Sunday 16 September 2018

ScreenSleeves ready to go as a standalone app

In the last post I gave a preview of a new direction for ScreenSleeves and now it's ready to go.


Changes in MacOS Mojave have made it impossible to continue with ScreenSleeves as a true screensaver. Apple have not made it possible (as far as I know at the time of writing) to grant a screensaver plugin the necessary permission to communicate with or control other apps.

Making ScreenSleeves run as a full app (in its own window) has several benefits:

  • Resize the window from tiny to large, and put it into full-screen mode.
  • Choose to keep the window on top of others when it's small, or allow others to move on top of it
  • The new version gives you the option to automate certain things, emulating a screensaver:
    • Switch to full-screen mode with a keypress (cmd-ctrl-F) or after a configurable period of inactivity
    • Switch back from full-screen to the floating window with a wiggle of the mouse or keypress
    • Block system screensaver, screen sleep or computer sleep while in full-screen mode and as long as music is playing
As mentioned, Mojave has much tighter security. The first time you run this app, you'll be asked to allow ScreenSleeves access to several other things. It won't ask for permission for anything which isn't necessary for it to function as intended. You should only be troubled once for each thing that Screensleeves needs to communicate with.

The new standalone version (6.0.0) is available for download, it runs for free for a trial period, then a small price to continue using it. (Previously, the screensaver came in a free and 'pro' versions with extras in the paid version).

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