Glanceback

A Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon or Intel. Recordings use disk space, so you can set a storage limit in Settings › Storage.

macOS requires it for any app that captures the screen. Glanceback uses it only to take the screenshots it saves on your Mac. To turn it on:

• Choose Start Recording in the welcome guide or the menu bar menu and allow access when macOS asks, or
• Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording and turn on Glanceback.

macOS may ask you to quit and reopen Glanceback after you allow access. Newer versions of macOS also remind you from time to time that an app can record your screen; that is normal. Glanceback does not need Accessibility access.

Click the Glanceback icon in the menu bar and choose Pause Recording, Pause for 15 Minutes or Pause for 1 Hour. Timed pauses resume on their own; choose Resume Recording Now to resume early. A hollow icon means Glanceback is not recording.

Open Settings › Privacy and use Add Running App… to pick an app. Excluded apps are left out of every screenshot, and Glanceback skips capturing while an excluded app is in front. Password managers (1Password, Bitwarden, Keychain Access, Passwords) are excluded by default when installed. Glanceback never records itself.

No, when it can tell. With “Pause in private browsing windows” turned on (the default), Glanceback pauses while a private or incognito window of Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Arc or another common browser is in front. It relies on the window title, and some browsers do not always mark private windows, so add the browser to your excluded apps if you need to be certain.

Settings › Storage shows the current disk use. Choose how long to keep history (1, 7, 30 or 90 days, or forever) and a maximum size (5, 10, 25 or 50 GB, or no limit). Glanceback deletes the oldest recordings automatically to stay within those limits.

Open Settings › Storage and choose Delete All History…, or choose Delete All History… from the menu bar menu, and confirm. This removes all recordings and recognized text from your Mac and cannot be undone.

No. Glanceback has no account, no analytics and no network access. See the privacy policy.

Yes. Turn on “Open Glanceback at login and start recording” in Settings › General. It is off by default, so Glanceback never starts recording without you choosing it.