Glance tracks your active app usage in real time and shows you exactly where your day went — right from your menu bar.
macOS 13+ compatible · No account required · 100% local
Why Glance
Whether you're deep in focus, juggling ten apps, or just curious — Glance tracks it all locally and shows you the pattern.
The menu bar icon itself becomes the icon of whatever app is active right now — always up to date, no refresh needed.
Open the popover any time to see today's most-used apps, ranked by time spent.
Drill into any period and see exactly how your time was spent, app by app.
Turn your weekly or monthly report into a shareable card — with your own photo as the background.
Everything lives in a local SQLite database on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded, ever.
Glance reads standard app-switch notifications — no Accessibility or Screen Recording permission required.
A lightweight, native SwiftUI app that sits quietly in your menu bar.
What you'll see
Open the popover and see exactly which apps ate your day — updated the instant you switch.
Your week in apps
Xcode led with 18h 20m this week · 5 apps tracked · Share this card to Instagram, Slack, or Twitter
Pricing
No subscription. Pay once, use forever — on one Mac.
Launch Price
Lifetime license · 1 Mac
One-time purchase via Paddle. Your license key is emailed right after purchase — enter it in the app to activate this Mac.
Start 7-Day Free TrialNo credit card required for trial · macOS 13+
Install
Install via Homebrew, or download the DMG directly from GitHub Releases.
brew install --cask dongeui/glance/glance
Or download the latest DMG from GitHub Releases.
Glance is a lightweight native app. On first launch it uses only standard app-switch notifications — nothing is sent outside your Mac.
FAQ
No. Glance reads standard NSWorkspace app-switch notifications — no special permission beyond what any menu bar app needs.
No. Glance is event-driven, not a polling loop, and stores everything in a lightweight local SQLite database. CPU and memory impact is minimal.
No. Everything is stored locally. Nothing leaves your Mac unless you explicitly share a summary card.
Each license covers one Mac. If you use more than one, you'll need a license per machine. You can deactivate and move the license if you switch Macs.
Glance keeps tracking in the background, but report views and share cards require an active license. No data is deleted while you decide.
Open Glance → click the menu bar icon → Settings → License tab. Paste your key from the purchase email.
No. Glance tracks at the application level — for example "Safari" as a whole, not individual tabs or sites.
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