A playful little macOS app that keeps your computer awake, exactly when and how you need it.
Jitterbug started as a creative side project aimed at solving a real-world annoyance: keeping a Mac awake without jumping through system settings or using clunky third-party tools. What began as a functional need quickly became an opportunity to explore native macOS development, experiment with polished UI patterns, and inject personality into a utility app.
The goal was to build something simple and joyful, a tool that lives in your menu bar and just works—without demanding attention. Along the way, we focused on delivering a refined user experience with high-quality animations, native performance, and a design system that aligns with the look and feel of macOS while still feeling distinctly our own.
Jitterbug is more than just a keep-awake tool—it’s a reflection of our product philosophy: useful, minimal, and crafted with intent. It stands as a clean example of how we approach internal tools, polish-focused MVPs, and Swift-based development projects.
Jitterbug is a lightweight utility for macOS designed to prevent your computer from sleeping, dimming, or activating the screensaver during moments where interruption is the last thing you want. Whether you're running long-running code, keeping an eye on logs, screen sharing in a meeting, or just enjoying music or video without interaction—Jitterbug gives you full control over your system's idle behavior.
The inspiration came from a simple frustration: existing tools that solve this problem are either too clunky, overly technical, or lacking any design charm. We wanted to build something that felt polished, thoughtful, and enjoyable to use—without compromising on performance or usability.
Jitterbug is utility software with personality. The user experience is intentionally minimal—one-click activation and clear state indicators—but we added small design touches to make it feel alive. The name itself hints at the app’s core purpose: keeping your computer "jittering" just enough to prevent sleep, while also referencing an old-school dance move, reflecting the app's energy and motion.
The visual language is clean, modern, and lightly animated. The iconography was custom drawn to support both light and dark modes, and special care was taken to make the menu bar presence feel native to macOS without feeling sterile. Every interaction is immediate, with no unnecessary confirmation steps or modal dialogs. The goal was to remove friction entirely—so the tool gets out of your way the second it's doing its job.
Jitterbug is built using Swift and SwiftUI, with additional AppKit integration for macOS-specific behavior control. It utilizes macOS’s IOPMAssertion APIs to suppress idle sleep and display dimming, and wraps this behavior in a modern codebase that is responsive, sandbox-compliant, and notarized for secure distribution.
The app is packaged and signed with Apple’s developer tools, enabling direct installation or App Store deployment. The architecture is modular, allowing for future enhancements like usage stats, session history, or integration with external automations like Shortcuts or AppleScript.
Not every project needs to be complex. Sometimes, the best tools are the ones that do one thing very well. Jitterbug was created as a creative outlet—an internal product where we could focus on clarity, simplicity, and joy in execution. It's also a useful tool we wanted for ourselves, especially during long development sessions and screen-sharing-heavy consulting work.
Jitterbug now serves as both a tool in our day-to-day workflows and a showcase for how we approach native app development: pragmatic functionality, well-crafted UI, and a little bit of fun along the way.
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