A private Mac workspace beside a clean Protected Share preview

macOS screen sharing privacy

Hide private Mac apps from screen sharing—while you keep using them.

Unshown is a native Mac screen-sharing privacy app. It creates a separate Protected Share window and keeps selected apps—such as Slack, Mail, Messages, and Terminal—off the shared screen in a compatible window-sharing workflow.

Download for macOS Watch the story

Built-in 90-second compatibility check. Test your meeting or recording workflow before a live session. Requires macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon and Intel.

Unshown

Protected Share Active

3 apps excluded

LOCAL WORKSPACEPrivate tools stay openPROTECTED OUTPUTOnly the clean view is shared

The moment before you click Share

Hide selected apps from a Mac screen share.

Slack, email, terminal output, and private notes are useful while presenting. Unshown lets them stay open locally while publishing a separate, presentation-safe output.

No tricks. No cloud. Just a privacy-first way to share.

See the protected path

Read the video transcript

One wrong click can expose a private message, customer data, or an internal tool.
With Unshown, choose the apps that must never appear.
Start Protected Share, then keep using them normally on your Mac.
Your audience sees only the protected output, with every chosen app excluded.
Private apps stay private.
Try Unshown free for seven days.

One workspace. Two views.

Keep Slack, Mail, Messages, and Terminal open—but private.

Illustrated local Mac workspace with several private apps open

Illustrated Protected Share output without the private app stack

Share only the window named Unshown Protected Share. Sharing the original display bypasses protection.

How it works

How to share your screen without showing private apps.

No meeting plugin and no virtual display driver in the current release. Your meeting app receives a normal macOS window.

01

Choose private apps

Pick the apps that should never appear in the protected output.

Actual Unshown Excluded Apps screen with private apps enabled — Actual beta UI

02

Start Protected Share

Unshown creates a separate share window using macOS app-exclusion filters.

Actual Unshown General screen with Protected Share controls — Protected output ready

03

Share that window

Select Unshown Protected Share in a meeting or recording app that supports macOS window sharing.

Illustration of a private Mac workspace beside a clean Protected Share output — Choose the protected window

Built for live work

A protected screen-sharing window for real work.

Founder demos

Keep roadmap notes, metrics, and internal chats nearby without adding them to the demo.

Sales calls

Reference private account context locally while the prospect sees only the walkthrough.

Customer support

Use internal tools and macros while sharing only the customer-safe workspace.

Screen recordings

Record clean tutorials without reorganizing your entire desktop before every take.

Local-first by design

Screen-sharing privacy that stays on your Mac.

Unshown is built around a narrow job: create a protected presentation output without turning your screen into cloud data.

Capture-level exclusion

Configured apps are removed by the capture filter before frames reach Protected Share.

No cloud screen processing

Screen content stays on your Mac. Unshown does not upload the protected stream.

No OCR in the Protected Share path

The active sharing path does not read, classify, or analyze text on your screen.

Simple pricing

Try the full product before checkout exists.

Seven days to test your real workflow. One proposed founder price if Unshown earns a place in it.

Free beta

7-day full beta

$0for seven days

Unlimited Protected Share sessions during the trial
All app-exclusion controls
Signed and notarized by Apple

Download beta DMG

Proposed founder licenseCheckout not live

Planned lifetime access

$39planned one-time price

No payment is collected today. Join the first-checkout list if this proposed offer fits your workflow.

Unlimited days on the licensed version
One active Mac at a time
12 months of product updates

Purchase intent only. No order, payment, or license is created.

Current build: 1.0.0 beta (109) for macOS 14 or later. Verify SHA-256 Release manifest

Before you share

Mac screen sharing privacy questions.

How do I hide apps while screen sharing on Mac?

Choose the private apps in Unshown, start Protected Share, then select the window named Unshown Protected Share in your meeting or recording app. Do not share the original display.

Can excluded apps still be used locally?

Yes. Configured apps remain visible and interactive on your Mac while being omitted from Protected Share.

Does Unshown hide notifications while screen sharing?

Not as a universal notification blocker. Unshown excludes the apps you configure, but macOS may render notification banners separately. Turn on Focus or Do Not Disturb and confirm the participant preview before sharing.

Can I hide only one Chrome or Slack window?

No. The current beta excludes configured apps at the app level. It does not hide one window from an otherwise allowed app.

Does Unshown blur or automatically mask sensitive text?

No. Sensitive-content masking is deprecated behind a code-only flag. Protected Share does not run OCR or semantic text analysis, and content inside an allowed app remains visible.

Which meeting and recording hosts are supported?

No meeting or recording host is certified yet. Use the built-in 90-second compatibility test before relying on Unshown in a live session.

Is screen content uploaded to the cloud?

No. The Protected Share path uses ScreenCaptureKit locally and does not upload screen frames, save screenshots, or run cloud OCR.

Share the clean output.

Keep your workspace yours.

Download Unshown