frontend: avoid hiding floating docks when the OBS app is not active on macOS.#13325
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This PR changes the behavior of floating docks on macOS to have them stay visible while the OBS app is not active. The main change is to set the `NSWindow.hidesOnDeactivate` setting to false. This is enough to keep the docks visible. The remaining changes are just making sure that this setting is consistent across all the different ways OBS creates docks. In macOS, only one app can be "active" (aka "focused") at the time, and "floating panels" (OBS' docks in this case) disappear by default when their parent app is not active. The issue is that disappearing floating panels defy many of the use cases that OBS is great for. For example: - I'm doing game streaming on Twitch. I want to keep track of my chat. - I have a floating panel displaying the "Twitch chat" dock on a side monitor. - I click on my game, which becomes the active app. OBS is not the active app anymore, therefore the chat dock panel disappears. This is a common issue between macOS users: - https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/popped-out-docks-disappear-when-obs-is-not-in-focus.165011/ - https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/keep-dock-windows-visible-even-when-obs-is-not-in-focus.167324/
TizianoCoroneo
commented
Apr 15, 2026
| [dock](bool) { SetMacOSDockFloatingBehavior(dock, dock->isFloating()); }); | ||
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| if (dock->isFloating()) { | ||
| QTimer::singleShot(0, dock, [dock]() { SetMacOSDockFloatingBehavior(dock, dock->isFloating()); }); |
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Copied this idea from frontend/widgets/OBSBasic_SceneCollections.cpp:1633
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| if (floating) { | ||
| nsWindow.level = NSFloatingWindowLevel; | ||
| nsWindow.hidesOnDeactivate = NO; |
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This is the critical line :)
TizianoCoroneo
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TizianoCoroneo
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Description
This PR changes the behavior of floating docks on macOS to have them stay visible while the OBS app is not active.
The main change is to set the
NSWindow.hidesOnDeactivatesetting to false. This is enough to keep the docks visible.The remaining changes are just making sure that this setting is consistent across all the different ways OBS creates docks.
Motivation and Context
In macOS, only one app can be "active" (aka "focused") at the time, and "floating panels" (OBS' docks in this case) disappear by default when their parent app is not active.
The issue is that disappearing floating panels defy many of the use cases that OBS is great for. For example:
This is a common issue between macOS users:
How Has This Been Tested?
I tested this change on my MacBook Pro M4 Pro, running macOS Tahoe 26.4.1.
Test by:
Other platforms are not affected as we use the
#ifdef __APPLE__directive to gate the logic.Types of changes
Checklist:
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here. My PR targets the master branch, but I found no other indications of what to target otherwise.