PGari Glowee: Mac brightness with window spotlight

How to focus on a window on a Mac

Short answer: To focus on a window on a Mac, first separate two things that share the word "focus." Focus, the feature in System Settings and Control Center that many people call Focus mode, is about notifications. Apple describes it as a way to "pause and silence all notifications or allow only certain notifications." Apple's list of Focus settings covers allowed people and apps, schedules, Focus filters for Calendar, Mail, Messages and Safari, and sharing your Focus status. Dimming, hiding or arranging windows is not on that list. For windows, the Mac User Guide describes full screen, Stage Manager and hiding the other apps with Option-Command-H, and all three work by moving the other windows out of the way. If you want the other windows to stay where they are and simply stop competing with the one you are working in, an app can dim them. PGari Glowee's Spotlight dims everything except the window you are in, on any Mac display, with ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ S. Focus handles notifications and Spotlight handles the screen, so one does not replace the other.

This page explains what Apple's Focus does and how to switch it on and off, then goes through the ways to put one window forward, with what each one costs you.

What Focus mode on a Mac does

Focus is Apple's name for a set of notification rules. Do Not Disturb is one of them. Apple calls it "the Do Not Disturb Focus" and notes that it "is always available." It sits in the same list as each Focus you add, such as Work or Gaming, and any Focus you create yourself. A Focus can "pause and silence all notifications or allow only certain notifications," the ones from people and apps you choose.

Turn a Focus on. Click Control Center in the menu bar, then click anywhere in the Focus section, and click the Focus you want. Its icon is highlighted in the list and appears in the menu bar. You can choose a duration, such as "For 1 hour." For Do Not Disturb there is a shortcut: hold the Option key and click the date and time in the menu bar.

Turn a Focus off. Open the same list and click the Focus again. Its icon is no longer highlighted.

Set one up. Go to System Settings and click Focus in the sidebar. Click Add Focus and pick one Apple provides, such as Gaming or Work, or click Custom to make your own. You can create up to ten. Inside a Focus:

Allowed People and Allowed Apps decide whose notifications still come through.
Set a Schedule turns the Focus on by time, by location or by app. With an app-based schedule, the Focus turns on when you open the app and off when you close it or switch to another app.
Focus Filters change how Calendar, Mail, Messages or Safari behave while the Focus is on. Apple's example is "a set of Tab Groups to appear in Safari while in the Work Focus."

On Macs with Apple Intelligence there is also a Reduce Interruptions Focus, "which shows you only the most important notifications."

Across your devices. When you are signed in to the same Apple Account everywhere, turning a Focus on or off on one device does the same on the others. The setting is Share across devices in System Settings → Focus, and it is on by default. Turn it off if you want the Mac quiet and the phone not. In the same place, Focus status lets apps tell people who message you that you have notifications silenced. They do not see which Focus you are using.

What Apple's Focus settings do not cover: the windows

Apple's list of Focus settings has these entries: Allowed People, Allowed Apps, Set a Schedule, Focus Filters, Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing, Share across devices and Focus status. They decide which notifications reach you, when a Focus runs, and how Calendar, Mail, Messages or Safari behave. No entry dims, hides or arranges windows. A Focus can stop the banner. For the windows, Apple describes other tools.

The Mac User Guide describes three of them, and an app adds a different one.

Tool	How to switch it on	What happens to the other windows
Focus (Do Not Disturb, Work …)	Control Center → Focus	Not covered. Apple's Focus settings concern notifications, schedules and Focus filters
Full screen	Green button in the window's top-left corner, or Control-Command-F where the app supports it	The app fills the entire screen
Stage Manager	System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Desktop & Stage Manager, or Control Center	Moved to the left side of the screen. The window you are working with sits in the center
Hiding the other apps	Option-Command-H	Hidden. Only the front app stays in view
PGari Glowee, Spotlight	⌃ ⌥ ⌘ S, or the sun in the menu bar	They stay where they are, dimmed

Sources: Apple's Mac User Guide and keyboard shortcut list for the first four rows, pgari.com/glowee/ for the last.

Full screen goes furthest. Apple describes it as working "without desktop distractions," because the app fills the entire screen. The price is that your other windows are no longer beside it, unless you add one more app in Split View, which Apple describes on the same page. If you write from a source, code against documentation or keep a call open while you take notes, you need two or three windows in view and you still want one of them to be the obvious place to look. That is the case dimming is for.

Focus on a window on a Mac: dim everything except the one you are in

PGari Glowee is a menu bar app. Its Spotlight feature "dims everything except the window you are in," and leaves your layout untouched.

Three settings: Off, Soft and Strong. Choose Soft or Strong depending on how busy the screen is.
One shortcut: ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ S toggles Spotlight from any app, and it comes back at the level you last used.
It follows you. Click another window and the light follows. Glowee does not decide which window is active. You do, by clicking, and it follows.
Any Mac display. Spotlight is plain dimming, so it works on any display, XDR or not, built in or external. That includes a MacBook Air.

On a MacBook Pro 14″ or 16″ from 2021 or later, or another XDR or EDR display, there is a second half. Set Boost Area to Active Window and only the window you are in gets extra brightness, past the point where the macOS slider stops. With Spotlight on as well, the lit window gets brighter while the rest steps back. The extra brightness needs an XDR panel. A MacBook Air cannot be boosted, and Spotlight alone is what you get there. The MacBook Pro brightness guide explains why.

Glowee is not connected to Apple's Focus. You switch Spotlight on and off yourself, from the menu or with the shortcut. It does not manage notifications, so a Focus is still what keeps banners away.

The other app that dims windows

HazeOver is the name most people type when they search for window dimming. By its own description it "automatically highlights the front window by dimming background windows," with adjustable intensity, and it can be tied to Apple's Focus: its site describes a Focus filter that toggles the dimming or changes its intensity and color depending on which Focus is on. If that link matters to you, HazeOver has it and Glowee does not. The two are compared in how to dim inactive windows on a Mac.

Other things "focus app" can mean

Searches for a focus app for Mac lead to several kinds of tools, and it saves time to know which one you are after.

Blockers and timers. The app that is itself named Focus "blocks time-wasting websites and apps" and has built-in timers for the Pomodoro technique. Glowee is not that kind of tool. It does not block websites or apps, and it has no timer.
Notification control. That is Apple's Focus, already on your Mac.
Window dimmers. Glowee and HazeOver. They dim what is around the window you are using.

These do not compete. A blocker decides what you can open, Focus decides what can interrupt you, and a dimmer decides what on the screen draws the eye.

If you are reading this because of ADHD, there is a separate page about that. Glowee makes no medical claim of any kind. It dims what is around the window, and this page claims nothing beyond that.

Questions people ask

What does Focus mode on a Mac do?

It silences notifications, or allows only the ones you choose. It can run on a schedule, filter what Calendar, Mail, Messages and Safari show, and stay in step across your Apple devices. Apple's list of Focus settings has no entry for dimming or arranging windows.

How do I turn on Focus mode on my MacBook?

Click Control Center in the menu bar, click the Focus section, then click a Focus such as Do Not Disturb. To set one up first, go to System Settings → Focus.

How do I turn off Focus mode on my Mac?

Open Control Center, click the Focus section, and click the highlighted Focus. For Do Not Disturb you can also hold Option and click the date and time in the menu bar. If it keeps coming back, look at Set a Schedule inside that Focus, and at Share across devices: a Focus turned on from your iPhone turns on the Mac's as well.

Is Focus mode the same as Do Not Disturb?

Do Not Disturb is one Focus among several. Apple refers to it as "the Do Not Disturb Focus." Work, Personal, Gaming and your own custom ones are among the others.

Should Focus mode be on or off?

On while you need quiet, off when you want to be reachable. Apple's Focus settings also let you set a schedule, so it turns on and off by time, place or app without you thinking about it.

Why is my active window on my Mac losing focus?

That is a third meaning of the word: which window is active. Apple's Mac User Guide notes that "only one app at a time is active." Apple's Focus pages do not deal with it, and Glowee does not control it. Glowee only follows the window you click. This page does not troubleshoot it.

Do I need an XDR display to dim the other windows?

No. Spotlight works on any display, built in or external. Only the extra brightness in the active window needs an XDR or other EDR display.

Is there a free way to try it?

Apple's Focus is part of macOS. Glowee is free for 7 days with every feature unlocked and no account. After that it is a one-time purchase — one Mac, or three Macs on one key, with a 30-day refund.

Try it on your own screen

PGari Glowee is one menu bar app, under 2 MB, for macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon and Intel. It installs no kernel extensions and no background helpers; quit it and the display returns to normal.

Download the 7-day trial See how Glowee works