Apple’s approach to Mac computing is rather odd. The unwavering focus on simplicity, fluidity, and elegance sets it apart from Windows. But at the same time, it can feel a lot restrictive. Nothing exemplifies that better than app windows in macOS.
Until macOS Sequoia, Apple didn’t even offer proper window tiling and snapping options. Windows has served them for a while now, and in a fashion that even power users would approve.
In its latest iteration, macOS suggests tiled positions as you drag a window across the screen. But it’s still far from perfect. The situation with window resizing is even more frustrating. It’s no surprise, therefore, that multiple third-party apps have filled that gap.
Rectangle has long been a hot favorite in the Mac community, and for good reason. But then, paying $10 for an app that handles app windows isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. That’s where Swift Shift comes into the picture.
What is Swift Shift?
Over the past few weeks, I’ve dived into the open-source community and discovered some fantastic apps. The Maccy clipboard manager is one of my absolute favorites. A close second is Swift Shift.
It’s yet another open-source, completely free app that dramatically reimagines how you manage Mac app windows. There are no ads. It doesn’t eat into your system resources. No hidden charges or subscription caveats are at play here.
Developed by Pablo Varela, the app doesn’t even launch as its own dedicated window. Instead, it lives on a utility in the menu bar, with a tiny drop-down populated by a small set of core controls.
What makes it special?
The motto behind Swift Shift is pretty straightforward. “Never look for those tiny arrows again.” That’s a reference to the tiny colored buttons in the upper left corner of an app window and the two-sided arrow you see when the cursor hovers over the edges.
It’s quite frustrating to drag the cursor, wait for the arrow to appear, and then grab the edges to resize the window. But even while at it, you can only make horizontal or vertical adjustments.
You need an extra dose of patience to do a corner grab and perform diagonal resizing. Those are all the problems that Swift Shift solves elegantly by altogether ditching the grab-and-drag approach. You don’t need to deal with window edges at all.
Instead, you can resize an app window or move it across the screen, right from the spot where the cursor is currently sitting. What I discovered is that the Swift Shift works just as fine with a laptop’s trackpad, even though this app is tailor-made for mouse-based controls.
How does it ease window management?
Swift Shift follows a quadrant approach for moving and resizing windows. That means the entire app window is an active canvas. All you need to do is just click and move the cursor around wherever you want.
For moving around a window, you simply hit a keyboard shortcut and move the cursor. This keyboard shortcut is customizable, thankfully, so you can choose the most accessible option for maximum comfort.
I set it to Command + Option (⌘ + ⌥), as those two keys sit together. All I need to do is hit the keyboard shortcut, left click on the mouse (or trackpad), and move it. This gesture allows app window movement on the same screen or across external display panels, as well.
The real magic happens when you need to resize windows. You no longer have to go with the preset macOS tiling controls that are accessed by hovering the cursor over the tiny green button in the upper left corner. Or worse, try to grab the edges in order to grab the resizing arrow.
Swift Shift lets you assign a separate keyboard shortcut for resizing. I picked Command + Control (⌘ + ⌃) for resizing. Simply hit the keyboard shortcut, left-click on the mouse, and start moving it to adjust the window size with respect to the corner that is closest to the cursor.
For example, if the cursor is closer to the lower right corner, the bottom and right edges of the app window are simultaneously used for resizing the app window. It’s a freeform adjustment and has been executed with a smooth animation in tow.
Fewer controls, clear ambition
As mentioned above, all the tools and controls offered by Swift Shift live in a small drop-down window that can be accessed by opening the app’s icon in the menu bar. You can also choose to hide it if things have started to look cluttered at the top.
For the sake of added flexibility, you can also adjust the shortcut behavior and let it focus only on the foreground window to trigger the window movement and resizing.
Moreover, you can skip the mouse (or trackpad) click and use only the combination of keyboard shortcuts and cursor movement to get the job done. This way, you won’t be mistakenly tapping or clicking any active UI element in the app window.
Alternatively, you can switch things around from the usual left click on the mouse to the right click. I love this thoughtful flexibility. Not just because it eases my workflow, but also because it addresses personal dexterity, as well.
Irrespective of whether you are a left or right-handed person, or the preferred placement of the mouse, you can customize the modifier keys and pick the most easily reachable combination on either side of the keyboard deck.
The overall experience is snappy, without any weird transitions or jitters. Another aspect that surprised me was the app’s origins. “I made this project cause it’s something I always wanted to have,” says Varela.
“I had no idea about Swift or macOS APIs, I learned most of it using ChatGPT and looking at other open source projects,” he adds. It seems vibe-coding delivered a fantastic utility, for once, instead of all the hype built around it.
Thanks to the open-source roots, the Swift Shift community has been handing out feedback and fixing bugs at a relatively brisk pace. It certainly helps that there are not many layers of UI controls to handle, or fancy overlays to deal with.
Overall, Swift Shift is one of my all-time favorite utilities. The fact that it’s free and open-source makes it a must-have for all macOS fans who want an added dose of functional convenience for their day-to-day Mac computing.
