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What's new in MacDupl

Every version we've shipped, from 0.2.0 backward. Same words as the in-app "What's New" sheet — this page and the app read from the same file. Download the latest.

0.2.0

New

  • A new main window. A sidebar lists All Instances, Running and Updates, then your workspaces, with the disk space your instances use and your license at the bottom. Search by instance or app name from the toolbar, and switch between a grid and a sortable list.
  • Everything about an instance in one panel. Select an instance and its settings appear on the right: name, colour, icon, workspace, open at login, menu bar icon, where sign-in links open, storage, and the repair actions. It replaces the Edit window, and each change applies as you make it.
  • Update many instances in one click. When an app has a new version, a banner says which instances still run the old copy and updates them together. Your logins and data are kept. You can hide the banner; it comes back when another update is waiting.
  • Act on several instances at once. Select two or more to launch, stop, move to a workspace, rebuild or delete them together.
  • A clearer way to make a new instance. Pick your app from tiles marked Ready or Beta, then see how its Dock icon will look next to the original before you create it. You can make a new workspace right there and have the instance open as soon as it's ready.
  • A menu bar panel. With "Keep MacDupl running in the background" or "Hide MacDupl in the Dock" on, the menu bar icon opens a panel: Settings, Check for Updates, Open Dashboard and Quick Switcher at the top, then your instances with a Stop or Launch button each. The icon moves while an instance starts or is being built.
  • The Quick Switcher shows more. Each row shows the workspace and whether the instance is running. New keys: ⌘↩ shows it in the main window, ⌥↩ stops it, and ⌘1–⌘9 jump straight to a row.

Changed

  • Smaller cards. Each instance is one compact row with a round Play/Stop button, and an available update shows as a blue UPDATE tag.
  • Stop responds right away. The button shows a spinner and the status says "Stopping…" until the app has quit.
  • MacDupl's own colours replace the grey and orange: a cool blue-tinted window, blue for updates, and a steady green dot for running instances.

0.1.32

New

  • See what's using the space in each instance, and clear what can come back. Click an instance's size, or choose ••• ▸ Storage…, to see everything it stores, with its size and where it lives. Show any item in Finder. Downloads the app can fetch again, such as Claude's Cowork virtual machine, Claude Code runtimes and build-tool caches, can be moved to the Trash one at a time, so you can put them back.
    • Your sign-ins, settings and your own work are kept. They're listed, but can't be removed from here.
    • If the instance is running, MacDupl quits it first.

Fixed

  • Settings now opens in front, in one click. From the menu-bar icon or with ⌘, it comes up focused, whether or not the Dock icon is hidden and whether or not a window is open. Before, it could open behind the dashboard or need a second click.
  • Check for Updates… is in the menu-bar icon's menu. With the Dock icon hidden, there was no way to reach it. Now it's one click from the menu bar.

0.1.31

New

  • Request an App, right inside MacDupl. Can't find the app you want to duplicate? Choose MacDupl ▸ Request an App…, or click "Don't see your app? Request it…" at the bottom of the Create Instance list. It opens an email to us with the app name and your Mac details already filled in.

Fixed

  • Zalo now opens as its own instance instead of quitting. A Zalo instance used to close itself right away when the original Zalo was running. It now opens beside the original with its own data and its own login.
    • Your existing Zalo instances rebuild themselves automatically the next time you open them.
    • Signing in with two accounts and calls haven't been tested yet.

0.1.30

Fixed

  • Notifications now work in instances. An instance can ask for permission to send notifications, shows up in System Settings ▸ Notifications, and its notifications arrive.
    • Your instances rebuild themselves once after the update. Your data and sign-ins are kept.
    • Each instance asks for notification permission again the first time it sends one.
  • Meta's Muse can now be cloned. Making an instance of it used to fail with "Could not read Info.plist of the copied bundle". Status: beta. An instance opens to its own login and keeps its own data, but signing in hasn't been tested yet. Other apps packaged the same way are fixed too.

Changed

  • The Buy buttons no longer show a price. The checkout page always shows the current one.

0.1.29

Fixed

  • WhatsApp no longer asks you to scan the QR code again after every Mac restart (macOS 27). A linked WhatsApp instance now stays linked after you restart your Mac or quit the app.
    • After updating, scan the QR code one more time. This applies to every WhatsApp and WeChat instance you already have. They rebuild themselves the next time you open them, and the old link can't be carried over. Open the instance, scan the QR code once, and it will stay signed in from then on.
    • Each instance keeps its own link, and Reset Session still clears it.
  • Re-sign all (Settings) no longer breaks WhatsApp instances. It used to re-sign them in a way that didn't match how they were built; it now handles them correctly.

0.1.28

New

  • WeChat (the Mac App Store version) can now be cloned. MacDupl can run a second WeChat with its own storage, opening to its own login, with your original WeChat untouched. Status: Should work — we've seen an instance open to WeChat's login screen, but signing in hasn't been tested yet.
    • Each instance needs its own WeChat account. Running more than one is yours to square with WeChat's terms. WeChat is strict about multiple accounts and new devices, so try it with a secondary account first.
    • Instances run with macOS's hardened runtime switched off (your original WeChat keeps all of its protections), and they get no push notifications and no iCloud.
    • WeChat may show a one-time "move Weixin to the Applications folder" message. It's harmless — tick "Do not show this message again".

Fixed

  • WeChat instances made with "Try unverified App Store apps" no longer write into your real Documents folder or stop at a macOS "access your Documents folder" prompt. They now get a private Documents folder, and existing instances are repaired the next time you rebuild them.

0.1.27

New

  • Play the same iOS game on separate accounts with PlayCover instances. Each PlayCover instance keeps its own saves for every iOS game, so you can play the same game on separate accounts side by side.
    • Games also start from a PlayCover instance on macOS 27, where PlayCover's own launcher currently shows a "does not have permission to open" error.
    • One limit: Game Center and Sign in with Apple accounts are shared across instances (one Apple ID per Mac).

Fixed

  • PlayCover instances no longer offer to "Move to Applications". That prompt could replace your real PlayCover with the instance.
  • PlayCover instances no longer update themselves into a plain copy of PlayCover.
  • An instance whose original app had been replaced by an instance no longer gets stuck using full CPU when you rebuild it. MacDupl now keeps the existing instance as it is and tells you to reinstall the original app and choose Rebuild from Original.

0.1.26

New

  • Every instance now shows which version it runs, with an update badge when the original has moved on. The version appears next to the app's name on the instance card. When the original app has been updated and your instance hasn't caught up, the card shows an update badge and the version line turns orange (for example, "1.52 → 2.19"). Open the instance's ••• menu and choose Update to 2.19 to bring it up to date — your logins and data are kept. If an instance is already current, the same item reads Rebuild from Original and re-copies it from the original app, which is handy as a repair.
  • A clearer ••• menu. Actions are now grouped under short headings that say what they do: Sign-in links open in (This Instance, Original App, or Another Instance), Troubleshoot · logins kept (Update, Rebuild from Original, Re-sign, Clear Cache), and Signs you out (Reset Session). Force Quit now sits right next to Stop.

Fixed

  • Stopping or force-quitting an instance while it was still launching could close other apps on your Mac too. This affected versions 0.1.19 through 0.1.25, and we're sorry. It's fixed in this release.
  • If you sign instances with your own identity (Settings ▸ Code signing), automatic instance updates no longer switch them back to generic signing. Before this, permissions like Accessibility and Screen Recording had to be granted again after each app update.
  • Opening MacDupl from inside an instance no longer shows "No instances yet." Your instances are all there now, wherever you open MacDupl from.
  • MacDupl no longer rebuilds an instance that's already open when MacDupl starts. Out-of-date instances that are running are left alone until you update them yourself.
Earlier releases (0.1.25–0.1.6)

0.1.25

Changed

  • The free tier no longer keeps one instance free forever, even if you installed before September 7, 2026. When 0.1.22 shortened the trial to 3 days and ended the standing free instance for new installs, we told existing installs they'd keep their original 7-day trial and one permanently free instance. We're reversing that: every install, old or new, is now on the same 3-day-trial terms, and a license is required to open an instance once the trial ends. If you installed before September 7 and never bought a license, your previously free instance will stop opening the next time MacDupl updates — nothing is deleted or changed about it, it just needs a license to launch again. We know this breaks what we told you in the 0.1.22 notes, and we're sorry for the inconvenience. Questions or a specific hardship: support@macdupl.app.

Fixed

  • WhatsApp cloning is working again on macOS 27. A macOS 27 change silently blocked the isolated storage every WhatsApp clone depends on, so clones either crashed on launch or failed with no error at all. Fixed by routing WhatsApp's data isolation through a different, already-proven mechanism instead. If you have an existing WhatsApp clone, open MacDupl once after updating to re-link it — a one-time step; nothing else about the clone changes.

0.1.24

New

  • Quick Switcher: jump to any instance without opening a window. Turn it on in Settings ▸ Quick Switcher, pick a global shortcut (⌥Space by default), and from then on you can press it from anywhere — even while working in another app — to bring up a small floating search box. Type an instance's name and hit Enter to launch it (or jump to it if it's already running). It never steals focus from what you were doing unless you actually pick something. Turning it on also turns on "Keep MacDupl running in the background," since the shortcut needs MacDupl running to catch it.

0.1.23

Fixed

  • Settings is now reachable when MacDupl's Dock icon is hidden. If you turned on "Hide MacDupl in the Dock," or MacDupl started quietly at login, there was no way to get back to Settings until you reopened it from Applications or Spotlight. The menu-bar icon's dropdown now has a Settings… item too, right next to "Open MacDupl Dashboard."

0.1.22

Changed

  • New installs now get a 3-day free trial (previously 7 days), and after it ends, creating or opening instances requires the $19 one-time Pro license — the free tier no longer keeps one instance running for free. If you installed MacDupl before today, nothing changes for you: you keep your original 7-day trial and your one free instance, for good. Nothing you've already made is ever deleted or locked in either case — this only affects whether you can open new instances once your trial or free allowance runs out.

0.1.21

Fixed

  • Updating macOS could make MacDupl forget your license. After a macOS update and restart, MacDupl could come back as though it had never been activated — and because it also restarted the free trial at the same moment, everything kept working for another week before suddenly dropping to the free tier, long after the update that caused it. Fixed, and made much harder to happen again: your license is now kept in a second, separate place on your Mac and restored automatically if the first copy is lost or damaged, and MacDupl will never overwrite a license it wasn't able to read properly.
    • If this happened to you and your key is now refused because it has reached its activation limit, email support@macdupl.app — we'll free the seat and send your key back.
  • Some networks could deactivate a licensed Mac. Hotel, café and workplace Wi-Fi that intercepts your connection with its own sign-in page could be mistaken for the license server saying your key was no longer valid. MacDupl now treats anything other than a clear answer from the license server as "couldn't check right now" and carries on, exactly as it already did when you were offline.
  • Re-entering your own license key no longer uses up a second activation. If you type in the key this Mac is already using, MacDupl reconnects the existing activation instead of spending another one.

0.1.20

New

  • Try App Store apps we haven't tested yet (Settings ▸ Advanced). Off by default. MacDupl can clone some App Store apps by giving each instance its own data containers, but only apps we've verified end to end are offered normally — so far that's WhatsApp. Turn this on and the picker will also list App Store apps that *look* like they should work but haven't been tested. They may not launch, or may not keep their accounts fully separate, and instances made this way run with one of macOS's security protections switched off. MacDupl asks you to confirm before enabling it, and your original apps are never modified. Turning it back off only changes what the picker offers — anything you already created keeps working.
  • Apps that can't work are now listed with the reason instead of just being missing, so you're not left guessing.

Fixed

  • Cloned App Store apps that bundle their own components wouldn't open. Anything larger than WhatsApp hit this: the instance was built correctly but macOS refused to start parts of it, and the app died at launch. Three separate causes, all fixed. If you made an instance before this update, delete it and create it again — old ones don't repair themselves.
  • Updates are small again. The 0.1.19 update made everyone re-download the whole app (about 4 MB) instead of just the changed parts (as little as 330 KB). Fixed, and MacDupl now checks this before publishing so it can't happen quietly again.
  • If you were on an old beta build, you're back on the normal updates. The beta channel had gone stale and testers were stuck on a July build with no way forward. They're now moved onto the public release and will get updates normally from here. The beta channel is closed for the time being.

Known limitation

  • Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote) can't be cloned, and is now blocked with an explanation rather than appearing to be worth a try. An Office instance gets all the way to starting up, but Office's own activation screen fails when it finds a brand-new, unlicensed profile. That's inside Microsoft's software; the only way around it would be copying your real Office licence into the instance, which would defeat the separation that's the whole point.

0.1.19

New

  • WhatsApp can now be cloned (Beta). You can finally run a second WhatsApp on the same Mac — a work one and a personal one, side by side, each with its own Dock icon and its own chats. Create an instance the usual way (pick WhatsApp, name it, choose a colour, Create) and it links as its own separate device. Your main WhatsApp is left completely alone, still signed in, nothing moved.
    • One honest note. To make this work, a WhatsApp instance runs with one of macOS's security protections (the "hardened runtime") switched off — the technique that isolates it needs it that way. Your original WhatsApp keeps all of its protections; this only ever applies to instances you create, and WhatsApp is the only app it applies to. That trade-off is exactly why we're shipping this as Beta and telling you about it up front.
    • This is the first "App Store" app MacDupl can clone. Other App Store / sandboxed apps (like Microsoft Office) still can't be cloned yet.
    • Whether running more than one account fits WhatsApp's own terms is up to you to check — MacDupl just runs the app; it doesn't change any service's rules.

Fixed

  • An instance could look "stopped" while it was actually running. Instances whose name contains a special character — WhatsApp is one — could show a Launch button on the dashboard even though the app was already open, and could be miscounted against the free tier's running limit. The dashboard now reads their status correctly.

0.1.18

Same app as 0.1.17 — this one is about the download itself.

Fixed

  • No more "Apple could not verify" when you open the download. MacDupl has always been signed and notarized, but the disk image it arrives in wasn't, so macOS could warn about the file before you had even opened it. The download is now notarized too. Nothing changes if you update from inside MacDupl — this only affects downloading MacDupl from the website.

0.1.17

New

  • Keep MacDupl out of the Dock. In Settings ▸ Background, turn on "Hide MacDupl in the Dock when its window is closed". Close the window and MacDupl leaves the Dock — it keeps running in the background, so your instances stay up to date and sign-in links keep working, and its menu-bar icon stays put. Click the menu-bar icon (or open MacDupl from Applications, Launchpad or Spotlight) and it comes straight back, in front of whatever you're using. There's a Hide Now button if you'd rather not wait for the window to close. Your instances keep their own Dock icons either way.

Improved

  • A fresh look for the dashboard. Every instance card now carries its own colour — a tinted card, a coloured outline while it's running, and a matching Launch arrow — so you can tell your instances apart at a glance. Running and idle are clearer, the title bar shows how many instances you have and how many are live, and hovering a card lifts it and shows a ghost copy of its icon.
  • Colours are picked as colours, not from a list of colour names, when you create or edit an instance or a workspace.
  • Right-click any instance for its menu, or double-click it to launch (or bring it forward if it's already running).
  • All the new movement respects System Settings ▸ Accessibility ▸ Reduce Motion.

0.1.16

New

  • A quick question when your trial ends. If your 7-day trial runs out without buying a license, MacDupl will ask (once) why you didn't upgrade — a couple of quick options plus an optional note. Totally optional, and it's a regular email to us, not tracking: nothing is sent unless you choose to send it.

0.1.15

If you installed 0.1.14, please update. A build fault meant 0.1.14 contained the previous version's code, so none of the features below actually reached you even though the app reported itself as 0.1.14. That's fixed, and the build now refuses to package a stale binary.

New

  • Sign your instances as you (optional). Network tools like Little Snitch identify apps by who signed them — and because instances are normally signed generically, they show up as an unknown publisher and your rules don't stick. In Settings ▸ Code signing you can now have MacDupl sign instances with a signing identity of your own. Don't have one? One button creates it for you, and one button removes it. Nothing leaves your Mac.
    • macOS asks for your login keychain password the first time an instance is signed — choose "Always Allow" and it only asks once.
    • Instances are signed when they're built, so use Re-sign on an instance (or Re-sign All Instances) to update ones you already have. Your logins and settings are kept.
  • A friendlier first run. The welcome flow is now four short pages instead of one long one, ending with a button that creates your first instance right there. The things that surprise people — apps asking for permissions again, and how "Sign in with Google" finds the right instance — are explained when they actually make sense rather than up front.

Fixed

  • These release notes are readable again. Headings and bullet points ran together into one long paragraph.
  • MacDupl no longer opens several times over. Keeping a second copy around (say one in Applications and one still in Downloads) could leave two or three MacDupls running at once. Opening a second one now just brings the first forward.
  • Re-signing an instance could quietly remove capabilities it was given at build time (for example Claude's Cowork). Fixed, and now covered by an automated check.

0.1.14

New

  • Sign your instances as you (optional). Network tools like Little Snitch identify apps by who signed them — and because instances are normally signed generically, they show up as an unknown publisher and your rules don't stick. In Settings ▸ Code signing you can now have MacDupl sign instances with a signing identity of your own. Don't have one? One button creates it for you, and one button removes it. Nothing leaves your Mac.
    • macOS asks for your login keychain password the first time an instance is signed — choose "Always Allow" and it only asks once.
    • Instances are signed when they're built, so use Re-sign on an instance (or Re-sign All Instances) to update ones you already have. Your logins and settings are kept.
  • A friendlier first run. The welcome flow is now four short pages instead of one long one, ending with a button that creates your first instance right there. The things that surprise people — apps asking for permissions again, and how "Sign in with Google" finds the right instance — are explained when they actually make sense rather than up front.

Fixed

  • Re-signing an instance could quietly remove capabilities it was given at build time (for example Claude's Cowork). Fixed, and now covered by an automated check so it can't come back.

0.1.13

New

  • Instances can show their menu bar icon. Apps that live in the macOS menu bar — Claude, Slack, Discord and friends — never showed an icon there when run as an instance. Now they can: open Edit on an instance and turn on *"Show this instance's menu bar icon"*. It's off by default and set per instance, so you can give your work Slack a menu bar icon and leave the personal one out of the way. Your session moves with it, so you stay signed in.
  • Open an instance at login. In Edit, turn on *"Open this instance at login"* and MacDupl starts it when you log in to your Mac — no window, no interruption, just the app where you expect it. It needs "Keep MacDupl running in the background" turned on; the switch tells you, and offers to turn it on.
  • See what each instance uses, and get the space back. Every card now shows how much disk its instance is using, and the ••• menu has a new Clear Cache. It frees the temporary files the app rebuilds by itself — you stay signed in, and your settings, history and extensions are untouched. On real instances this freed 241 MB from a Claude instance and 425 MB from a VS Code one. (Reset Session is still there for when you *do* want a clean slate.)

0.1.12

New

  • Keep instances fresh and signed in — even when MacDupl is closed. Turn on "Keep MacDupl running in the background" (in Settings, or during the new welcome) and MacDupl adds itself to your login items with a small menu-bar icon. Now an instance you launch straight from the Dock or Spotlight is always the up-to-date copy, and sign-in links land in the right instance — no need to open the MacDupl window first. It starts quietly in the background at login (no window, no interruption); click the menu-bar icon to open the dashboard. It's optional and completely local — no tracking, ever.
  • A quick welcome for new users. First launch now shows a short intro: how to create an instance, why apps ask for permissions again, and how sign-in links follow the instance you're using.
  • Sign-in with Google (and other SSO) is easier to get right. When you clone an app that uses website sign-in, MacDupl now tells you that sign-in links will follow that instance, and points you to the per-instance "Sign-in & App Links" control the first time you launch it — so a login that doesn't complete is a one-click fix instead of a mystery.

0.1.11

New

  • Workspaces. Group your instances by organization, client, or persona. Each workspace is its own section on the dashboard with a color, a count, and how many are running — so a dozen instances stop being one long wall of cards. Create one with the folder button in the toolbar.
  • Launch All and Quit All. Start or stop a whole workspace in one click — open every app you use for a client at the beginning of the day, and close the set when you're done.
  • New instances inherit the workspace. Pick a workspace while creating an instance and it starts with that color, named like "Slack (Acme)". Type over either one and your version sticks. Instances already in a workspace keep their own color; recolor them together from the workspace menu when you want to.
  • Grouping never touches your instances. Moving one between workspaces is instant — no rebuild, no restart, sessions untouched. Deleting a workspace only removes the grouping: its instances move to Ungrouped and keep their apps, icons, and logins.

Fixed

  • Claude clones can use Cowork again. Opening Cowork in a cloned Claude reported that the installation was corrupted and asked you to reinstall. Nothing was wrong with your copy of Claude — the clone was missing a macOS permission that Cowork needs, and MacDupl now keeps it. Existing Claude clones repair themselves the next time you launch them from MacDupl, and your sessions are kept. Chat and everything else were never affected.
  • Clearer license messages. When a license key doesn't activate, MacDupl now tells you why in plain language — for example that the key wasn't found, so you can check it for typos — instead of passing along a raw error.
  • What's New reads properly again. These update notes could show up with broken formatting or a sentence cut off partway through.

0.1.9

New

  • Clones now follow the original app's updates. When you update an app, its clones refresh automatically — on launch and in the background. Your sessions and data are always kept.

Fixed

  • VS Code clones no longer share the original's extensions or Claude Code account. Each clone now starts clean and manages its own extensions and sign-in — including VS Code forks like Insiders, VSCodium, Cursor, and Antigravity IDE.
  • Chrome clones no longer break after a Chrome update. Clones that could fail to launch after Chrome updated itself now build and open reliably.

0.1.8

New

  • After your free trial, keep using MacDupl with one instance — no charge.
  • Need more? MacDupl Pro ($19 one-time) unlocks unlimited instances.

0.1.7

Added

  • Custom icons. You can now set any image as a clone's icon — pick a photo, a logo, or anything else. The icon keeps the color tint and badge so your clones stay visually distinct. Find it under Edit → Choose Custom Icon.
  • Send Feedback always visible. The Send Feedback button is now always shown at the bottom of the dashboard, so you can report bugs or request features without opening the menu.

Fixed

  • MacDupl no longer appears in the app picker as a cloneable app.
  • Release notes layout improved — clearer typography and better spacing.

0.1.6

Added

  • In-app feedback. MacDupl → Send Feedback… opens a form to report bugs, request features, or send general feedback. Opens your email client — no telemetry, no data leaves your Mac.
  • What's New after updates. The first time you launch a new version, a "What's New" sheet shows what changed. Access it anytime from the MacDupl menu.
  • Discord can now be cloned. Run multiple Discord accounts side by side (Discord, PTB, and Canary) — each with its own profile, login, and cache.
  • App Store apps you can't clone are now visible. The picker shows sandboxed App Store apps grayed out with an explanation instead of silently hiding them. Slack (App Store) gets a hint to install the direct download from slack.com/downloads, which clones normally.
  • Spotify can now be cloned. Two Spotify accounts, each with its own login and cache, running simultaneously — including both launch orders.
  • YouTube Music (th-ch/youtube-music) verified. The open-source YouTube Music desktop app clones out of the box.
  • CapCut can now be cloned. Run two CapCut accounts side by side with fully separate drafts and logins.
  • Sign-in & App Links routing (SSO fix). Browser-based "Login with Google" now completes inside a clone — sign-in callbacks automatically follow whichever instance (original or clone) you're using. No manual setup needed.
  • Keychain isolation for Zoom. Signing into one Zoom instance no longer logs the other out. Each clone keeps its own session key.
  • Zoom re-verified on 7.0.5 — works with fully separate data.

Fixed

  • Cloned app icons no longer show a blank tinted box with no logo — the real app artwork now always renders through the color tint.