Up and running in a minute.

Before you start

On macOS 26 the panel is made of Liquid Glass; on macOS 14 and 15 it uses a frosted, blurred material.

During setup you'll turn on one switch in System Settings, so you need to be able to change Privacy & Security settings on this Mac. macOS may ask for your password or Touch ID.

Requires

macOS 14 Sonoma or later

Runs on

Apple silicon and Intel

Permission

Accessibility only

Account

None needed

Download Flick Coming soon

Flick 1.0 is coming soon. When it's out, you'll download it from the download page. You can start with the free version, which switches between your 5 most recent windows and never expires, and buy a license whenever you want every window. Get an email when it's out.

Install

1. Move Flick to Applications

   Drag Flick into the Applications folder in Finder, and open it from there from now on.

2. Open Flick

   Double-click Flick in Applications. If macOS asks whether you're sure you want to open an app downloaded from the internet, click Open.

3. Follow the welcome window

   A short setup opens on its own. The next section walks through it screen by screen.

First launch

Flick lives in your menu bar, not the Dock: look for a small window icon with a highlighted row. A Dock icon appears only while the welcome window or Settings is open.

The first time you open Flick, a welcome window walks you through eight short screens. Press Return or click the button at the bottom right to move on (on Permissions Required, that button asks for the permission instead); ← Back takes you to the previous screen.

1. Welcome to Flick. A quick hello. Click Get Started.
2. Your windows, in order. Flick keeps a live list of your windows across apps, Spaces and displays, most recent first.
3. Type to find it. With Flick open, press Return and type part of an app name or window title. Apps that aren't running show up too.
4. Permissions Required. Turn on Accessibility, the one permission Flick needs. How to turn it on.
5. Choose your primary hotkey. Option ⌥ + Tab or Command ⌘ + Tab. Which one to pick.
6. Window Position. Left, Center or Right.
7. Straight to search. A shortcut that opens Flick with search ready.
8. Setup Complete. Optionally turn on Start Flick at login, then click Finish.

Everything you choose takes effect right away, and you can change it later in Settings. To see these screens again, choose Show Onboarding from Flick's menu bar menu.

Turn on Accessibility

macOS lets an app see and switch other apps' windows only with Accessibility permission. It's the only permission Flick asks for, and it takes four steps.

1. Click Grant Accessibility Permissions

   It's the button at the bottom right of the welcome window's Permissions Required screen.

2. macOS asks, and System Settings opens

   macOS shows its own alert about letting Flick control your Mac with accessibility features, and System Settings opens at Privacy & Security › Accessibility. Flick is already in the list, switched off.

3. Turn on Flick

   Turn on the switch next to Flick. macOS may ask for your password or Touch ID.

   Flick not in the list? Click + below it, choose Flick in your Applications folder, click Open, then turn on its switch.

4. Head back to Flick

   The welcome window comes back to the front on its own, now showing Permissions Granted with a green icon. There's no need to restart Flick. Click Continue.

Not ready yet?

Click Maybe Later to finish setup without the permission. Flick can't see your windows until it's on, and it reminds you:

• Hold ⌥ and tap Tab, and the panel explains what's missing, with an Open Accessibility Settings button.
• Flick's menu bar menu shows Accessibility permission needed at the top. Choose it to open the right page in System Settings.
• The welcome window opens again each time you start Flick.

The panel button and the menu bar item open System Settings without the macOS alert, so Flick may not be in the list yet. If it isn't, add it with + as in step 3.

Pick your shortcut

On Choose your primary hotkey, pick how you open Flick. The change takes effect immediately.

• Option ⌥ + Tab (the default). Flick opens with ⌥Tab, and ⌘Tab stays with the macOS app switcher.
• Command ⌘ + Tab. Flick replaces the macOS app switcher while it's running, including ⇧⌘Tab and ⌘`. Quit Flick and the macOS switcher is back immediately.

Window position

Choose where the panel appears: along the Left edge of the screen (the default), the Right edge, or floating in the Center. It opens on the display your pointer is on.

Search shortcut

Straight to search sets a shortcut that opens Flick with search ready, so you can start typing right away. It's ⇧⌘Space unless you change it. To record your own, click the shortcut field and press the new keys. It needs ⌘, ⌥ or ⌃, and Esc cancels recording. Reset to Default brings back ⇧⌘Space.

You can change all of this later: the hotkey and search shortcut in Settings › Shortcuts, the position in Settings › Appearance. Every setting, explained.

Try it

Setup's done. Open a few windows, then:

1. Hold ⌥ and tap Tab

   The panel opens with your previous window already selected.

2. Tap Tab again

   Keep holding ⌥. Each tap moves down one row, and ⇧Tab moves back up.

3. Let go of ⌥

   Flick switches to the selected window, even if it's on another Space or in full screen.

Three more to try:

• Quick tap. Tap ⌥Tab and let go at once to jump straight back to your last window, without the panel.
• Search. With the panel open, press Return and let go of ⌥, type a few letters of an app name or window title, then press Return to switch. You can also just start typing, but while you hold ⌥, W, M, H and Q close, minimize, hide and quit instead (why).
• Cancel. Press Esc to close Flick without switching.

See every shortcut · More about search

Start at login

Flick doesn't start at login unless you ask it to. Turn it on in either place:

• Start Flick at login on the Setup Complete screen.
• Launch at login in Settings › General, any time.

If macOS wants your OK first, Settings shows Waiting for approval with an Open Login Items button. Click it and allow Flick in System Settings › General › Login Items. On macOS 15 and later that page is called Login Items & Extensions.

The switch in Settings always shows what macOS has on record, so a change you make in System Settings shows up in Flick too.

The menu bar icon

While Flick runs, its icon sits in your menu bar. Click it to open Flick's menu:

• Accessibility permission needed appears at the top only while the permission is off. It opens System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility.
• Search Windows opens Flick straight into search.
• Settings (⌘,) opens Flick's settings.
• Show Onboarding opens the welcome window again.
• Quit (⌘Q) quits Flick. If Flick had taken over ⌘Tab, macOS gets it back right away.

Hiding the icon

Prefer a tidier menu bar? Turn off Show menu bar icon in Settings › General, or hold ⌘ and drag the icon out of the menu bar. Flick keeps running, and the setting turns off to match.

Getting back to Settings

• Open Flick again from Finder or Spotlight. While Flick is running, that opens Settings.
• Click the gear button at the bottom of the Flick panel.
• If Flick isn't running, this Terminal command starts it with Settings open:

open -a Flick --args --settings

Update Flick

Updating means swapping in the new copy of the app. Every 1.x update is included with your license, and the changelog will list what's new in each version.

1. Quit Flick

   Choose Quit from Flick's menu bar menu.

2. Replace the app

   Drag the new Flick into your Applications folder. When Finder says an item with that name already exists, choose Replace.

3. Open Flick

   Your shortcuts, appearance, window options and ignored apps are just as you left them.

Uninstall

Flick installs no helper tools, background services or system extensions, so removing it takes a few clicks in Settings, Finder and System Settings.

1. Turn off launch at login

   If you turned it on, switch off Launch at login in Settings › General.

2. Quit Flick

   Choose Quit from Flick's menu bar menu. If you use Command ⌘ + Tab, the macOS switcher is back right away. Hid the icon? Open Flick again to bring up Settings, then press ⌘Q.

3. Move Flick to the Trash

   Drag Flick from your Applications folder to the Trash.

4. Remove its Accessibility entry

   In System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility, select Flick and click −.

5. Check Login Items

   If Flick is still listed in System Settings › General › Login Items (Login Items & Extensions on macOS 15 and later), select it and click −.

Troubleshooting

The setup problems people run into most, and how to fix them.