Launching today
Pocket Screen
Keep any Mac window visible in a floating mini screen
171 followers
Keep any Mac window visible in a floating mini screen
171 followers
Pocket Screen turns the frontmost window on your Mac into a compact, always-on-top PiP-style view. Keep documents, chats, videos, or reference material visible while you work in another app—without constantly switching windows. Processing stays on your Mac.
Pocket Screen
"no mention of multi monitor support, curious how it behaves if the floating window and the source app are on different displays"
Pocket Screen
@gavin_porter1 Thanks for asking, Gavin!
I’m currently working with a single-display setup, so I haven’t been able to fully test every multi-monitor configuration yet....
Pocket Screen has a free version, so please feel free to try it in your environment.
If you notice any issues, I’d be happy to look into them for a future update.
Pocket Screen
@gavin_porter1 Thanks again, Gavin! I’m currently making some code-level adjustments to improve multi-display behavior for the next update. I’m planning to submit it to the App Store early next week. Once it’s available, please feel free to comment again if you notice anything that could still be improved.
The single-display framing is really good! A lot of PiP tools assume you already have the screen space and just want a second video running in the corner. On the frontmost-window pick though - once a window is floating, is the mini view still interactive (scroll, click, type inside it) or is it a passive mirror I have to pop back into to actually use?
Pocket Screen
@artstavenka1 Thanks, Art!
The floating view is currently a live, passive mirror rather than an interactive remote view, so scrolling, clicking, and typing are done in the original window. The click-through option lets pointer input pass through the floating window to whatever is behind it.
Keeping the experience lightweight and predictable was the priority for this version.
"can you run more than one floating window at once, like a doc + a chat side by side, or is it one at a time?"
Pocket Screen
@reid_anderson4 Thanks for asking, Reid!
Pocket Screen currently supports one floating window at a time. Multiple floating windows are clearly an important use case, so I’ll prioritize adding support in an upcoming update.
Pocket Screen
@reid_anderson4 Thanks again, Reid! I’m currently finalizing an update that will support up to two floating windows at the same time. I’m aiming to submit it to the App Store early next week.
This is such a simple but useful Mac utility. I spend a lot of time switching between docs, chats, browser tabs, and whatever I'm actually working on, so keeping one reference window visible without constantly rearranging everything sounds genuinely helpful :)
The opacity and click-through controls are especially nice touches. Curious how well Pocket Screen handles content that changes quickly, like video, live dashboards, or chat windows. does it stay smooth without using too much battery or CPU?
Pocket Screen
@andrasczeizel Thanks, Andras!
Pocket Screen is designed to stay lightweight, but resource use naturally depends on what you keep visible. A mostly static document or reference page should have a much smaller impact than video, live dashboards, or fast-moving chat content.
In my testing, a single floating window has remained smooth across Safari, QuickTime, and Chrome, including video playback. Battery and CPU usage will increase more with frequently changing content, so for longer sessions, keeping the floating window smaller and using it mainly for reference material is the most efficient setup.
this is one of those things that sounds small but I'd actually use daily, keeping a Zoom or a stream floating over other windows instead of alt-tabbing constantly. does it stay attached when you switch spaces/desktops or does it need to be re-pinned each time
Pocket Screen
@omri_ben_shoham1 Thanks, Omri!
You don’t need to re-pin it each time. Pocket Screen keeps the window attached when you switch Spaces. If the source window is on an inactive Space, the floating view temporarily hides to avoid showing a black or stale image, then automatically resumes when the source becomes available again.
honestly super useful for keeping docs open while coding. one thing though, would be great if you could set custom keyboard shortcuts to toggle which window becomes the floating view, right now i have to click through menus which kind of breaks the flow. a quick hotkey to swap the target window would make this way more seamless.
Pocket Screen
@bayraktuta26773 Thanks, Nehir!
Pocket Screen currently supports Option + Command + P to pin the frontmost window, but I agree that customizable shortcuts and a quicker way to switch the target window would make the workflow even smoother. I’ve added this to my improvement list.
Pocket Screen
@bayraktuta26773 Thanks again, Nehir! I’m currently finalizing an update that will let the hotkey switch the selected floating window to the current frontmost window without going through the menu. I’m aiming to submit it to the App Store early next week.