Live window previews for every profile
by ZwayStudiosupdated
Hover the Dock icon of any browser profile and Chrome Profile Switcher shows a panel with that profile’s windows. With the optional Screen Recording permission, each window appears as a live picture, including windows on other desktops. Click a picture to jump to that window, or click “+” to open a new one in that profile.
What you see when you hover
Each profile with an open window gets its own icon in the Dock, with the profile’s picture and a small browser badge. Rest the pointer on one of those icons and a panel opens above it.
The panel shows only that profile’s windows. If your Work profile has three windows open, you see those three and nothing from your Personal profile. This is the part that plain macOS cannot do: the Dock, Mission Control and ⌘` all treat every profile of a browser as one app.
Live pictures, even on other desktops
With previews turned on, each window shows as a live picture of what is in it, so you can pick the window with the pull request or the spreadsheet by sight rather than by title.
The panel also includes windows that sit on another desktop (Space) or display. You do not need to swipe over first to look for them.
Click to jump
Click a window in the panel and it comes forward. If it lives on another desktop or display, macOS switches there for you. This is often faster than clicking the icon itself and cycling, when you already know which window you want.
The + button for a new window
The panel has a “+” button. Click it and a new window opens in that profile. It is the quick way to start a fresh window for a client or a test account without going through the browser’s avatar menu.
Screen Recording is optional, and only asked on request
Live pictures of other windows need the macOS Screen Recording permission. We do not ask for it up front.
- On first launch the app asks only for Accessibility, which it needs to read window titles and bring the right window forward.
- The first time you hover a profile icon, the panel offers Show Live Previews. Only if you click it does macOS ask for Screen Recording.
- If you never grant it, the panel still works. It lists the profile’s windows by title, and clicking a title jumps to that window.
The app has no account and no analytics, and goes online only to check for updates. The small profile icon apps need no permissions at all.
Which browsers show previews
Previews work for any profile the app can match to its windows:
- Chrome, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Chromium and Yandex, matched by the profile name at the end of each window title.
- Firefox, Zen, LibreWolf and Waterfox, matched by process, since each profile runs as its own process.
- Opera, Opera GX, Arc and Dia, when the browser has a single profile.
See the browsers overview for the details for each one.
How this compares
Some other apps show hover previews too. Superdock, for example, shows hover previews for every app, not just browser profiles, as part of its replacement dock (as of 29 September 2026). Okie Dockie shows a list of windows when you hover a Dock icon. Chrome Profile Switcher keeps Apple’s own Dock and focuses on browser profiles. The compare hub goes through the differences fairly.
Try it
Live previews are part of the free beta for macOS 14 or later. Download Chrome Profile Switcher, and see what changed in each version on the updates page.