Layoutish

Yes. Layoutish is $9.99 once. There's no subscription and no paid upgrade, and every update so far has been free to everyone who bought it.

Capture does: a layout includes windows on every Space, not only the one you're looking at. Restore can only move windows that are on the current Space, because macOS gives apps no way to reach a window on another desktop. Windows on other Spaces stay where they are: switch to that Space and apply the layout again.

Yes, that's the main reason people buy it. Save a layout for the desk and one for the laptop alone, then save a display profile for each setup with that layout as its default. When you unplug or plug in, Layoutish notices the change and applies the matching layout a couple of seconds later. Waking from sleep with the same monitors doesn't trigger anything, because nothing changed. If you've changed a display's scaling since saving the layout, Layoutish says so on the layout's card instead: apply it by hand, or save it again.

Device Control and Data Access, called Accessibility before macOS 27. It's how macOS lets an app read and move other apps' windows. Click the Permission Needed banner in Layoutish: macOS asks and takes you to System Settings, where you turn Layoutish on. Layoutish notices by itself, no restart needed. On macOS 27 there's one more, only if you save a layout with Finder windows: macOS asks once whether Layoutish may control Finder, so closed Finder windows can reopen at their folders. Layoutish never asks for Screen Recording or Input Monitoring.

Yes. Snapping tools move one window at a time when you ask; Layoutish puts a whole saved arrangement back. They don't interfere with each other. The one thing to avoid is giving both the same keyboard shortcut.

Layoutish opens it, waits for its window to appear, and places it. Apps that take a long time to open are placed in a retry pass a moment later.

Almost always. Layoutish sets each window's position and size, then checks where it landed and tries again if it missed. A few apps insist on their own minimum size or snap to a grid, so those can end up a few pixels off. Restore runs app by app rather than all at once, so it takes a moment on a big layout.

macOS decides what an app may do with other apps' windows. These limits apply to every window manager, Layoutish included.

• Windows on other Spaces: Layoutish saves windows on every Space, but macOS gives apps no public way to move a window on a Space you're not looking at, so a restore leaves those windows where they are.
• Full-screen windows: A full-screen window is a Space of its own, so a restore leaves it as it is.
• Stage Manager: Stage Manager keeps its own window groups, so a restore may not bring set-aside windows back into view.
• Windows tiled by macOS: Since macOS 15, macOS may pull a window it has tiled back into its tile.
• Finder's folders: On macOS 27, Finder doesn't tell the accessibility interface which folder a window shows. So Layoutish asks to control Finder the first time you save a layout with a Finder window. Without it, open Finder windows are placed as usual, but closed ones can't reopen.
• Finder tabs: Closed Finder windows open again at their folders, but their tabs don't: macOS gives apps no reliable way to open them.
• Apps that keep their windows to themselves: A few apps don't show their windows to macOS's accessibility interface, so Layoutish can't see or move them.
• Apps that open windows late: When a restore opens an app, Layoutish waits up to 10 seconds for its first window. A window that appears later than that may stay where the app puts it.
• Docks that keep windows above them: A dock app that keeps windows above its bar, such as Dockish with Keep Windows Above the Dock, shortens any window that reaches into the bar's area, including the windows a restore puts there. If a layout was saved while the dock was smaller, those windows come back shorter. Update the layout with the dock as you use it now.
• Minimum sizes and grids: An app that refuses a size, or snaps its windows to a grid, can land a few pixels from where it was saved.
• A permission reset: If Layoutish's permission is reset, macOS removes it from the list and won't ask again. Add it back with + in System Settings.
• Shortcuts need ⌘ or ⌃: Since macOS 15, shortcuts that use only ⌥ are refused, and ⇧ alone would take over typing, so a layout's shortcut needs ⌘ or ⌃. Function keys work on their own.

There's no account and no analytics. Layoutish goes online for two things: checking your licence key with our payment provider, and looking for updates (a quick check at launch, or when you click Check for Updates). Your layouts stay on your Mac.

In Layoutish, open Settings and choose Help › Export Diagnostics. It asks where to save "Layoutish Diagnostics.txt" (your Desktop unless you pick somewhere else) and shows it in Finder. Nothing is sent: you can read the file first, then attach it to an email to hello@appish.app (Help › Email Support starts one). The file lists your Mac, your displays, the permission, the licence state (never the key or your email), your settings, each layout's apps and positions, and what the last restore did with each window, with window titles, folder names and your own names for layouts, profiles and schedules replaced by codes.

Apply and Save pause and Layoutish asks for a licence key. Your layouts, hotkeys, profiles and schedules are kept exactly as they were. You are never charged automatically, because we never ask for a card.

macOS 13.5 (Ventura) or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel.

Yes: your key works on up to 3 of your own Macs. Moving to a new Mac? Click Deactivate on this Mac in Settings on the old one first. If the old Mac is gone, email hello@appish.app and we'll free the seat.

Yes, if it lets you down. Try it free for 7 days. After you buy, if it doesn't do what its page says on your Mac, tell me within 30 days and I'll fix it or refund you. Email hello@appish.app.