Portal’s Mac app helps users focus with immersive backgrounds and audio

Productivity-enhancing app Portal has launched a Mac app. The company helps users regain focus and become more productive with immersive backgrounds and natural sounds.

The service has been available through an iOS app since 2019 — the desktop and mobile apps have similar objectives. The company said that the app has attracted more than a million downloads. With the native Mac app, which is compatible with Apple silicon, developers aim to cater to professionals working from both their home and an office.

Portal for Mac has more than 80 environments to choose from, which include high-quality looping videos captured by the company’s own team. The startup said that it has used 12K cameras to record some of the most scenic and peaceful surroundings in the world.

You can choose to have looping videos on the desktop or turn off motion. In that case, you get a more traditional still background image. Additionally, you can turn off desktop icons so that you can just look at the landscape.

The environment also comes with natural background sounds that are compatible with spatial audio. Plus, Portal supports integrations with smart lights such as Philips Hue and Nanoleaf to match up the lights to the environment you are setting.

Users can control the sound and motion or change the background through the menu bar icon too. Given that Portal is a native Mac app, it integrates with Siri Shortcuts as well.

Portal’s app is available to everyone through the Mac App Store with a seven-day trial. After that users need to pay $9.99 per month or $49.99 per year. Alternatively, they can also buy a lifetime license with a one-time fee of $249.99.

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