â—† CRT SHADER FOR MACOS â—†
A real CRT shader for your Mac
Modern panels are too clean. RetroMac paints a live cathode-ray tube on top of macOS: scanlines, phosphor mask, bloom and composite bleed - on the whole screen, one display or a single window. It is a shader, not a screenshot filter, so everything stays interactive.
Before / after
Left: plain macOS. Right: the same desktop with the shader running on top. Nothing about your files, apps or settings changes - it is a layer, not a system modification.
What you get
20+ free CRT presets
Trinitron, NTSC composite, amber and green terminals, Game Boy, VHS. Tweak intensity, curvature, bloom and color.
Whole screen or one window
Per-display and per-app rules decide where the shader renders. Keep your editor sharp, make the emulator glow.
Perfect for retro games
Phosphor masks and NTSC bleed make pixel art look the way it did on a tube, in any emulator or the built-in game launcher.
Streaming & recording ready
Screen recordings capture the shader; the optional webcam shader exposes a virtual camera for Zoom, Meet, Teams and OBS.
Is this safe?
Signed & notarized by Apple
The DMG is signed with a Developer ID and notarized, so macOS opens it without scary warnings.
Nothing is permanent
One click restores wallpaper, dock, menu bar and desktop icons. Quit the app and your Mac looks like before.
No account, no tracking
No sign-up, no telemetry, no phoning home. Everything runs locally on your Mac.
Native on Apple Silicon
Universal binary with GPU-accelerated Metal shaders. Eco modes throttle it on battery.
FAQ
- Does the CRT shader slow my Mac down?
- On modern Apple Silicon you won't notice it. The shader runs in Metal on the GPU and eco modes throttle it automatically on battery.
- Can I apply it to just one window?
- Yes. Run it on the whole screen, on one display in a multi-monitor setup, or scope it to a single app with per-app rules.
- Do screenshots and recordings capture the effect?
- Yes - macOS captures what is on screen, so screenshots and screen recordings include the CRT look. For calls there is an optional webcam shader.
- Which CRT presets are included?
- Sony Trinitron aperture grille, NTSC composite with dot crawl, monochrome amber and green terminals, Game Boy, VHS and 20+ more. Free presets cover most of it.
- Which macOS do I need?
- macOS 14 or newer, universal binary for Apple Silicon (M1-M4) and Intel.
Try it in two minutes
Download the DMG, drag it to Applications, done. If you don't like it, quit the app - your Mac is exactly as it was.
Free · macOS 14 or newer · notarized by Apple