Portal for Mac is one of my favorite apps on the Mac App Store. Created by indie developers from Portal Labs, it aims to help people care for their well-being even when they have to be in front of a screen for countless hours each day.
To do that, you can select between three options (Focus, Create, and Escape), and the app will help you set the tone with dozens of landscapes that can help you focus on a task, feel more creative, or just relax for a moment.
By taking over your wallpaper with cinematic and vivid landscapes, Portal for Mac uses spatial audio to immerse you in breathtaking views while working, studying, and relaxing. These views range from Old Packhorse Bridge in Dartmond, UK, to the beauties of a Night Cloud Forest in Costa Rica.
In the past few weeks, they have updated Portal to take full advantage of macOS Sequoia. In addition, they recently released a new version of the app with new landscapes, widget support, multi-display panning, and more. These are the highlights:
- Desktop widgets: Portal for Mac adds widget support with two options, now Playing and Open Portal;
- Reorderable Favorites: Organize your favorite portals exactly how you like. Drag and drop them in whatever order you prefer;
- Offline Playback: Users can download their favorite portals and enjoy them wherever they are;
- Start Playback on launch: Combine the “Launch at the login” option, and Portal will be there every time you start your Mac;
- Multi-display Spanning: Portal for Mac lets you span 8K motion visuals across multiple displays;
- Intelligent framing: Whether you work in landscape, portrait, or ultra-wide, Portal’s visuals always look their best with Intelligent Framing;
- New Costa Rica collection: A new Costa Rica collection takes you right into the heart of Costa Rica’s pristine rainforests. The developers say these images were captured to ” evoke feelings of escape, exploration, and soft fascination; it draws on the latest research on the restorative power of nature on our minds.”
A little more about Portal for Mac
According to the developers, Portal for Mac has a unique approach for users willing to focus and relax. “While most productivity apps look inwards at how our habits and behaviors can make us more productive, we focus on looking outwards and at the impact that our surroundings have on how we think, feel & act.”
The idea behind Portal for Mac is to instantly transform any space into a “beautiful haven for productive work.” The developers say that more than just finding ways to focus on several tasks, studies show that improving the environment we live and work in can help improve that in the long term.
Portal for Mac is available via the Mac App Store with a free 7-day trial for all customers. It costs $69.99 (annual) or $12.99 (Monthly). You can also buy a lifetime pass for a one-off cost of $299.99. In addition, all subscriptions include full access to both Portal for Mac and iOS.
