If you’re tired of only being able to customize your wallpaper, accent colors, and other basic aspects of your MacBook, an indie called Glaze could be something you might want to try out. The latest release, Glaze 1.9, can transform your Mac’s entire live display using more than 50 GPU-powered visual effects. Those include convincing recreations of CRT monitors, Game Boy screens, worn VHS tapes, comic books, oil paintings, old film, vintage paper, and even Sony’s Trinitron displays.
Your Mac can finally cosplay as a CRT
Glaze began as developer Armaan Khan’s attempt to recreate the glow, curved glass, and scanlines of an old CRT iMac through software. The effect is applied over the live screen, meaning it continues across app windows, videos, browsers, and games instead of disappearing once you move beyond the desktop.
The CRT preset can even surround the screen with an optional cream-colored monitor housing to turn the modern MacBook display into something more dramatic. Users can adjust the intensity of individual effects, including how strongly the simulated screen curves.
Version 1.9 also adds calmer Productivity looks intended for everyday work. Comfort softens harsh white interfaces, Midnight pushes the display darker and warmer for late-night use, and Color Correct offers several color-vision accessibility adjustments. The developer says the accessibility mode will remain free.
You need to give it some permissions first
Glaze needs macOS Screen Recording permission because it must access the live display before applying its effects. Khan says the screen is never recorded, saved, or uploaded, with all processing remaining on the Mac. There is no required account, and the app supports both Apple Silicon and Intel hardware.
According to the developer, Glaze generally consumes between 100MB and 300MB of memory while leaving most processing to the GPU. Low Power Mode can halve available GPU performance and make more demanding shaders stutter, so users are advised to disable it while the app is running.
There is also a brief delay when moving between macOS Spaces. The new desktop remains usable immediately, although the selected shader may take about a second to catch up. Glaze costs $9.99 as a one-time purchase, including future updates and new effects. Paper, Game Boy, and Prank Mode can be used indefinitely for free, while the paid license covers one Mac at a time and can be transferred between machines.
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