PGari Glowee: Mac brightness with window spotlight

Dim inactive windows on a Mac without moving a single one of them

Short answer: There is no macOS setting that will dim inactive windows on a Mac. Apple's settings list for Desktop & Dock contains exactly one entry with the word dim in it, Dim widgets on desktop, and the Accessibility display settings contain none at all. What Apple documents instead are ways of getting the other windows out of sight: full screen, where "an app fills the entire screen," Stage Manager, which parks your recent apps along the left edge, and Option-Command-H, which hides every app but the front one. Dimming is an app's job. HazeOver has done it for years and gives you a great deal to adjust. PGari Glowee does it from a single menu — Spotlight at Off, Soft or Strong, thrown with ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ S — on any Mac screen, and the dimming is captured in recordings and on a shared screen.

One window left at normal brightness while everything around it is turned down, which is what it looks like to dim inactive windows on a Mac with Glowee's Spotlight

Two different problems are typed into this search box. One is a cluttered screen. The other is a Mac that darkens on its own after a few quiet minutes, which is a timer rather than a window, and has its own section further down.

What Apple documents for the windows behind you

Everything Apple offers here works by removal, not by shading.

Full screen. The green button at the top-left of a window, or Control-Command-F where the app supports it. Apple's wording: an app "fills the entire screen—so you can take advantage of every inch of the screen and work without desktop distractions." A second app can join it in Split View.
Stage Manager. Meant to "keep the app you're working with front and center," with recently used apps "neatly arranged along the left side of the screen." System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Desktop & Stage Manager.
Hiding the rest. Option-Command-H, in Apple's phrasing, lets you "view the front app but hide all other apps." Command-H hides the active one.

Removal is the right answer when one window is genuinely all you need. It is the wrong answer when the other windows have to stay readable — the source document, the client's email, the terminal below the editor. That is the gap a dimmer fills: nothing moves, nothing closes, the things you are not reading simply stop shouting.

Which apps dim inactive windows on a Mac

HazeOver

HazeOver is the name most people search for, and it is the more adjustable of the two. Taken from its own site:

It "automatically highlights the front window by dimming background windows"
Dimming intensity and animation speed are yours to set, "whether it's a soft shade to guide your attention or a bold dark background for total immersion"
Separate dimming settings for the Dark and Light appearance, and it "complements Dark Mode by dimming the bright content behind"
Hold the Fn key to drop the dimming for a moment while you drag between apps
"The desktop is automatically revealed when used"
Shortcuts, Focus filters and AppleScript can drive it — a Focus filter can toggle the dimming or change its intensity and colour according to which Focus is on
With more than one monitor, its site promises you can "see which screen is active, or highlight windows on each monitor"

The current version asks for macOS 12 Monterey or later. There is a free trial, and the app is also on the Mac App Store and in Setapp. HazeOver describes itself as a Distraction Dimmer, which is a trademark of its developer.

PGari Glowee (Spotlight)

Glowee approaches it from the opposite end. It is a brightness app that gained a dimming feature, and it is built around not having settings.

Spotlight "dims everything except the window you are in"
Three positions — Off, Soft, Strong — chosen by how busy the screen is
⌃ ⌥ ⌘ S from any app, and it returns at the level you last used
Move to another window and the light follows
Any Mac display, built in or external, XDR or not
One menu. No preferences pane, no window, nothing else to configure

Set against each other

	HazeOver	PGari Glowee (Spotlight)
Its own description	Highlights the front window by dimming the background ones	All but the window you are in is turned down
Strength of the shade	Intensity, colour and animation speed — each one adjustable	Three positions — Off, Soft, Strong
Turning it on	Keyboard shortcut; gesture for intensity; Fn while you drag	⌃ ⌥ ⌘ S, or from the menu bar
Dark and Light appearance	Its own settings for each	Nothing to configure
Scripting	Shortcuts, Focus filters, AppleScript	None; you throw the switch
Screens	Says it shows which screen is active and can highlight windows on each monitor	Any display, built in or external
macOS	12 Monterey or later	13 or later, Apple silicon and Intel
Trying it	Free trial; Mac App Store; also in Setapp	Free for 7 days; then a one-off purchase — one Mac, or three Macs on one key; 30-day refund

Each column is quoted from that app's own site.

Choosing between them is mostly a question of temperament. If you want to tune the shade, tint it, and have it change with Dark Mode or with a Focus, HazeOver's site lists a control for each. If you want one switch you never think about again, Glowee. And on an XDR machine, Glowee does a second thing that dimming alone cannot.

On an XDR panel: down outside the window, up inside it

Dimming only ever darkens the background. The window you are reading stays exactly as bright as it was, which on a dull Dublin afternoon may not be bright enough. On a MacBook Pro 14″ or 16″ from 2021 or later, a Pro Display XDR or another EDR display, Glowee can move both ends at once. Put Boost Area on Active Window and the window you are in is lifted past the macOS slider by a factor of 1.20, 1.38 or 1.50 at Low, Medium and Max, inside whatever headroom the display has. Add Spotlight and the lit window climbs while the rest steps back.

That half needs the panel. A MacBook Air and ordinary monitors cannot be boosted, though Spotlight works on them exactly as it does anywhere else, because plain dimming asks nothing of the hardware. The MacBook Pro brightness guide sets out the figures.

What a recording shows, and what it does not

Spotlight is drawn on the screen, so screenshots and screen recordings pick it up like any other window, and there is nothing to mask afterwards. Present from an ordinary window with it on and the room sees what you see: one window lit, the rest turned down. The brightness boost behaves the opposite way — it is left out of captures, so a recording of a boosted screen looks perfectly normal. More on that in Spotlight in screen recordings and highlighting the active window.

If it is your Mac that is doing the dimming

Most of the related questions Google attaches to this search are about the display going dark by itself, not about windows. Apple documents three settings that cover it.

The screen goes off too soon. System Settings → Lock Screen. Turn display off on battery when inactive and Turn display off on power adapter when inactive each take a length of time; Apple describes them as how long the Mac may be inactive "before the screen saver starts."
It is dimmer on battery. System Settings → Battery, Additional Options: Slightly dim the display on battery, which Apple explains as conserving energy "by dimming the display when your Mac is not plugged in."
The brightness shifts without you touching it. On a Mac with an ambient light sensor, System Settings → Displays holds Automatically adjust brightness. Apple adds that turning auto-brightness off "may affect battery life, energy consumption, and long-term display performance."

Common questions

Is there an application that dims everything except the active window?

Two of them at least. HazeOver dims background windows with an intensity, a colour and an animation speed you choose. Glowee's Spotlight dims everything but the window you are in, at Soft or Strong, from ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ S — and on an XDR display it can brighten that window as well.

Can macOS do it without an app?

Not according to Apple's own documentation. The Desktop & Dock list and the Accessibility display list contain no such option. Full screen, Stage Manager and Option-Command-H move the other windows instead of shading them.

Am I on a Mac or a PC?

This page is about macOS only. The searches for dimming background windows split across both, and nothing here applies to Windows.

Free or paid?

The macOS tools above cost nothing and may be enough. Both dimmers are paid, and both let you try first: HazeOver has a free trial, Glowee is free for 7 days.

Why does my Mac dim so quickly?

Raise the two Turn display off … when inactive times in System Settings → Lock Screen, and switch off Slightly dim the display on battery in System Settings → Battery.

Does it work on a MacBook Air or an external monitor?

Spotlight does, on any display, because it is plain dimming. Only the extra brightness needs an XDR or other EDR panel.

Which is the better focus tool overall?

It depends what is pulling at you. Notifications are Apple's Focus. A crowded screen is what a dimmer is for. The distinction is drawn out in focusing on one window on a Mac.

See it on your own screen

PGari Glowee is a single menu bar app, under 2 MB, for macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon and Intel. No kernel extensions, no background helpers; quit it and the display goes back to exactly where it was.

Download the 7-day trial See how Glowee works