A few things before you unfold.

The app requires an Apple silicon Mac running macOS 26 or later; there is no Intel build. Automatic lid effects also need a MacBook with a readable lid-angle sensor. The app uses an undocumented Apple HID report, so sensor support varies by model. The repository’s --probe command checks your machine.

Yes. Manual preview supports playing, pausing, and scrubbing an effect. Built-in display safety checks still apply, so a missing sensor does not bypass closed, asleep, unavailable, or mirrored display restrictions.

Lid effects target the MacBook’s built-in display. They pause when that display is closed, asleep, unavailable, or mirrored. Choosing Use wallpaper in the app draws a Dynamic Wallpaper or Creative Scene on your primary display only; other displays keep the wallpaper you chose for them. On macOS 26, System Settings › Wallpaper lists every built-in UnfoldMyMac scene and lets you assign one to each display.

Yes, on macOS 26. UnfoldMyMac installs a wallpaper provider extension, so its scenes appear in System Settings under UnfoldMyMac — Dynamic Wallpapers in both the Wallpaper and Screen Saver panes. The lock screen and the screen saver share one selection: choose a scene under Screen Saver and macOS plays it on the lock screen, at up to 60 fps. The app shows whether a scene is on your desktop only or on your desktop and lock screen, and Add to Lock Screen… in the menu bar opens the Screen Saver pane. It never picks a provider for you; it opens the pane and you choose.

No. macOS composites the scene itself, so a scene chosen in System Settings keeps playing with the app closed, and macOS restores your choice at login. Without the app, the scene moves in its idle pose without live data. While the app is running, it keeps the readouts fed on the desktop and the lock screen: Mac metrics, Claude, Codex, GitHub, and the other data connections you enabled. Lid, sound, and pointer reactions stay with the app’s own desktop window.

Frost blurs the live desktop using in-memory ScreenCaptureKit frames. Capture begins only when you enable Frost or start its preview and stops when you switch away. Frames are not saved or transmitted. Other lid effects do not require Screen Recording.

No. Effect overlays let clicks through. The Dock and menu-bar controls remain available. Effects start disabled so you can preview a design before enabling it.

Yes. Add an image to the effect library, choose a reveal style, and adjust its depth and edge light. The app stores its own copy. Removing the import deletes that copy and leaves your original file alone.

You can browse and preview designs before connecting personal data. Customize on each design page lists its inputs: Mac metrics, local Claude or Codex metadata, a public GitHub profile, or custom snapshots. Required setup, such as a GitHub username, opens before a design is applied. Lifecycle hooks have their own setup step.

Creative Scenes is a separate collection for interactive desktop worlds. Hinge Garden has a glass snail, a miniature greenhouse, and optional sound reactions. The Workshop is a tiny maker’s studio where open apps light workbenches and items in a folder you choose become parcels. Both respond to your lid, daylight, and charger power.

Ordinary open apps light up to twelve stations; Finder, UnfoldMyMac, and background helpers are excluded. An optional folder connection counts immediate files, folders, packages, and shortcuts without opening their contents. Up to twenty-four parcels appear, while the optional caption shows the full count. Hidden items are excluded. You can also switch off the counts or the rotating motivating lines in Customize.

No. Sound reactions are optional. Enable React to sound in Customize’s Sound tab to request microphone permission. Audio is measured locally as a level; it is never recorded or transcribed. Pointer parallax, supported tilt and gyroscope input, and one-liners have their own controls. Reduce Motion stills the garden and pauses sound reactions.

No. Grok’s hot takes and the racing scene’s laps are playful wallpaper-session counters. They do not report Grok usage or live race telemetry. Website wallpaper recordings use sample data.

Yes. Reduce Motion stills continuous animation while manual and lid control remain available. Reduce Transparency uses a dim-only effect without desktop capture. Wallpaper playback also adapts to sleep and low-power conditions.

It is the idea, rebuilt for a MacBook. Frost started as an attempt to bring the iPhone Duo frost to the Mac, and the rest of the effects grew from there. It is not Apple’s code, it is not a port, and the app is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple. On a Mac the trigger is the lid angle rather than a fold, so the timing is yours to tune.

Yes. Frost blurs the live desktop as the lid closes, and Art Reveal, Curtains and Peekaboo give you other ways to hand the screen off. Live wallpapers run independently of the lid, so you can pair an iOS Duo-style close with a wallpaper that keeps moving while the Mac is open.

Yes. The Swift app, its Metal shaders, and this website are published on GitHub at github.com/satyajiit/UnfoldMyMac under the Apache 2.0 license. The repository also carries the NOTICE file, a contributing guide, a code of conduct, a security policy, and a takedown policy. Its developer guides explain how to build an effect or a wallpaper scene of your own. Space Grotesk keeps its SIL Open Font License, and third-party product marks retain their owners’ rights. The app is free and not monetized.