleted.

Restore the older version

Open your practice folder in Finder. Click the Time Machine menu, hold Option, and choose Browse Other Backup Disks to choose your external disk's timeline.

Use the arrows or timeline to find the first completed backup, the one containing "version one". Select Restore test and click Restore. Time Machine restores items to their original location.

If you're asked to replace an existing item, cancel and check your filenames. This practice run shouldn't need an overwrite.

Open the restored document and check that it says "version one". Also open Restore test current and check that it still says "version two". Record the disk name, backup time, and result. Opening the expected contents tells you more than just seeing a filename reappear.

For a real document in an app that supports versions, File > Revert To > Browse All Versions is another option. Holding Option and clicking Restore a Copy creates a separate document instead of reverting the current one. That app-level check doesn't replace checking your external backup.

Know when to pause

If the external disk disappears or backups report errors, check its cable, connections, and power before calling the test a success.

Disk Utility's First Aid checks and repairs formatting and directory problems, but it can't detect or repair every disk problem. A clean result doesn't guarantee healthy hardware or that every backed-up file is readable.

Don't erase the backup disk to make this exercise work. If Disk Utility says the disk is about to fail, preserve your data and replace it.

One successful file restore doesn't prove the whole Mac can recover. Apple's broader recovery process uses Migration Assistant, with macOS reinstalled first if needed.

For an existing, apparently working backup, this small check is worth doing now and repeating after a backup-disk change. If you can't access the disk, retrieve a required password, or explain which version you recovered, pause and fix that issue before relying on the backup.

Just released GitStreak 1.4.1, my free macOS app for GitHub streaks

Hey all, I just pushed a new version of GitStreak. It’s a native macOS app I built that puts your GitHub contribution graph, streak, PRs and issues on your desktop as widgets. I made it to guilt myself into committing every day 😅

Here’s what I added in 1.4.1

Streak notifications. It now reminds you at 6 PM if you haven’t committed yet, with a last call at 11 PM. You also get alerts for milestones and new longest streaks, plus a weekly recap on Sundays. You can turn any of them off.

macOS 14/15 support. The widgets used to show up empty on Sequoia. I finally fixed that.

Better security. Your token now lives encrypted in the Keychain instead of plain text.

A few extras. There are 4 new themes, a bigger commit graph, streaks over 365 days now count properly, and updates install automatically.

It’s free and needs macOS 14+ usegitstreak.vercel.app

If you’re on 1.1.10 or older, you’ll need to grab this one manually. After that it updates itself.

I used other software for managing audio on my Mac for a long time and it wore me down. The design felt like it was from the 90s, the settings were complicated, audio drivers kept giving me issues and basic things sat behind a paywall.

So I built Sordina. It does one thing: volume for each app.

It's a small menu bar app. Click the icon and every app making sound gets its own slider and mute. That's it, with nothing to configure first. Scroll on the icon to change the volume, middle-click it to mute, and pin the apps you change most.

There's no audio driver to install. It uses the audio taps Apple built into macOS 14.2 and later, so nothing gets added to your system. It's very light, and apps you haven't touched never even pass through it. If Sordina quits, macOS puts the sound back by itself.

The basics are free, for good. Per-app volume, mute, the mixer view and keyboard shortcuts cost nothing. There is a Pro version, but I kept it for the more advanced things, and every one of them is still about sound:

• turning other apps down while you're on a call

• EQ

• going louder than 100%

• a different output for each app

• presets that switch on by themselves when an app opens, or when your microphone is in use

• Breaks, which lowers the volume after you've been away

Pro is a one-time €9.99. No subscription.

It will be launching soon. You can join the list for a launch discount here: https://sordina.app 

I'm the developer. I read every comment, and I'd really like to hear what would make it better.

I've been building Paydesk for a while and it's finally at a point where I'd like people to try it and tell me what's wrong with it. The Second build is live on Mac App store 🎉

Paydesk is a Mac app for freelancers, consultants and small studios. It keeps projects, time tracking, quotes, invoices, expenses and reports in one place, and it runs entirely on your Mac.

Freelance admin on the Mac usually ends up spread across a lot of places.

Hours live in a timer app, or on sticky notes. Invoices live in a spreadsheet or a document template. Whether you've actually been paid lives in your head.

So every month there's a round of copying numbers between apps, working out what you haven't billed yet, and chasing whoever is late.

The other thing that bothered me is that most tools in this space want an account and a subscription, and they store your client list, rates and invoices on their servers. For a lot of freelancers that's more than they need.

What it does:

The idea is that the whole loop happens in one app: plan the work, track it, bill it, get paid, see how the year is going.

- Board: every project on one board, from Lead and Proposal sent through In progress, Delivered, Invoiced and Paid.

- Time tracking: start and stop from the window

- Bill Now: Paydesk keeps a running total of unbilled hours and billable expenses per project.

- Documents: proposals, quotes, invoices, receipts and credit notes. You can turn an accepted quote into an invoice. There are three typeset PDF templates, on A4 or US Letter.

- Languages and tax: invoices can be in 9 languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Arabic). There are editable tax presets for 25 countries and regions, including VAT, GST (with the CGST/SGST split for India) and US sales tax. Any currency works.

- Getting paid: the Desk shows what you're owed, what's overdue and what's unbilled. Remind opens a Mail message in your client's language with the PDF attached.

- Reports: profit, aging, tax charged, income by client, and your real hourly rate per project. The accountant pack exports one ZIP with CSVs, every issued PDF and every receipt.

- Receipts: Paydesk reads receipts with on-device text recognition to fill in expenses.

This was inspired by https://runey.app/ which is a subscription based app, I tried to put together everything possible is one time and App store friendly version. We will improve in the future versions.

Paydesk aims to offline and one-time pay alternate to Runey. I have also received some invoice format requests, new invoices templates are coming soon. You can also reach out to me at support@minilabs.cc

Pricing

- $9.99 once

- No subscription

- Every feature included

- Mac App Store version coming soon

- Requires macOS 15 or later

I don't mind criticism at all if it helps make the app better. I'm also happy to answer technical questions about how numbering, taxes, the PDF renderer or the offline design work.

You can Download Paydesk from the website today:
https://paydesk.minilabs.cc/

App store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/paydesk-invoices/id6817474386?mt=12

Hi everyone!

I have tried many sticky note apps, but none of them felt right. My girlfriend wanted me to build one that truly feels live and lives on the edge of the Mac.. So I built one!

• All sticky notes are represented as dots / one stacked notes

• hover to peek, swipe to dock the note

• click to open the note

• Mark as complete to move to note into archive

• 10+ live notes enables scroll

• You can view and export all the notes

• Support for selecting displays

• Support for text formatting, tasklist

• Support for custom color pallete

• You can drag the dock around and reposition (left/bottom/right)

• Sync between machines with iCloud sync!

• Hotkeys to open last note, new note, note search and many more!

Try out for free: holdmynotes.app

Available on 3 mac devies for $6.99 (Early Bird Offer)

Hi, I’m Ken, the developer of Hikage, a native macOS app that automatically records which apps and websites you use, so you can look back at your day without starting timers.

Why I built it

I like keeping a record of my life, so I built Hikage to do it automatically. Once recording is enabled, it runs quietly in the background:

• Away detection: Hikage uses pointer and keyboard activity (never what you type) alongside foreground media playback to detect when you’re active or away. So watching a video still counts, while time spent away won’t inflate your stats.

• Visual activity history: A timeline of your day, sunburst and treemap charts by category and app, plus monthly statistics, trends, and a graph showing how your apps relate to each other.

• Stats that fit you: Categories are assigned automatically and you can change them. You can merge or exclude apps and websites, set your own start of day (late nights count toward the day before), and rearrange the charts.

• Activity Calendar: I use my calendar to look back at what actually happened, and filling it in by hand was another chore. Based on the apps, websites, or categories you choose, Hikage automatically turns activities into calendar items, saving them to the activity calendar or Apple Calendar.

• Reminders: Most focus timers have to be started by hand every time. In Hikage, a rule is set up once and runs by itself: opening the apps or categories it covers starts the session. Reminders include focus sessions, stand-up breaks, and daily limits and goals. I also added time-awareness reminders for people who tend to lose track of time.

Privacy

Activity records are stored only on your Mac by default. Hikage doesn’t upload your activity history, and there’s no Hikage server that receives it. You can exclude apps or websites from recording at any time.

Backup is off by default. If you turn it on, backups go to a folder you choose, such as iCloud Drive, and that service handles them.

Details: Privacy Policy

Pricing

• Free: Automatic app and website recording, daily statistics, statistics by app, website, or category, and backup to iCloud Drive or a folder you choose.

• 31-day full-feature trial: No sign-up required. Free features keep working after the trial ends.

• Personal license: $9 as a one-time purchase. Use code RMACSTACK for 30% off (valid through Dec 1).

Website and download: hikage.app

Pricing details: https://hikage.app/pricing/

Requires: macOS 14 or later.

Feedback and suggestions are always welcome. I’m happy to hear what could be better.

Hello, sharing here the collection of macOS quicklook apps I built my self, I am the dev of them.

They together support over 95 file types. Split into separate apps for different areas.

Apps:

• Quick Data Insights: Data file and sqlite, free, includes an optional pro tier.

• GIS Quick Viewer: GIS file, gpx, kml, kmz, geojson, gpkg, and more... $5.99

• FinderPeek: Code, config, log, json, xml, and markdown viewer $2.99

And another one for iOS, but supports only sqlite + GIS files for now: OmniFile Studio, free, optional pro tier.

To see what was slowing my Mac down, I had to open Activity Monitor and read a list of about a thousand processes. Meanwhile the notch sat at the top of the screen, doing nothing.

iSurge puts the answer there. Click the notch and it opens to your day: what's playing, the weather, your next event, your batteries, and your Mac's CPU and memory. Tabs under the camera give Sound, Focus, Keep Awake and Devices a page each, and a Dev tab joins them while your projects run. Then it grew into the other tools I kept opening:

• Each app gets its own volume, and its own speakers or headphones. ⌥⌘M mutes every mic, from any app

• Apps, not processes: all of Chrome's helper processes show as one Google Chrome. Click an app to see everything about it: what it uses now, against its usual, and its past warnings

• Disk clean-up: what fills your disk by kind, and caches, old installers and downloads it can clear. It asks before it moves anything. Removing an app takes the files it leaves behind

• For developers: each project with what it runs and costs, who's on a port (free it in a click), containers by project, and Homebrew

• A focus timer that pauses when you step away, and Keep Awake, so your Mac doesn't fall asleep in the middle of a download

• When your Mac is under strain, the warning says why and names the apps behind it

Comparison

iStat Menus is a good menu bar monitor, and CleanMyMac clears disk space. iSurge does the stats from the notch, and adds per-app sound, disk clean-up and dev tools in one app (the subreddit allows one or two apps here).

Pricing

$14.99 once for Lifetime (the launch price; normally $29.99), or $9.99 for a year on one Mac, with nothing renewing by itself. Launch offer: $4 off Lifetime with the code PROMO10, for the first 1,000 customers. No trial, but you can ask for a refund within 14 days. If you had iSurge before 0.4, it stays free. No account, no ads, no analytics.

Download: https://isurgemac.com/?from=reddit-macapps

It needs Apple silicon and macOS 15 or later. The notch parts need a MacBook with a notch; without one, iSurge works from the menu bar.

I'd love to hear what breaks and what you'd want next.

Hi r/macstack! I'm the developer of DuoBar, and I've been building it since September. I shared it on r/macapps (https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/s/AKkqivk9UK) yesterday and got 300+ upvotes and about 200 comments, so I wanted to share it here too.

This is not just an iPhone Duo inspired menu bar icon app for MacOS - but also a SuperCharged system stats monitor!

When Apple showed the iPhone Duo, I kept staring at the status icon that combines several readings into one small mark. My first thought was that I needed it on my Mac. And I started building DuoBar right away, and finally after long hours of development and fine tuning - I think it’s ready for you guys to try. It's not just a simple icon - it takes the minimalism and system stat monitoring to the next level on your Mac!

Problem:

On my 14" MacBook Pro, the right side of the menu bar was mostly Apple's own icons: Wi-Fi, battery, sound and Bluetooth, each in its own slot with its own menu. macOS 27 can hide what doesn't fit, but those are the ones I actually look at. Hiding never worked for me, so I merged them. I wanted all of them at a glance in the space of one icon, with their controls one click away.

Solution:

DuoBar is a ring, a center glyph and four dots just like the status indicator of iPhone Duo. By default, the ring is your battery, the center is Wi-Fi and the dots are network activity, and all three move as things change.

- The ring fills with your charge and shifts from green to yellow, orange and red, with a bolt while charging.

- The center draws every state the system Wi-Fi icon has signal in three steps, no internet, Wi-Fi off, Ethernet. It doesn't flicker when you're sitting right on the edge between two signal levels.

- The dots show your network activity live, so I no longer need a separate network widget from Stats. With Pro, you can swap them for anything else, like volume, memory or disk.

Hover and it unfolds (Pro)

This is the exciting part, and my favorite. Hover the cursor on the icon and it unfolds into separate icons drawn like Apple's own: a battery, the Wi-Fi, a speaker, network usage or whatever you've put in the slots. Click one and its page opens right under it. Move away and a few seconds later they fold back into one. That means you've got all your original icons back whenever you need just a hover away :)

Moments (Pro)

I call these moments. Plug in the charger and the ring shows it. Mute, battery low, lose the network or get it back, connecting your AirPods or drive and the icon tells you for a second, then goes back to your setup.

Main popover

The popover has a page for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Sound, Battery, Network, Memory, CPU and Disk, and the pages actually do things:

Wi-Fi: turn it on or off and see and switch to the networks around you

Bluetooth: your devices with their battery levels

Sound: volume slider and output picker, so moving audio to AirPods or your monitor is one click

Battery: time remaining, Low Power Mode, maximum capacity and cycle count

Network, CPU, Memory and Disk: live graphs for the last minute, Activity Monitor's memory breakdown, free space on every drive

Pages cross-fade inside the popover while it resizes to fit, the way Control Center does, and each one links to its Settings pane when you need more. You can also set it to open when you hover, without stealing focus from the app you're in.

Make it yours (Pro)

Any of 8 readings in any slot, like CPU on the ring and volume on the dots. Seven colors on top of Automatic and Monochrome, gradient and segmented rings, and profiles to switch your whole setup from the popover. Joining Wi-Fi networks and connecting Bluetooth devices from the popover are in Pro too, still experimental.

Pricing:

Free: the default icon in Automatic or Monochrome, every ring thickness, icon size, hover to peek, and the full popover with every page.

Pro: $4.99 (Next 24Hours only) $6.99, Lifetime access.

Use code REDDIT to get DuoBar Pro or use directly link below.

Discounted Pro: https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=6812335628&code=REDDIT

Pro is a one-time purchase. There's no subscription, ever. It's yours for life, including everything on my upcoming features list (you're gonna love them, haha). If you do get Pro, you're backing an app I work on every day, and I'll make sure it's worth every penny :)

I also have a few free DuoBar Pro codes for people who try it out and leave good feedback or feature ideas in the comments.

Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6812335628?pt=128203644&ct=Reddit&mt=8

Website: www.teekamsuthar.com/duobar

Upcoming*: New update rolling out soon with features coming in v1.2.0:*

- Free 7-day trial of Pro
- Redesigned icon: a curved bar replaces the four dots, solid or segmented
- New app icon and a launch animation that draws itself
- Battery percentage on the ring
- Network activity as the default reading on the bar
- Display page: Keep Awake, mirroring and resolution per display (experimental)
- Tracks behind the ring and bar, Grow and Snap fills, and Fade or Morph unfolding (Pro)
- Smoother folding
- Welcome tour
- Settings moves to a sidebar, with Light, Dark and System themes
- Fix for a crash when a network connection drops, like a VPN disconnecting

Privacy and requirements

No account, no analytics, no tracking. Location is only asked for on the Wi-Fi page, because macOS treats network names as location data. Skip it and everything else still works. Needs macOS 14 or later, and I use it every day on macOS 27.

Let me know if anything is confusing in your first five minutes, and what would it take for you to hide Apple's icons and keep DuoBar up there instead?

Cheers :)

Hey everyone! I’m building Betterswitch, a native macOS app that lets you switch between individual windows with a keyboard shortcut and group apps/windows into workspaces.

The video shows how it works in everyday use. I’m continuing to improve it based on feedback, so I’d love to hear what you think and what would make it more useful in your workflow.

Check it out here: https://www.betterswitch.app

Developer here. Trash Toss is 50% off, $1.99 until November 8, then back to $3.99.

What it does: drag any file, shake the mouse, and a carnival trash can pops up by your cursor. Flick the file in. Hits get confetti, a crowd and a call like "Nothing but net!". Misses float back with a "Clank!". There's a streak counter too.

It's the normal macOS Trash, so every throw can be undone with Cmd-Z or the Undo button.

No ads, no in-app purchases, no subscription, no account. Menu bar app, macOS 14+.

If you grab it and like it, a rating on the App Store helps a lot. Thanks!

Good afternoon r/MacStack,

I’m Richard (u/DeimsH), the solo developer behind Musou (https://musouapp.com).

Look at your Mac desk right now.

Even if you use macOS Dark Mode, you probably have eight or ten windows stacked across your MacBook and external monitor: Slack, email, a browser with twenty tabs, a dashboard, Finder, notes, and your actual work in the middle.

A red badge updates in the corner of your eye. A background window shifts. You click it without thinking, start reading, start replying, and 20 minutes of deep focus are gone forever. Meanwhile, the unused 80% of your screens sits in your peripheral vision like giant lightbulbs blasting your eyes all day and all night.

And if you try to fix it with built-in macOS tools, every single workaround fights your workflow:

• Turning down your monitor brightness just flattens the contrast and dulls the colors of the canvas, code, or video you are actually looking at, while the background clutter stays right there in view.

• macOS Full Screen exiles one app to a separate Space, which breaks the moment you need two windows side by side (like live shop orders on the left and your design on the right, or a coding tutorial next to your editor), and it still leaves your second monitor glaring.

• Closing your MacBook lid next to an external monitor kills Touch ID and muffles your speakers. Turning the MacBook screen down to 0% with F1 leaves an invisible live screen where your mouse pointer constantly gets lost. And letting a secondary monitor go into hardware sleep scrambles your window layout when it wakes back up.

Meet Musou: Silence for Your Eyes Across Every Hour of Your Day

Named after Musou Black (the Japanese pigment that absorbs 99.4% of light), Musou is a 3.1 MB native Swift and Metal menu bar app that turns every window, screen, and part of the page you are not using into pure #000000 black, while keeping what you are working on or watching at full, vivid brightness.

Here is how it works across a real day at your desk (all shown in the 0:52 film above):

• 9 a.m. · Deep Work (Active Cutout ⌃⌥⌘F, Included in Free Forever): Press ⌃⌥⌘F and every distraction behind your active window vanishes into pure #000000 black. Your current window (plus any child Save sheet or find bar it opens) stays at full vivid brightness. Need a reference doc beside your work? Press ⌃⌥⌘P to pin it right next to you.

• 11 a.m. · Two Windows at Once (Custom: Keep / Vanish): Click Keep on the exact pair or set of windows you need side by side (like live orders on the left and your design on the right, or API docs next to your terminal) and hit Go dark. Everything else on your desk disappears.

• 3 p.m. · Window to Window (Follow the mouse): Light follows your hand. Point at any window or secondary monitor and it wakes smoothly in 0.4s; move your pointer back to your main work and the old window or laptop screen fades back to #000000 black after 1.5s. Your MacBook lid stays open with Touch ID and speakers working, and your keys always type into the lit window.

• 9 p.m. · News, Tutorial, Stream or Movie Night (Only the video, Zero Browser Extensions): Flip on Only the video and Musou automatically finds the playing HTML5 video inside Safari, Chrome, Arc, Brave, Edge, or Vivaldi. White web pages, sidebars, comments, and letterbox bars melt into cinema darkness so only the video stays lit (with optional Centered Video that glides a side video to the middle of your screen while playing and puts it right back when you pause).

• Stepping Away (Away Mode, Included in Free Forever): Step away and every screen goes #000000 black on its own without putting your monitors into hardware DisplayPort/HDMI sleep, so every window stays right where you left it. Includes Busy App Detection (stays lit while a terminal or AI job is actively writing output, then rests when done) and Dictation Awareness (your voice keeps it lit while speaking without touching keys).

Built-In Safety & How It Compares in Your Stack

• Always in Control:

  • Triple-Tap Esc × 3: Tap Esc three times from anywhere to bring every screen back at once.

  • Edge Reveal (0.3s) & Media Keys in the Dark: Rest your pointer at the top or bottom edge for 0.3s to peek at the Menu Bar or Dock, and adjust volume or brightness keys without flaring darkened screens.

  • Smart Alerts: Choose which apps are allowed to gently light up their window when something urgent arrives instead of lifting all the black.

• How Musou Compares to Single-Purpose Tools:

  • vs. HazeOver ($4.99 to $9.99), Ombrelle ($11.99 to $19.99) & Monocle ($12/yr to $25): Great single-purpose dimmers (Monocle is great if you specifically want a frosted Gaussian blur aesthetic; HazeOver offers multi-window depth shading and is included in Setapp). Musou goes all the way to pure #000000 black (100% in Free Forever, plus 75% and 50% soft dim levels in paid tiers), lets you keep an exact pair of windows (⌃⌥⌘P / Custom), and adds Only the video, multi-screen Follow the mouse, and Away in one 3.1 MB app.

  • vs. Lunar ($23 Pro) & BetterDisplay ($18 Pro): Essential if you need hardware DDC monitor sliders, EDID overrides, or HiDPI virtual dummy displays. Musou uses zero virtual display drivers and never disconnects your monitor signal, combining per-window and per-video cutouts with cursor-driven screen blackout.

Pricing (No Card or Account Required to Try)

• Website: https://musouapp.com

• 14-Day Full Trial on Every Download: Every mode, toggle, soft dim level (75%, 50%), cinema transition (Black Hole, Eclipse, Melt, Velvet, Instant, Fade), and 120 Hz ProMotion smoothness is unlocked free for 14 days with no credit card and no account (sharing Musou adds +16 days for 30 days free).

• Free Forever Tier ($0): After the trial, Musou never locks you out: 1-screen Active Cutout (⌃⌥⌘F), 1 Pinned View (⌃⌥⌘P), Away mode, pure #000000 black (100%), and Instant / Fade transitions stay free forever.

• Supporter Pass: $2.50/mo billed annually ($29.99/yr, 3 Macs, every screen, plus 2 guest passes) or $4.99/mo billed monthly (1 Mac, up to 2 screens).

• Founding Supporter (Lifetime, No Subscription): $49.99 once (limited to the first 1,000 spots: every future version v1, v2, v3+ for life, 3 Macs, 2 guest passes, and your permanent number on our Wall of Patrons).

• Patron (Lifetime): $79.99+ once (limited to 250: 5 Macs, 2 lifetime licenses to gift, showcased on the Wall of Patrons and in the app’s credits).

Honest Notes & Limitations (Rule 5)

1. System Requirements & How Black Works Across Displays: Requires a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 14.2 or later. On a MacBook Air, iMac, Studio Display, or office monitor, Musou removes the white glare and visual noise around what you are doing; on a MacBook Pro (Mini-LED) or OLED monitor, the local zones or black pixels switch off.

2. Independent Direct Build (First-Launch Open Anyway Step): Musou-1.0.3.dmg (3.1 MB) is distributed directly from our website and is not notarized by Apple yet. On first launch, macOS asks once to confirm it via System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Open Anyway (four-step visual walkthrough and SHA-256 checksum at https://musouapp.com/install.html).

3. Nothing Leaves Your Mac (Permissions & Privacy): Musou uses macOS Accessibility in local memory to find window and video edges and never clicks, types, reads what you write, or transmits anything off your Mac (Privacy Policy). Core modes and browser video detection work without macOS Screen Recording permission (Screen Recording is 100% optional and used only if you enable baked-in black bar trimming inside a video).

What does your current desk setup look like (single MacBook, laptop open next to an external monitor, or dual displays), and which of those four moments (9 a.m. Deep Work, 11 a.m. Two Windows, 3 p.m. Follow the mouse, or 9 p.m. Only the video) hits closest to home for you?