TauDesignWorks Umbra

Umbra · selective shade for the Mac

Turn down the bright parts.

A menu-bar utility that puts a magnifying lens on a hotkey and lets you invert, shade, or darken just the regions of the screen that hurt — while the rest stays exactly as it was.

Join the waitlist See how it works

In the lab for macOS 14+ · All processing on-device

The region

your hotkey summons a shaded region

  1. A bright toolbar over a dark project.
  2. One hotkey. A shaded region covers it.
  3. The window moves; the region follows.
  4. Nothing recorded, nothing transmitted.

An illustration of how a region darkens a bright toolbar, not a live capture. Umbra reshapes the screen on your Mac — it doesn't speak, and nothing leaves the machine.

Why Umbra exists

For eyes that work, but hurt.

macOS has real magnification and real dark mode — and both stop short. Accessibility Zoom is all-or-nothing: the whole screen or a single system lens, on one set of shortcuts. And dark mode dims most of the interface, then leaves an app's brightest chrome — a transport bar, a toolbar, an LCD strip — glowing white.

For photophobic eyes, that last bit isn't a small annoyance. It's pain. Umbra is the one thing the studio makes for people who can see the screen — it's for eyes that work, but hurt. It doesn't speak. It dims.

What Umbra does

Reshape only the bright bits

A lens when you need to look closer, and regions that darken the parts that hurt — pinned in place, floating under the mouse, or anchored to the app window they belong to.

  • A lens on your terms

    Summon a magnification lens with a global hotkey — yours to choose — and it follows your cursor across the screen, from a gentle 1.25× up to 8×. A high-contrast border rings its edge, so you can always find where the lens ends.

  • Invert just the bright bit

    Instead of flipping the whole display, draw a region around only the part that hurts — a toolbar, a strip, a panel — and treat it, while everything around it stays exactly as it was.

  • Three treatments, in words

    Invert turns a bright region dark. Shade lays a dimming veil over it. Solid paints it down to a calm, readable tone. Pick the one that suits what's underneath — the words carry the difference, never color alone.

  • Regions that follow their window

    Anchor a region to a specific app window and it travels with it. The flagship case is darkening Logic Pro's bright transport and toolbars, so the shade stays put as the window moves around the screen.

  • Plays fair with system zoom

    Umbra runs alongside macOS's own full-screen zoom, not instead of it. Keep the system magnifier on and add Umbra's lens and regions on top — both at once, with no interference.

  • On-device, by design

    Umbra needs the Screen Recording permission to see the screen it's reshaping — and that's the only reason it asks. Everything happens on your Mac. Nothing is recorded, and nothing is transmitted.

Three moves

Summon, draw, anchor

The lens works today; selective invert is being built now. Here's the shape of the finished flow.

  1. Summon the lens

    Press your hotkey and a magnification lens appears under the cursor, following the mouse. Scroll to zoom closer, anywhere from 1.25× to 8×.

  2. Draw a region over what hurts

    Draw a region around the bright area with a drag of the mouse, then drop into keyboard-driven edit mode to choose invert, shade, or solid, and nudge it into place.

  3. Anchor it to the app

    Pin the region where it sits, or anchor it to an app's window so it's waiting there the next time you open it — following the window whenever it moves.

Where the pixels stay

It watches your screen. It keeps nothing.

Umbra reshapes what's on your display, which means it has to see what's on your display. That's the one permission it asks for — macOS Screen Recording — and it's the reason the app can do anything at all. Seeing the screen is where it starts and where it ends.

  • Screen Recording, and nothing more. macOS requires this permission for any app that reads the screen. Umbra uses it to magnify and re-tone the regions you choose — never to save them, never to send them.
  • All processing on-device. The lens math, the inversion, the shading — every bit of it runs on your Mac. Nothing is recorded, and nothing is transmitted.
  • A local menu-bar utility. There's no account to create and no server on the other end. Your regions and preferences live in a file on your own machine.

Who it's for

Built for eyes that hurt — by someone whose do

Umbra is the studio's only product for people who can see the screen. It's for the sighted-but-photophobic and the low-vision — for anyone the interface is too loud for. That's not a marketing angle; it's the reason the app exists.

  • For eyes that work, but hurt. If bright chrome gives you headaches, or you live in dark mode and it still isn't dark enough, Umbra is aimed squarely at you.
  • Findable, keyboard-driven controls. A global hotkey summons the lens and its regions. Edit mode is keyboard-first — nudge, retune, delete without leaving the keys — with drag handles when you want to resize by mouse.
  • VoiceOver-labeled settings. It's an accessibility app, so it's held to the accessibility standard: every control in settings is labeled for VoiceOver and reachable by keyboard.
  • Made from need, not a checklist. Umbra is built by a photophobic, low-vision musician to make his own studio usable — the flagship case is his own Logic Pro.

Questions

Frequently asked

Does it work with macOS's own zoom?

Yes — at the same time. Umbra is designed to run alongside macOS full-screen zoom, not to replace it. You can keep the system magnifier on and layer Umbra's lens and darkened regions on top, both at once, with no interference between them.

Does it record my screen?

No. Umbra watches the screen so it can magnify and re-tone it, and all of that happens on your Mac. Nothing is recorded, and nothing is transmitted.

Why does it need Screen Recording permission?

Because macOS requires that permission for any app that reads what's on the display, and reading the display is the whole job — Umbra can't darken a toolbar it isn't allowed to see. It's the one permission the lens and regions depend on.

Which Macs does it run on?

Umbra is a menu-bar utility for macOS 14 (Sonoma) and later. It lives in the menu bar — no dock icon, no main window — and stays out of the way until you summon it.

When can I get it?

Umbra is in the lab. The magnification lens works today, and selective invert is being built now. Join the waitlist and you'll hear from a person when there's a build worth trying — not before.

Be early

If your screen is too loud, get on the list

Leave your email and we'll reach out when there's a build worth your time. You'll hear from a person, not a newsletter.

We use this only to tell you when Umbra is ready to try.

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The suite

Part of the TauDesignWorks suite

Six accessibility-first apps from one small studio. This is the one that says nothing — it just dims what hurts.