RetroMac

RetroMac is a macOS menu bar app for anyone who loves the look and feel of old computers but wants to keep the power and comfort of a modern Mac. It sits quietly in your menu bar and lets you flip your whole desktop into a believable retro machine in seconds.

The first pillar is a real-time CRT/retro shader overlay that sits on top of your screen or individual windows while remaining click-through, so you can keep using apps as normal. You can dial in CRT curvature, scanlines, NTSC bleed, VHS softness, bloom, vignette and more, and switch between many curated presets ranging from clean PVM to broken VHS tape.

The second pillar is a flexible theme system based on RetroMac theme bundles (.retromactheme). A theme can define a floating, era-accurate dock, matching wallpapers and icons, and even an optional “virtual desktop” for a specific era. You can jump between Snow Leopard, classic Mac OS 9, Windows XP, Windows 3.1/98, BeOS, OS/2, SGI IRIX, Amiga and custom favourites with a single click, without touching your real macOS setup.

On top of that, RetroMac includes a virtual camera that applies the same shaders to your webcam feed for calls and streaming, a “Television” mode that displays web pages or video streams inside a retro screen with all effects applied, and quick access to classic games like Quake, Doom or emulators so you can complete the illusion. You can capture screenshots with all shaders applied, making it easy to share your perfect retro setup.

Whether you want a nostalgic workstation, a retro-styled streaming setup, or just a fun way to change how your Mac feels, RetroMac gives you a complete toolkit for living in the past without leaving macOS behind.