Floating Camera

Floating Camera

A lightweight macOS utility that shows a camera view as a floating, always-on-top overlay.

• Floating, borderless, resizable camera view
• Lock position with click-through passthrough to apps below
• Hover opacity when locked — dims on hover, restores on exit
• Size and position controls, with multi-screen support
• Customizable global shortcuts
• Persists settings across launches

Quick Start

swift FloatingCamera.swift

Build and Install

Place all files in the same folder:

FloatingCamera.swift
build.sh
Info.plist
FloatingCamera.entitlements
AppIcon.icns

Then run:

chmod +x build.sh   # first time only

# Apple Silicon (default)
./build.sh

# Intel Mac
./build.sh --intel

# Universal binary (runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel)
./build.sh --universal

# Build and install directly to /Applications
./build.sh --install
./build.sh --universal --install

The compiled app lands in ./build/FloatingCamera.app.

Requirements

• macOS 12 (Monterey) or later
• Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install)

File Structure

.
├── FloatingCamera.swift        — complete app source (single file)
├── build.sh                    — build script (arm64 / x86_64 / universal)
├── Info.plist                  — app bundle metadata
├── FloatingCamera.entitlements — sandbox entitlements (camera access)
├── AppIcon.icns                — app icon
├── LICENSE                     — MIT
└── README.md                   — this file

Usage

After launching, an aperture icon appears in the menu bar. Click it to access:

Menu item	Action
Camera submenu	Switch between available cameras
Camera Effects…	Open system video effects panel (Continuity Camera / external cameras only)
Show / Hide Control Panel	Toggle the Camera Controls window
Show / Hide Camera ⌃⌥H	Toggle the camera overlay
Shortcuts…	Customise global keyboard shortcuts
Quit	Quit the app (⌘Q also works when the panel is focused)

Camera Controls panel

Control	Description
Lock	Freeze position; clicks pass through to windows below
Aspect	Lock aspect ratio
Reset	Reset aspect ratio to camera native
Center	Centre the overlay on screen
Mirror	Flip horizontally
Radius	Corner radius (0 = square, "Full" = circle)
Opacity	Window opacity
Locked hover opacity	Dims the overlay when hovered while locked
Size / Position	Exact pixel values; press Enter to apply
Move to…	Snap to any corner of any connected screen
Margins	Distance from each screen edge

Keyboard Shortcuts

Default shortcuts (customisable via Shortcuts… in the menu bar):

Action	Default
Show / Hide Camera	⌃⌥H
Show / Hide Control Panel	(not set)

License

MIT © 2026 Tomás Menezes — see LICENSE for full text.