Paper Overlay

A native macOS menu-bar utility that overlays a subtle, GPU-rendered paper-grain texture across your whole screen to reduce digital eye strain.

Download for macOS (.pkg)

Free · macOS 13+ · source on GitHub

See the difference

Drag the handle to compare a bare screen with the paper texture on — and try the presets.

Screen with Paper Overlay's paper-grain texture applied (Neutral preset)

The same screen without Paper Overlay — flat white background

Features

🖥️ Lives in the menu bar — no Dock icon, no windows
⚡ GPU-rendered grain, ~zero idle usage
🖱️ 100% click-through — never blocks input
🖥️🖥️ Multi-monitor, hot-plug, mixed Retina
🎨 5 presets + unlimited custom ones
🔒 No network, no permissions, fully private

Install in 3 steps

Requires macOS 13 Ventura or newer. Paper Overlay is unsigned, so macOS warns you once — that's expected, and here is exactly what to do:

1 Click "Done"

Double-click PaperOverlay-Installer.pkg. macOS shows this warning because the app isn't signed with an Apple Developer certificate — it's safe. Click Done (not "Move to Bin").

macOS dialog saying the PaperOverlay installer was not opened, with Done and Move to Bin buttons

2 Allow it in System Settings

Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the bottom, and click Open Anyway. Confirm when asked. You'll only ever do this once.

macOS Privacy and Security settings with arrows pointing to the Open Anyway button

3 Run the installer

Click through Continue → Install. When it finishes, look for the page icon in your menu bar — no more security prompts, ever.

A .dmg alternative and full details are in the README.