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I want to prevent all apps on my system from stealing focus and/or going fullscreen without my permission. The best example I can give is the Zoom app.

  1. when I open a meeting URL, then focus on another app until it loads, it will steal the focus 2-3 times until it fully loads the meeting.
  2. If the host is sharing the screen it steals focus + switching the app to fullscreen.
jaume
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Nadav
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    I also consider this a huge annoyance. Why is this still a thing? Anyone found a possible solution to the problem yet? – Xenonite Mar 23 '22 at 09:32
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    For real, though, are there so many users just sitting on their hands while all these Electron apps grab focus in every stage of their loading cycle that there's no demand for a solution? It's genuinely the worst problem in every OS. – Will Mar 30 '22 at 22:18
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    Electron must die. The apps have bad interfaces, they're slow, bloated, etc. It allows people to provide substandard apps at a low cost and for many businesses, it's good enough. – Thomas Apr 05 '22 at 13:19
  • So in which form you intend to give a permission later on? For example you open Excel file and "it will not steal focus" (be somewhere in background). So how you inform this file/app that you will give it a permission to have focus? Isin't opening file/app or clicking on link already such permission? – Aivar Paalberg May 13 '22 at 08:15
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    @AivarPaalberg you would be notified by a bouncing app bar icon that the app wants attention, and then switch to it by clicking or cmd-tabbing to it. Ideally, it gets no permission to grab focus, only to tell you it is ready for it. – Danny Staple Jun 28 '22 at 09:25
  • It's mostly the apps by a certain company in Redmond. Linux GUI's, IME, are better, however. – Justin Goldberg Sep 01 '23 at 15:09
  • The worst. For me even worse than Zoom is this VPN app I have to use that takes a minute to connect, and when it does it steals focus and UI-focuses the "disconnect" button. So if I'm in the middle of typing anything, which is always because I'm not sitting on my hands for a minute, good chance I accidentally trigger the "disconnect" button as soon as it connects. :deskhead: – Andrew Schwartz Nov 04 '23 at 15:02

2 Answers2

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No - these actions are built deeply into the OS and SDK/API with intention and by design. There's no window manager I'm aware of that lets you nip this behavior in the bud, so choosing apps, and finding ways to straight jacket / tweak / avoid the triggers is sadly the only viable path forward that I can see and "forward" is debatable since it doesn't really address the clear desire you have to manage these interactions.

The only path might be backwards into the past - for an OS and suite of apps that don't have this easy-go-lucky talent for focus slamming.

This Mac has no form of notification system built in, it never begs for your attention and its applications never try to distract you from what you are doing, begging you to look at them instead.

This Mac is unchanging in a world where things change by the minute. It will never receive another software update and is thoroughly obsolete, but it's comforting to have something that you know will stay the same forever, remaining in a known state every time you return to it.
...
I have total control over this computer, no one else can tell it what to do and the computer makes no real attempt to stop me from misbehaving. It is thoroughly documented with complete schematics available and every single system call documented in great detail.

agarza
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bmike
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You can use a setting called pinning that keeps your apps in place until you unpin it. Also, you should reset your device in safe mode setting because if someone has your account set as a supervised account or kids/monitored account, it will resolve their connection to your device. There’s accessibility settings that toggles with switch control. Then, you could tell them good luck remote controlling that one! They’d need it.

Christa Gorman
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    It would be interesting to know precisely *how* one pins a window on macOS. It's not a built-in feature. – Tetsujin Dec 17 '22 at 14:08
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    The answer given is not accurate. The OP isn't having their machine taken over remotely, they're simply attempting to prevent an app from taking over their screen. – Pixelwiz Dec 29 '22 at 22:31