What it does
- One-keystroke toggle — hides desktop icons, silences notifications, and clears the wallpaper. Press again to restore everything.
- Go Live panel — open it before any share. Lists every running app and your notification status so you can see what your audience would actually see.
- Auto-trigger (Pro) — when Zoom, Teams, Meet, Loom, or OBS comes to the foreground, Cloak fires automatically. Everything restores when the app closes.
- Window hide (Pro) — covers your own app windows during a session. They come back exactly as you left them.
- Tab Guard (Pro) — pick which Safari tabs stay on screen. The rest move to a hidden window. Your other open tabs don't show up.
- Per-app profiles (Pro) — Meeting and Recording modes, each with separate behavior. Switch between them in Go Live.
- Crash-safe restore — Cloak writes down what it hid when it activates. Force-quit mid-session and everything restores on the next launch.
- Menu-bar only — no Dock icon, no window in the way.
Pricing
Manual hotkey, desktop icon hiding, notification silence via a bundled Shortcut, and launch at login. All free.
- Window hide (your own app windows)
- Wallpaper blur or replace
- Tab Guard for Safari
- Auto-triggers for Zoom, Teams, Meet, Loom, and OBS
- Per-app profiles: Meeting and Recording modes
- Pin list and menu-bar status indicator
Permissions
- No screen-recording permission needed. Icons and wallpaper hide through system APIs.
- No Accessibility permission needed. Window cover only touches Cloak's own windows.
- Notification silence runs through a bundled macOS Shortcut you install once during setup.
- NSWorkspace tells Cloak which app is frontmost. That's the whole auto-trigger mechanism. Screen content is never read.
- Safari Apple Events (Pro): Cloak moves Safari windows for Tab Guard. Tab content is never read or modified.
Works with any recorder
- Zoom, Teams, Meet, Loom, OBS, QuickTime — anything you share or record from.
- Auto-trigger watches which app is frontmost, not the screen itself. There's no system API for true screen-share detection.
- Menu-bar only — stays invisible until you need it.
About
Cloak is a menu-bar app for macOS, built for people who share their screen regularly and want that to be a non-issue before every call. Buy it once. Payments go through Apple, so we never see your card details.
Common questions
How do I hide my desktop icons on a Mac before screen sharing?
Press one hotkey. Cloak hides every desktop icon instantly and brings them all back when you press it again. No Terminal commands, no dragging files into folders.
What is the Go Live panel?
Go Live is a pre-share checklist. Open it before you share and it shows you every running app and your notification status, so you can see what your audience would actually see. Anything worth hiding shows up there first.
Can Cloak silence notifications during a screen share?
Yes. Cloak silences notifications through a bundled macOS Shortcut you install once during setup, so Slack messages and calendar alerts don't pop up mid-presentation.
Does Cloak activate automatically when I join a Zoom or Teams call?
With the Lifetime Unlock, Cloak watches for Zoom, Teams, Meet, Loom, or OBS coming to the foreground and activates automatically. Everything restores when the app closes.
What is Tab Guard?
Tab Guard is a Pro feature. Before you share, pick which Safari tabs you want visible. Cloak moves them to a clean window and hides everything else. Your other open tabs don't show up.
What happens if Cloak crashes while my desktop is hidden?
Cloak writes down what it hid when it activates. Force-quit mid-session and everything restores on the next launch.
Is it a subscription?
No. The basics are free, and the Lifetime Unlock is a one-time $6.99 purchase. No accounts, no renewals.