Support
Description
GlassFold plays a real-time frosted glass animation as you close your MacBook's lid. The virtual screen plane stays fixed in space, blurring as the virtual glass lid tilts away from it. The effect resets to normal shortly after you return the lid to its initial position or let go of it.
Features
- Real-time 3D glass effect controlled by your lid angle (see requirements below)
- Runs in the background from your menu bar
- Demo mode plays the effect on a simulated laptop with a lid angle slider
- Fine tune the experience, including eye position for optimal perspective rendering, in Setup
Requirements
For the full effect, you need an Apple Silicon MacBook with a lid angle sensor. This includes any Apple Silicon 14" or 16" MacBook Pro, and any MacBook Air M2 and above. If a lid angle sensor is not detected, the app will still run, but only a demo mode animation will be accessible, with a manual slider for the screen angle.
Use the picker on the download page to check your device.
Screen recording permission is required, since an in-memory screenshot is used when the effect initiates. The screenshot is never saved or uploaded anywhere.
Common questions
- Why doesn't anything happen when I close the lid? Check Setup from the menu bar icon . It shows whether the lid angle sensor was found and whether Screen Recording is granted. Both are needed. If Screen Recording was just granted, quit GlassFold and open it again. Also make sure the Demo window is closed: while it's open the demo drives the effect instead of the lid.
- Setup says the lid angle sensor was not found. Is my Mac supported? Only some MacBooks have the sensor. Use the picker on the download page to check your device. Without it, the Demo window still shows the effect with a slider standing in for the lid.
- Why does GlassFold need Screen Recording? The effect is your own screen rendered as frosted glass. GlassFold takes one screenshot the moment the lid starts moving and draws it on the tilting panel. The screenshot lives in memory and is gone when the lid settles. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
- Why doesn't it work when I open my lid from fully closed? Opening the lid wakes the Mac to the lock screen, and the effect can't draw above the lock screen. It only shows on opening when your Mac doesn't ask for a password immediately on wake. The opening direction is also off by default; turn it on in Setup.
- The effect starts on its own while the lid is still. Raise the trigger threshold in Setup. The sensor reports whole degrees and can flicker between two values when the lid is parked.
- The picture looks tilted or misaligned as the lid moves. Set your eye position in Setup. The projection is computed for where you sit, and the default assumes about 60 cm out and 45 cm up from the hinge.
- The effect stutters or the blur looks bad. For stutter, lower Blur quality in Setup; higher values smooth wide blurs at the cost of GPU time. In either case, a bug report is welcome at support@azaleski.com: include your Mac model, macOS version, GlassFold version (shown in the top menu ) and a screenshot or short video if you can.
- Does GlassFold run all the time? It sits in the menu bar watching the lid angle and renders the effect each time the lid moves. Turn on Launch at login in Setup if you want it there after a restart.
- How do I quit it or find it again? Click the menu bar icon . If a Focus mode hides the icon, open GlassFold from Applications or Spotlight and the Setup window appears, with a Quit button at the bottom.
- Where is the effect when I have an external display? The effect only ever draws on the built-in display, since that is the screen that moves.
- Does it collect anything? No. No accounts, no analytics, no network use. The privacy policy has the details.
Contact
Questions, bug reports, feature requests, and other feedback are always welcome at support@azaleski.com. I typically respond within 48 hours.