For every Mac and every screen

Your Mac, without the noise

Musou turns everything you're not using pure black, so only the window or video you're on stays lit.

Free for 14 days · No account, no card · macOS 14.2 or later · Apple silicon

Works on every Mac screen

MacBook Air MacBook Pro iMac Studio Display External monitors OLED
How it works

Ready in a minute

1

Download Musou

Drag it into Applications and open it. It lives in your menu bar.

2

Allow Accessibility

When Musou asks, switch it on in System Settings. It's how Musou finds the edges of your windows.

3

Press ⌃⌥⌘F

Everything but the window you're in goes black. Press it again and it all comes back.

Modes

Four ways to turn the rest off

Point at a card. The light follows you, the way Follow the mouse does on your Mac.

Work Focus: a design app at full brightness, everything around it black

Work Focus Free

Full brightness where you work. Pure black everywhere else.

Follow the mouse: the window under the pointer lit, the rest black

Follow the mouse Supporter

Point at a window and it lights up. Move on and it fades back to black.

Only the video: a film playing, the page around it black

Only the video Supporter

Tabs, sidebars and comments go black. Only the film stays lit.

Custom: a store's orders and a design kept lit side by side

Custom Supporter

Keep the exact windows you need. The rest vanishes.

Details

The little things, done right

Dark mode is grey. This is black.

On OLED and Mini-LED screens, the black parts switch off for real.

Away

Step away and every screen goes black on its own. Any touch brings it all back.

Nothing moves

Your monitors never sleep, so every window stays where you left it.

Lid open, laptop black

Work on the big screen while your MacBook stays dark until your mouse goes back.

Your keys go where the light is

In Follow the mouse and Work Focus, the window you type in is always the lit one.

No 3 a.m. glow

Screens stay dark even when your Mac wakes up at night.

Pricing

Try everything free for 14 days

No card, no account, and 16 more days when you share Musou. Then keep Free, or pick a plan.

Save 50%

Supporter Pass

$2.50 / month

Billed $29.99 a year.

  • Every mode: Follow the mouse, Custom and Only the video
  • Smart Alerts, cinema effects, 120 Hz and soft dim
  • 3 Macs and every screen
  • 2 guest passes: 30 days free for friends
Start the Annual Pass
Limited to 1,000 spots

Founding Supporter

$49.99 once

Pay once. Yours for life.

  • Everything in the Supporter Pass, for life
  • Every future version (v1, v2, v3 and on)
  • 100% Permanent Offline Guarantee
  • 3 Macs, every screen, 2 guest passes
  • Early access to new beta features
  • Your own permanent Founding Supporter number
Get Founding Supporter
Limited to 250 Patrons

Patron

From $79.99 once

Pay what you want: $79.99, $100, $150 or more.

  • Everything in Founding Supporter
  • 5 Macs for you
  • 2 lifetime licenses to give (3 Macs each)
  • 5 guest passes
  • Your name on the Wall of Patrons and in the app's credits, ranked by contribution: a profile link from $100, a featured card with your website from $150 (opt-in)
Become a Patron
Free, forever. After the trial, keep 1 screen, 1 lit window, Away and Work Focus, with Instant and Fade. Download free

Prices in US dollars. Lifetime closes for good once its 1,000 and 250 spots are taken. Full refund within 14 days, no questions.

Privacy

Nothing leaves your Mac

No account, no analytics, no tracking. Musou finds your windows' edges in your Mac's memory and never saves or sends them. It goes online only to check a license key you enter, with Polar. Read the privacy page

Questions

Good to know

What does Musou do?

It turns the windows, screens and parts of the page you're not using pure black, so only what you work on or watch stays lit.

Does it work on ordinary screens, not just OLED?

Yes. On a MacBook Air, iMac, Studio Display or office monitor it takes away the white glare around what you're doing. On a MacBook Pro, the lights behind the black parts switch off. On OLED, black pixels turn off completely.

What does it cost?

Every download has 14 days of everything, free (30 if you share it). After that, Free keeps 1 screen, 1 window, Away and Work Focus. The Supporter Pass is $29.99 a year or $4.99 a month. Founding Supporter is $49.99 once, for the first 1,000; Patron starts at $79.99 once, for 250.

How do the trial, cancelling and refunds work?

The trial needs no card or account, and nothing is charged when it ends. You can cancel the Supporter Pass anytime from your customer portal, and every purchase has a full refund within 14 days.

Did my screen break? Is it locked or asleep?

No, it went black on purpose. Nothing is off, asleep or locked, so your music keeps playing and your windows stay put. Move the mouse or press any key (or Esc three times) and everything is back.

Why is it called Musou?

After Musou Black, a Japanese pigment that absorbs 99.4% of light.

What does Musou send, and where?

Only a license check. When you enter a key, Musou sends it with a random installation ID, your Mac's model name and its activation ID to Polar (polar.sh). Every free feature works fully offline.

What do I need?

A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 14.2 or later. Intel Macs aren't supported.

Turn off the light around what you do

Free for 14 days · No card · macOS 14.2 or later · Apple silicon