Installation

  1. Download Stealth.dmg from getstealth.app.
  2. Open the DMG and drag Stealth.app to your Applications folder.
  3. Launch Stealth from Applications or Spotlight.
  4. A menu bar icon (an eye) appears at the top of your screen. There is no Dock icon — Stealth lives in the menu bar only.
First launch: macOS may show a security prompt because Stealth is downloaded from the internet. Right-click (or Control-click) Stealth.app → Open → Open to allow it.
  1. Install Stealth from the Microsoft Store.
  2. Launch Stealth. An eye icon appears in the system tray. There is no taskbar app icon unless you pin it.
Store updates install on their own. No admin prompt is required for a normal user install.

Permissions

Stealth needs one macOS permission, and offers one more:

  • Screen Recording — required. It is how Stealth keeps showing you the real window while the meeting receives frost. Until it is granted, you see the frost too (nothing leaks; you just can’t see through it).
  • Input Monitoring — optional. Lets Stealth move the frost before the Dock does on ⌘Tab, Dock clicks and window clicks, so switching apps never flashes a protected app to the meeting. Stealth watches modifier keys and mouse buttons only, never what you type.

Both live in Settings → macOS permissions, each with an Open System Settings button. Grant it, switch back to Stealth, and the row turns green — no relaunch. Stealth never asks for Accessibility or Automation.

The monthly reminder. On macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later, macOS periodically shows a system dialog saying Stealth “is requesting to bypass the system private window picker and directly access your screen”. This is not a new permission — it is macOS re-confirming the Screen Recording grant you already gave. Click Allow. It appears once after installing or updating Stealth and then about once a month; Zoom, Teams and every other app that captures the screen get the same dialog.

No Windows permission prompt. Protected windows are excluded from capture with a Windows API, and you keep seeing them normally. Screen contents are never uploaded. See the security page for the full table.

Choosing what to frost

  1. Click the Stealth menu bartray icon → Settings…
  2. In Frost these apps, tap a suggested app, search by name, or click Add running app to pick from what’s open. Browse… picks any app from your Applications folder.
  3. That’s it. While Privacy Mode is on, the meeting sees frost over every window of that app. You keep seeing them normally.
Teams and Discord can be both a trigger and a protected app. Their chat windows are frosted; the meeting or call window itself stays clear.

Turning on Privacy Mode

Three ways:

The icon changes to a filled eye when Privacy Mode is active.

When you share (auto-detect)

Settings → When you share is on by default. Stealth turns Privacy Mode on when a call or share starts and off when it ends. The Watch for list decides what counts:

Turn the toggle off if you would rather flip Privacy Mode yourself with the hotkey or the menu.

Showing something to the meeting

Because you always see your own apps, the question is what the meeting sees. Open the Stealth icon → Show to meeting and tick a protected app to let the share see it; untick to frost it again. ⌃⌥⌘RCtrl+Alt+R does the same for whichever protected app is in front. Turning Privacy Mode off and on frosts everything again.

Hotkey reference

Action Hotkey
Toggle Privacy Mode on/off ⌃⌥⌘BCtrl+Alt+B
Show / frost the front protected app for the meeting ⌃⌥⌘RCtrl+Alt+R
Hold to Peek — the meeting sees every protected app until you let go ⌃⌥⌘PCtrl+Alt+P
Toggle Blur Rect draw mode ⌘ × 3 quickly
Exit draw mode Esc
Clear all Blur Rects ⌃ × 3 quickly

Custom Blur Rects

You can draw blur rectangles anywhere on your screen, independent of any app:

  1. Press ⌘ three times quickly to enter Draw Mode. The cursor becomes a crosshair.
  2. Click and drag to draw a blur rectangle.
  3. Draw as many rectangles as you need.
  4. Press ⌘ × 3 again or Esc to exit Draw Mode.
  5. To remove a rect: hover over it and click the × button, or double-click it.
  6. To clear all rects: press ⌃ × 3.

Testing before a real call

Always test Stealth before using it in a real meeting. Open a protected app, turn Privacy Mode on, then start a recording or a share to a second device and confirm the recording shows frost while your own screen shows the app.

Activating your license

  1. Purchase Stealth Pro at getstealth.app/personal, or start a team from pricing.
  2. Check your email for the receipt — it includes your license key.
  3. In Stealth, click the menu bar icon → Settings… → License.
  4. Paste your license key and click Activate.

Your license works on up to 2 devices at once (Mac, Windows, or one of each). Activating a third is blocked until you free a slot.

Moving to a new computer

Before you sell or wipe a machine, open Stealth and deactivate it from the menu or tray. That frees a slot instantly, so you can activate Stealth on the new computer with the same email and license key.

If a device is lost, stolen, or already gone and you've hit the 2-device limit, email [email protected] with your order number and we'll reset your activations, usually within a few hours.

Team licenses

Stealth for Teams is a volume plan for 5–500 seats, billed annually or monthly. Annual is $36 / $30 / $24 / $18 per user / year; monthly is 10% more ($3.30 / $2.75 / $2.20 / $1.65). Existing customers keep their current rate. Every member gets their own license key (or silent MDM activation). One named user includes up to two devices; unnamed MDM machines use one device seat.

Known limitations

Troubleshooting

I don't see the menu bar icon. Stealth has no Dock icon — only a menu bar item. On MacBooks with a notch, icons may be hidden behind the >> overflow menu at the right edge of the menu bar. Also check System Settings → Control Center → Menu Bar Only.

I see the frost too. Screen Recording isn’t granted to this copy of Stealth. Open Settings → macOS permissions and grant it; the row turns green when you switch back. If you moved or rebuilt the app, macOS treats it as a new copy and you’ll need to grant it again.

macOS keeps asking me to let Stealth record the screen. That is Sequoia’s periodic “bypass the system private window picker” dialog, not a missing permission — see Permissions. Click Allow. It comes back once after each Stealth update and roughly monthly otherwise. If it appears more often than that, you are probably running more than one copy of Stealth (for example one in Downloads and one in Applications); keep the one in Applications.

A protected app flashed to the meeting when I switched apps. Grant Input Monitoring in Settings → macOS permissions. Without it, Stealth catches up a frame or two after the Dock.

The meeting isn't seeing frost. Make sure Privacy Mode is active (filled eye icon) and the app isn’t ticked under Show to meeting. Try toggling Privacy Mode off and back on.

App isn't being detected. Make sure the app is in Frost these apps and is actually running. Some apps (like Electron apps) may have slightly different process names — use "Add running app" to pick from currently open apps.

Still stuck? Email us at [email protected] — we reply fast.