Better Window Switcher: 3D window and tab switcher for macOS

· Better Window Switcher

6 min read Original article ↗

See all your windows and browser tabs in 3D. Switch between them or type a few letters to jump straight to the one you need.

Better Window Switcher on Product Hunt

How it works

This is what it looks like.

Press Option-Tab (or a shortcut of your own), or swipe up with three fingers on your trackpad, and every window you have open flies out into real 3D. Cycle through them, then let go on the one you want.

Arrangements

Choose how your windows arrange.

Real 3D arrangements, plus a flat one for anyone who would rather not orbit.

A gently curved wall of windows, the one you are on front and center.

And a few more from the thread

Public comments from the launch thread, quoted as written. We don't check whether commenters bought or used the app.

Try it on
your own windows.

Every feature is free for 7 days. After that, one payment and it is yours.

Personal license

$19.99

One-time All version 1 updates 14-day money back

Or download the free trial first: 7 days, no account, no card.

VAT included. Final price and currency are shown at checkout. All licenses and the full details are on the pricing page.

macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple Silicon (M1 or newer)

And more

Everything else it does.

Make it yours

Backdrop, spacing, titles, reflections. Nearly everything has a setting.

Live preview

A playing video keeps playing on the window you are on, rather than freezing into a screenshot the moment the switcher opens.

Reaches every window and tab

Other desktops, minimized, hidden apps or full screen windows, as well as individual browser tabs, are all displayed.

Private windows stay private

Show private browsing windows normally, blur them, hide just the picture, or leave them out of the switcher entirely.

Flick back

Hold your shortcut and tap the key above Tab to jump straight back to your last window, with nothing drawn on screen.

Tabs, your way

Show browser tabs bundled into one stack per window, one by one, or only while you are searching.

Carry a file to it

Pick up a file, summon, drop it on the window you need.

Made for the trackpad

The selection follows your pointer, with a haptic tick as it lands. Swipe sideways between windows, up or down through a stack of tabs.

Privacy

Private by design.

What your windows look like never leaves your Mac.

  • No account

    Buy a key. There is nothing to sign up for.

  • No tracking in the app

    It measures nothing and reports nothing. This website counts visits, separately.

  • Two permissions

    Accessibility to focus a window, Screen Recording to draw the pictures. Take either back any time.

  • No background recording

    It draws the pictures only while the switcher is open. An app sitting in the background captures nothing.

Command-Tab, side by side.

macOS Command-Tab moves between apps and shows flat icons. Here is the same job in this app.

Feature Better Window SwitchermacOS Command-Tab
What it switches Individual windows and tabs Apps only
How windows look Real 3D, in perspective Flat 2D icons
Window pictures Live on the one you are on, fresh on the rest
Quickly find windows Press space and type Tab, tab, tab
Browser tabs Chrome, Safari, Firefox and 4 more
Minimized windows
Windows on other Spaces
Full-screen apps
Look and feel 7 styles, lots of customizability

Command-Tab is not the only way macOS has. Here is every built-in way to switch windows on a Mac, and where each one stops.

Ready to switch windows
the way it should feel?

Buy it once and keep it. Or try it free for 7 days first, no account needed.

Personal license

$19.99

One-time All version 1 updates 14-day money back

Or download the free trial first: 7 days, no account, no card.

VAT included. Final price and currency are shown at checkout. All licenses and the full details are on the pricing page.

macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple Silicon (M1 or newer)

It is a window switcher for macOS that shows every open window, and every browser tab, in real 3D instead of as a flat row of icons. Press its shortcut or swipe up with three fingers, and your windows fly out from where they really are: a Chrome or Safari tab gets its own place in the switcher, so it is as easy to reach as any window. Orbit with the trackpad or mouse, pick the one you want, and choose between seven beautiful 3D arrangement styles. It is built for anyone who keeps more than a few windows open, whether you want to point at the one you need or drive the whole thing from the keyboard.

Command-Tab moves between apps and shows flat icons. Better Window Switcher moves between individual windows and individual browser tabs, shows them in true 3D with a picture of each one, and reaches windows on other Spaces, in full-screen apps, and minimized ones, all in a single view. A Chrome or Safari tab has its own place in the switcher, so you land on the tab you meant instead of on the browser and then hunting for it. It does not take Command-Tab away from you: macOS keeps that shortcut for itself, so this runs on its own shortcut alongside it.

Tabs in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi and Opera get their own place in the switcher, and they stack into one pile per window so a browser with twenty tabs stays readable. Each one wears the icon of the site it is on. Safari is the one exception: it keeps its icons behind a permission we will not ask you for, so a Safari tab wears the Safari icon until you have seen that tab in front. Finder and Terminal tabs work the same way.

Apple Silicon Macs (M1 or newer) running macOS 14 Sonoma or later. It is built and tuned for Apple Silicon and ProMotion displays.

Accessibility lets the app focus the window you pick and read your chosen shortcut. Screen Recording lets it draw a picture of each window, and a live preview of the one you are on. Both are standard macOS permissions for this kind of tool. Everything they let the app see is processed on your Mac and is never sent anywhere.

Yes. Every feature is free to use for 7 days, no account required. If you keep it, a one-time purchase unlocks it for good. There is no subscription.

No. The App Store sandbox blocks the macOS features needed to focus individual windows of other apps, so the app is sold directly from this site and notarized by Apple.

Something else? Write to us.