Technical Architecture

Crafted for performance. Built for privacy.

Discover how Mac Guard combines native macOS APIs with zero-compromise security and privacy.

Biometric Protection

Touch ID App Lock

Mac Guard allows you to add any installed macOS application to your protected list. Whenever a protected application is activated or brought to the foreground, Mac Guard intercepts the transition and requests biometric authentication using Apple’s secure LocalAuthentication framework.

Native Touch ID & Apple Watch: Instant verification using Apple Secure Enclave hardware.

Zero Biometric Storage: We never touch or store biometric templates or passwords. All authentication is performed by macOS itself.

Loop-Free Focus Grace Periods: Set unlock persistence (immediate, 1 minute, or 5 minutes) without recurring prompt loops.

Authentication Pipeline

1. Protected App Focus DetectedNSWorkspace Monitor

2. Target App Hidden & SuppressedLock Policy Engine

3. Biometric Challenge ModalLAContext Touch ID

4. Verified Session GrantedKeychain Handshake

Dual Security Modes

Locked Mode (Default)

Folder remains visible on Desktop/Finder with POSIX permission restriction (chmod 0000). Double-clicking alerts that access is denied until unlocked in Mac Guard.

Stealth Mode (Optional Hide)

Applies macOS system hidden flags (chflags hidden) so the directory completely disappears from Finder and Desktop views.

Folder Security

Folder Vault & Stealth Mode

Safeguard client files, private notes, and sensitive projects. Unlike utilities that force folders to vanish, Mac Guard gives you explicit control: lock folder access while leaving it visible, or activate Stealth Mode to make it totally invisible in Finder.

Locked Access: Restricts read/write/open permissions until authenticated with Touch ID.

One-Click Stealth: Toggle Finder visibility on and off whenever you choose.

Instant Finder Reveal: Unlock and open directly into Finder with one biometric touch.

Hardware Accelerated

Media Shrinker & Converter

Convert and compress images directly on your Mac using native ImageIO and PDFKit. Shrink gigabytes of photos into compact JPEG, PNG, HEIC, or merge them into single PDF documents with zero cloud uploads.

Multi-Format Conversion: Export to JPEG, PNG, HEIC, or PDF with quality and scale controls.

Combine into Single PDF: Drag multiple images and compile them into a multi-page PDF in seconds.

70%+ Space Reduction: Reclaim disk space while stripping privacy-invasive EXIF location data.

Image & PDF Engine

JPEG & HEIC CompressionApple ImageIO

Multi-Page PDF GeneratorApple PDFKit

Resolution DownscalingCoreGraphics Thumbnail

Top-of-Screen Menu Bar Widget

Instant Menu Bar AccessNSStatusItem

Real-Time Pasteboard ObserverNSPasteboard.general

Quick Lock Vaults ShortcutOne-Click Security

Productivity Widget

Clipboard History & Widget

Never lose a snippet again. Mac Guard continuously indexes what you copy and makes your all-time history instantly searchable from a top-of-screen Menu Bar popover widget.

Instant Search: Find snippets, code, URLs, and text copied minutes or days ago.

One-Click Paste: Click any snippet to copy it straight back to your clipboard.

Top-of-Screen Access: Open the widget from your macOS menu bar without leaving your active app.

Disk Hygiene

Safe Disk Cleaner

Unlike aggressive disk utilities that blindly purge directories and break installations, Mac Guard’s cleaner engine follows strict safety rules. Every item is inspected, measured, categorized, and assigned an explicit risk level.

Strict System File Protection: Never touches /System, /Library, user databases, or application packages.

macOS Trash Integration: Files can be safely sent to Trash for easy recovery if ever needed.

Local-First Transparency: Inspect every file before taking action. Zero background surprises.

Safety & Risk Levels

Safe (Recommended)

Application caches (~/Library/Caches/*) and expired diagnostic logs that apps safely recreate on next launch.

Moderate

Temporary development folders, old crash reports, and system download staging files.

Caution / User Confirmed

Large user archives (>100MB) and Downloads folder files. Unselected by default; requires explicit checkbox review.

Get Mac Guard Lifetime License — $49