Floating Clock Overlay
A polished, transparent always-on-top clock overlay for macOS — built with Swift, SwiftUI, and AppKit.
Created by Yousa Bin Sadeque
Features
- Transparent floating clock/timer/stopwatch overlay, always above every window
- Appears on every Space and over full-screen apps
- Click-through by default — clicks pass to apps behind it
- Draggable and resizable when click-through is OFF
- 7 visual themes: Transparent, Glass (iOS 26 liquid glass), Dark, Light, Neon, Minimal, Custom
- Font controls: family (System / Rounded / Monospaced / Serif), weight, size, letter spacing
- AM/PM toggle with uppercase/lowercase style options
- 4 size presets: Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large + free resize
- Timer and Stopwatch modes with lap support
- macOS notification when countdown timer finishes
- Adaptive Color — auto-adjusts text color based on background brightness
- Burn-in Prevention — slowly drifts the clock to protect your display
- DVD Bounce Mode — clock floats around the screen bouncing off edges
- Multi-monitor support — bounces and drags across all connected displays
- Double-click to open Settings — no need to find the menu bar icon
- Position memory — clock remembers its location after restart
- Settings window — every option live-updates the overlay
- Menu bar icon with full quick-access controls (Theme / Size / Mode submenus)
- Global keyboard shortcut ⌘ ⌥ C to toggle click-through
- All settings saved to
UserDefaults and restored on relaunch
- Menu bar app — keeps running even when the settings window is closed
Installation for Normal Users
- Download FloatingClockOverlay.dmg.
- Open the DMG file.
- Drag FloatingClockOverlay.app into the Applications folder.
- Open FloatingClockOverlay from Applications or Launchpad.
- The clock overlay will appear on your screen. Use the menu bar icon (🕐) to access settings and controls.
Note: Because the app is not signed with an Apple Developer certificate, macOS may show a warning the first time you open it. To open it:
- Right-click (or Control-click) the app → click Open → click Open again in the dialog.
- Future signed and notarized releases will remove this warning.
Developer Build Instructions
Requires macOS 12+, Xcode 14+, and Swift 5.7+.
cd ~/Desktop/FloatingClockOverlay
make build # compile the app
make run # compile + launch
make install-local # copy .app into /Applications (prompts for sudo)
make package-dmg # create dist/FloatingClockOverlay.dmg
make clean # wipe build artefacts
make open-xcode # open the Xcode project
Using the App
Once running the app shows a clock icon in the menu bar.
Click-through mode
| State | Behaviour |
|---|
| Click-Through ON ✓ (default) | Clicks pass through to apps below |
| Click-Through OFF | Overlay is draggable and resizable |
Toggle via menu bar → Toggle Click-Through, or press ⌘ ⌥ C.
⌘ ⌥ C requires System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → Floating Clock Overlay → enable.
Resizing the overlay
- Turn off click-through (menu bar or ⌘ ⌥ C).
- Drag any edge or corner of the overlay to resize.
- Turn click-through back on when done.
Or use Settings → Window → Size to choose a preset (Small / Medium / Large / Extra Large).
Themes
Open Settings → Appearance and tap a theme card:
| Theme | Description |
|---|
| Transparent | Classic — black background at chosen opacity |
| Glass | iOS 26 liquid glass with blur, glare, and rim highlights |
| Dark | Solid dark rounded card |
| Light | Solid light rounded card |
| Neon | Dark background with glowing accent color |
| Minimal | Text only, no background |
| Custom | Full control: bg color, opacity, corner radius, border, shadow |
Project Structure
FloatingClockOverlay/
├── FloatingClockOverlay.xcodeproj/
├── FloatingClockOverlay/ Source files
│ ├── main.swift App entry point
│ ├── AppDelegate.swift App lifecycle, menu bar, shortcuts
│ ├── ClockSettings.swift All settings (ObservableObject + UserDefaults)
│ ├── Theme.swift Theme/font/size/alignment enums + ThemeStyle
│ ├── ClockView.swift Overlay SwiftUI view (all modes, all themes)
│ ├── ClockWindowController.swift NSWindow — sizing, position, resize
│ ├── SettingsView.swift Full settings UI
│ ├── SettingsWindowController.swift Settings NSWindow
│ ├── OverlayMode.swift Clock / Timer / Stopwatch enum
│ ├── TimeController.swift Timer & stopwatch state
│ ├── TimerStopwatchControlsView.swift Timer/stopwatch controls in settings
│ └── Assets.xcassets/ App icon
├── scripts/
│ ├── create_icon.swift Icon generator
│ └── embed_icon.sh Post-build icon embedding
├── Makefile
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
├── NOTICE
└── CONTRIBUTING.md
Credits
Created by Yousa Bin Sadeque
Built with Swift, SwiftUI, and AppKit. No Electron. No JavaScript. No web tech.
License
Floating Clock Overlay is source-available and free for personal, educational, and non-commercial use.
Commercial use, business use, corporate use, resale, paid redistribution, SaaS use, internal company use, client work, contract work, monetized use, or use as a feature inside another app, product, platform, or service requires prior written permission from Yousa Bin Sadeque.
See LICENSE for full terms.
Copyright © 2026 Yousa Bin Sadeque. All rights reserved.
