OneSwitch Brings Convenient Access to Commonly Used, Hard to Reach macOS Settings

When macOS Ventura launched, Apple introduced its first complete redesign for the venerable System Settings since the Mac OS X Public Beta. And while the revised layout remains unchanged in macOS Sequoia, user opinions remain mixed when it comes to its overall usability. On the plus side, macOS System Settings look like their iPadOS and iOS counterparts. On the minus side, finding certain settings in macOS requires more poking around than it used to.

Several commonly used features in macOS still require drilling down into multiple levels within System Settings. This is somewhat impractical if you want to quickly hide the Dock or toggle Low Power Mode.

Thankfully, when a pain point is introduced in macOS, clever third party macOS developers usually come to the rescue.

It’s no different this time around, thanks to OneSwitch.

OneSwitch by Fireball Studio, is a menu bar app that gives users quick access to commonly used features, including many features currently not within easy reach on macOS.

OneSwitch offers quick menu bar access to features like Night Mode, Low Power Mode, and Hide Dock, but it also includes other handy features that aren’t directly accessible in macOS, like Mute Microphone, Hide Widgets, Activate Screensaver, Lock Keyboard, Keep Awake and much more. (The full list of features can be found on the developer’s website.)

With OneSwitch, I can easily lock my keyboard and activate the screensaver, directly from the Mac menu bar. And, if I need my Mac’s screen to stay awake while I’m rendering a video in Premiere, I can use OneSwitch’s Keep Awake feature.

I record lots of videos, and in those instances I want to keep a clean Desktop. Thanks to OneSwitch, I can quickly hide my Desktop icons, Widgets and any open windows, so that I can record distraction free. (Side note: while I appreciate the granularity that OneSwitch provides with its features, I would like a “Clean Desktop” mode that collectively hides desktop icons, windows and widgets with just one toggle.)

OneSwitch’s Screen Clean feature conceals your display while locking your keyboard. While this is a useful feature, it’s missing the ability to prompt for a user password to unlock the Mac.

I like the convenience that OneSwitch offers, but I do wish that that each feature had additional customization options. For example, in the Keep Awake feature, I would like to set my Mac to sleep after a specific Wake interval. I would also like to see an option to hide all Storage icons, preserving the visibility of any files and folders that are already on my Desktop. Additional preferences for each feature are promised, but not available at the time of writing this article.

Each OneSwitch feature can be toggled on or off, so you can see only those features you use on a regular basis. Features can be also be re-ordered, for added convenience. OneSwitch also gives users the ability to assign custom keyboard shortcuts for each feature.

OneSwitch has an intuitive and polished interface that feels right at home with other excellent macOS apps. OneSwitch is stable, fast and gives quick access to features that are normally hidden from view, which makes it immediately useful for my needs. And with the promised ability to customize each OneSwitch feature with even more nuance, it has the potential to be a best-in-class Mac app.

OneSwitch is available for a 7-day free trial and works on all Macs running macOS Big Sur or higher. A single OneSwitch license is $4.99; if you use OneSwitch on 2 devices, your total cost is $7.99. Family licenses are also available. Within a few hours of using OneSwitch, the program proved how useful it could be in my workflow. Purchasing a license is my personal endorsement of the value OneSwitch provides.