Backdrop 0.7.2

What's new: Present works with apps that go full screen

Fixed: a full-screen app could not be shared, or was lost when its capture restarted. An app that goes full screen moves to a desktop of its own, so from the desktop Backdrop is on it counts as out of view. Backdrop only looked at windows on the desktop in front, so a full-screen app was missing from the picker, and a capture that restarted or dropped could not find its window again and sat on the "closed" card. (A capture that was already running was fine: the window keeps its identity when it goes full screen and is captured from the other desktop just the same.)

Now:

• The picker lists full-screen apps, marked "On another desktop", with a live picture like every other window.
• The capture keeps going while you switch between desktops, and finds the window again when it restarts, at launch, after a dropped capture, or when you pick the same background again.
• If the window it was following is gone (an app that opens a separate window for its full-screen mode, like a slideshow), it looks for the replacement by title, or as that app's full-screen window.

Other windows on other desktops that are not full screen are not offered: from another desktop they cannot be told from hidden or minimised ones. Switch to their desktop and they appear.

Install

1. Unzip it and drag Backdrop.app into Applications. It has to live there for macOS to accept its camera extension.
2. Open it. Click the menu bar icon, then Set Up Backdrop Camera, and approve it in System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions › Camera Extensions.
3. Turn the camera on, then choose Backdrop Camera in your video app.

Upgrading: replace the app in Applications and open it. It updates its own camera extension when it starts. If another app (Discord, a browser, FaceTime) is using the camera at that moment, macOS can leave Backdrop Camera missing from the list afterwards. Quit those apps and restart Backdrop; if it is still missing, restart your Mac.

Requires macOS 15.1 or later on Apple silicon. AI backgrounds need Apple Intelligence. Sharing a window or screen asks for Screen Recording permission the first time; a second camera does not need it.

Verify

Signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple. To check the download:

shasum -a 256 -c Backdrop-0.7.2.zip.sha256

Early release

Developed and tested on a single Apple silicon Mac running macOS 27. The engine has automated tests, but the virtual camera, hand tracking and the lenses have had limited real-world testing, so expect rough edges. In particular:

• Full screen was tried with a test window, not with real apps. A throwaway window was sent full screen and then out of view: the old capture lost it and the new one kept it, and the picker's pieces found it and took its picture. Slideshows, browsers and video players have not been tried. An app that opens a separate window for its full-screen mode is found again by title or as the app's full-screen window, which is a guess. The part of a full-screen window above the top of the screen (where its title bar slides in) is part of the window, so it may show as a thin strip at the top of the shared picture.
• The lens fix from 0.7.1 was tested on drawn faces, not real ones. The checks run a made-up face through the real pipeline and confirm that where a lens is told your eyes are is where they are painted, in six Present layouts. It has not been tried on a real face or in a live call, so how a crown or hair sits on a real head is still the thing to look at.
• The second camera was built and tested without a second camera. The capture is the same code as the main camera's and the rest is covered by tests and pictures, but plugging one in, pulling it out in the middle of a call, an iPhone as a Continuity Camera and two cameras on one USB hub have not been tried with real hardware. Only one second camera can be shown at a time, and it cannot be shown together with a shared screen. It is shown as it arrives (a phone held upright gives a tall picture; there is no rotate or mirror option) and is limited to 720p.
• Present's hand control and Dragon Ball's poses were tuned without real hands, on made-up hands and Vision's reading of emoji hands, so how easily a pinch grabs and how a real cupped hand reads are the first things to tune.
• Dragon Ball is heavier than most lenses: its top form in the middle of a move took about 20 ms a frame on a busy Mac in the tests, so check it in a real call before relying on it at 30 frames a second.
• Hand and face thresholds in the older lenses are still tuned on drawn faces and hands, and speed was measured on one busy Mac.