Before you update
It saves on its own.
WindowKeeper takes a snapshot every 15 minutes and again when you choose Restart. If you want to be sure, click Save snapshot now before you start the update.
Update your Mac. / Get your desktop back.
WindowKeeper saves your open apps, windows and tabs before macOS restarts. After the update, one click puts them back.
Download for Mac
Free · Requires macOS 13 or later
Finder
File
Edit
Thu 09:14
Thu 09:14
~/code/site $
Restored9 apps · 14 windows · 37 tabs
A macOS update quits everything you had open. WindowKeeper remembers where it all was.
How it works
Two steps. You only do one of them.
After you update
You click once.
Log in, open the menu bar icon and click Restore session from before restart. Apps reopen, windows move back and tabs load. Anything an app already reopened is skipped, so running it twice won't duplicate windows.
What it brings back
Everything you had open.
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Apps
Every app that was running, relaunched in the background.
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Window positions
Size, position, minimised and full-screen state, including windows on other Spaces.
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Open documents
Files reopen in their app when the app doesn't do it by itself.
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Browser tabs
Chrome, Brave, Edge, Arc, Vivaldi and Safari, with the active tab selected. Private windows are left out.
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Finder folders
Each Finder window, open at the folder it showed.
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Terminal directories
The working directory of each Terminal window and every iTerm2 tab.
Pricing
Free does the whole job.
Pro is for people who switch between setups, or want the restore to happen without the click.
Free
£0
No account, no time limit.
- Apps, windows, documents, tabs, Finder and terminal directories
- Saves every 15 minutes and at restart
- One-click restore after an update
- Restore any of your last 60 snapshots
- Opens at login
Pro One-time
£9 once, for up to 3 Macs
Everything in Free, plus:
- Named layouts. Save “Work”, “Home” or “Presenting” and switch from the menu.
- Display profiles. A layout for each monitor setup, offered when you plug in or unplug a display.
- Keyboard shortcuts. For save, restore and each layout.
- Automatic restore. Off by default. When on, it restores after a restart and gives you 10 seconds to cancel.
If you stop using Pro, the free features keep working.
Questions
What permissions does it ask for, and why?
Accessibility, so it can read where your windows are and move them back. Without it, apps and tabs still come back, but windows stay where each app puts them.
Automation, asked once for each browser, Finder and Terminal or iTerm2. That lets it read the open tabs, folders and directories. If you decline one, that app's tabs or folders are skipped and everything else still works.
Where is my data stored?
On your Mac. Snapshots are JSON files in ~/Library/Application Support/WindowKeeper, and nothing about your windows, tabs or files is sent anywhere. There's no account and no analytics.
Pro checks its licence key with Polar, our payment provider, about once a day. That check sends the key and your Mac's name.
Why isn't it on the Mac App Store?
App Store apps run in a sandbox that stops them controlling other apps. WindowKeeper needs to move other apps' windows and ask browsers for their tabs, so the sandbox rules it out. You download it from this site instead. It's signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple.
What doesn't come back?
Unsaved work, and state inside an app such as scroll position. Windows get their size and position back but open on the current Space. Firefox is relaunched and its windows placed, but its tabs come from Firefox's own session restore.
Does it work for ordinary restarts too?
Yes. Any restart, shutdown or log out works the same way: it saves on the way down, and you click restore when you're back.