MacModes Help

Updated October 29, 2026

Everything you need, one short step at a time. Start at the top if you're new; jump to a topic if you're looking for something.

• 1. Install MacModes
• 2. Allow permissions
• 3. Set up your first mode
• 4. Switch modes
• 5. Go back Home
• 6. Choose what closes
• 7. The modes
• 8. Change a mode
• 9. Browser windows and tabs
• 10. Reminders
• 11. Your license
• 12. Fix a problem
• 13. Contact us

1. Install MacModes

1. Open the MacModes file you downloaded (it ends in .dmg).
2. In the window that opens, drag MacModes onto the Applications folder.
3. Open MacModes from your Applications folder. If macOS asks whether you're sure you want to open an app downloaded from the internet, click Open.
4. MacModes lives in the menu bar at the top of your screen. Click its icon any time.

You need macOS 26 Tahoe or later on a Mac with Apple silicon. Your 7-day free trial starts the first time you open it, with every feature unlocked.

2. Allow permissions

The welcome guide walks you through these. Any time later, open Settings › Permissions in MacModes: it shows each one as Allowed or not, with a button to fix it. If one is missing, the MacModes menu tells you too.

Accessibility (needed)

Lets MacModes put windows back on their desktops, at their size and in full screen.

1. In the welcome guide, click Allow… next to Accessibility.
2. System Settings opens. Turn on MacModes in the list.
3. Go back to MacModes. It shows Allowed in green.

MacModes is in the list but it still says Not yet? Select it, remove it with the − button, then add it again with +.

Apps MacModes works with (asked once per app)

To bring back your browser tabs and open private windows, macOS asks once for each app, for example "MacModes wants access to control Google Chrome." Click Allow each time. You may see this for:

• Google Chrome, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi and Safari
• System Events, which MacModes uses for Firefox and for private windows

Click Allow… in the welcome guide to answer these right away, so nothing pops up in the middle of a switch. Apps that aren't open yet ask the first time they're needed.

Clicked Don't Allow by mistake? Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation, find MacModes and turn the app back on.

Calendar (optional)

Only for meeting reminders: MacModes can offer to switch to Work a few minutes before a meeting. Skip it if you don't want that.

Open at login (optional)

If you turn on Open MacModes when you log in, macOS may ask you to allow it in System Settings › General › Login Items. Settings › Permissions has a button that takes you there.

3. Set up your first mode

A mode is how you want your Mac set up for something: which apps are open, on which desktop, at what size, plus Focus, sound and more. The setup guide copies what's open right now, so get things ready first.

1. Arrange your Mac the way you want the mode to look: open the apps, put them on the desktops you like, open your browser windows.
2. Click the MacModes icon in the menu bar and click the mode, for example Work. A mode that isn't set up yet opens its guide.
3. Click Use what's open now. MacModes reads your windows.
4. Check the list. Remove anything you don't want with the − button, including single browser windows you don't want this mode to open.
5. Choose what happens to apps that don't belong in this mode: Quit, Pause or Hide.
6. Add websites, files or extras if you like, then click Save.

It takes about a minute. You can change everything later.

4. Switch modes

Pick whichever way you like:

• Menu bar: click the MacModes icon, then click a mode.
• Keyboard: hold ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ and press H Home, W Work, G Game, P Private, S Presentation or O Off Hours.
• Quick switcher: press ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ Space, choose with the arrow keys and press Return.
• Siri, Shortcuts or Stream Deck: open Settings › Modes, pick the mode and click Add to Shortcuts. Then say "Switch to Work" or put it on a Stream Deck button.

Let the switch finish before you start working. MacModes opens apps desktop by desktop and tells you when it's ready.

5. Go back Home

Home is your normal Mac. When you leave Home, MacModes saves exactly how everything was. When you come back Home, it puts it all back: apps reopen on their own desktops, at their size, with their browser tabs, and paused apps wake up.

• Apps a mode opened close again. Apps you already had open are never closed.
• After a restart, MacModes always starts in Home, so nothing changes until you pick a mode.
• Home always works, even after the trial ends.

6. Choose what closes

Before some modes start (Game, for example), a Start screen shows your open apps and what will happen to each one.

• Quit: closes the app the normal way, so it still asks about unsaved work. Frees all its memory.
• Pause: freezes the app with all its windows exactly as they are. It wakes up when you go Home.
• Hide: hides its windows. It keeps running and can still show notifications.
• Keep open: leaves it alone.

For a browser, click Choose windows to pick which windows stay open. Ticked windows stay; the others close, and MacModes saves them first so they come back when you go Home. MacModes remembers your choices for next time.

7. The modes

Work

Your work apps on their desktops, your browser tabs, and anything you don't want while working closed or paused.

Game

Frees your Mac for a game: closes or pauses other apps, pauses cloud sync like Dropbox and Google Drive, keeps the screen awake, opens Steam, and watches for game crashes. Game readiness in the menu checks memory, disk and settings before you play.

Private

For personal browsing: can open a private browser window and hide or close your work apps. In Settings › Private you can require Touch ID or your password to enter it, and save your private tabs in a locked vault when you leave.

Presentation

A clean screen for sharing: closes or hides personal apps, can hide your desktop icons, and keeps the screen awake. Turn on Do Not Disturb so notifications don't pop up.

Off Hours

The end of the work day: work apps close or pause, your personal apps open.

Your own modes

Click New mode in the menu to make one for anything: streaming, studying, editing video. The setup guide opens.

8. Change a mode

The quick way

1. Click the MacModes icon in the menu bar.
2. Right-click the mode and choose Edit. The setup guide opens with the mode as it is now.
3. Change what you like and click Save.

Every option

Open Settings › Modes and pick the mode. There you'll find its Focus and notifications, what happens while you're in it, its icon and colour, Siri and Shortcuts, and when MacModes should suggest it.

To remove a mode you made, right-click it and choose Delete.

9. Browser windows and tabs

• Modes remember their tabs. When you leave a mode, its browser windows and tabs are saved, so a tab you closed stays closed next time. You can turn this off in Settings › General.
• Send a window to a mode: in the menu, choose Send browser window to and pick a mode. That window will open every time you switch to it.
• Private windows are never saved, so their tabs don't come back.

Works best with Chrome, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi and Safari. Firefox windows come back too, but MacModes can't tell its private windows apart, so those stay open.

10. Reminders

MacModes can ask "Switch to this mode?" when something happens. It never switches without asking, and every reminder has a Don't ask again button.

In Settings › General:

• When a Steam game starts, or a game controller connects: offers Game.
• At the end of your work day: offers Off Hours.
• Before a meeting (needs Calendar): offers Work.

In Settings › Modes, for any mode: when you join a certain Wi-Fi network, or connect certain screens.

11. Your license

Activate

1. Buy MacModes. Your license key arrives by email.
2. Click the MacModes icon, open Settings and go to License.
3. Paste the key from your purchase email and click Activate.

One key works on 2 Macs. Activating only sends the key and a random label for your Mac to our store, to check it. Nothing else leaves your Mac.

Move to a new Mac

On the old Mac, open Settings › License and click Remove from this Mac. Then activate the key on the new one.

After the trial

Home keeps working. Enter a license key to keep switching modes.

Refunds

Not happy? You have 14 days for a full refund, no questions asked. See the refund policy.

12. Fix a problem

An app opened on the wrong desktop

1. Open System Settings › Desktop & Dock and turn off Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use. Otherwise macOS shuffles your desktops and MacModes can't find them.
2. Put the app where you want it, then right-click the mode, choose Edit and click Use what's open now.

A window I closed keeps coming back

The mode saved it because it was open when you set the mode up. Close it while you're in that mode: when you leave, MacModes saves only the windows still open. Or right-click the mode, choose Edit and remove the window with the − button.

My browser tabs didn't come back

MacModes needs permission to control the browser. Open Settings › Permissions in MacModes and click Allow…, or Open Automation Settings if it says Turned off. There, find MacModes and turn on the browser (and System Events for Firefox).

Windows don't go back to their size or desktop

Check System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility. MacModes must be on. If it is and it still doesn't work, remove it with − and add it again.

An app doesn't go back where it should

Click the MacModes icon and choose Report a Problem…. You see everything in the report before it's sent, and it helps us fix that app in an update.

I want MacModes to stop doing anything for a while

In the menu, choose Turn MacModes off. Hotkeys, reminders and switching stop, and paused apps wake up.

Start over with the guide

Open Settings › General and click Show Welcome Guide.

13. Contact us

Still stuck? Email gustavomkt2014@gmail.com. A screenshot helps.