Portal for Mac is one of my favorite apps on the App Store. Created by indie developers from Portal Labs, it helps people manage their well-being while working, browsing, or just taking it easy after a long day. As a big supporter of the app, it has been part of my workflow for the past few years — just like Gentler Streak. It doesn’t matter whether I’m just writing my first article of the day, trying to picture myself near a river while I try to get some inspiration, or finishing a demanding task, Portal has always been there in the background.
The idea behind the app is simple, but life changing. It takes over your wallpaper with cinematic and vivid landscapes, and with spatial audio support, it immerses you in breathtaking views and sounds. Almost a year after its last big update, the Portal developers are back with even more features that try to bring peace — and silence — to an ever noisy world.
Portal’s Circadian Flow is its most ambitious feature yet
Version 1.6 of Portal has several new features, but the Circadian Flow is the star of this update. “Born from a dream to bring nature’s beautiful rhythm back into our daily lives, Circadian Flow synchronizes Portal with your local time of day, immersing you in curated scenes that mirror the shifting light, sounds, and atmosphere of the world outside,” the developers explain.
Unlike the dozens of other portals available in the app, Circadian Flow follows you around by synchronizing the app with your time zone, so you can experience evolving nature views and sounds from early morning to night. “In a world that constantly pulls us out of sync, it’s a return to a rhythm that once guided our sleep, energy, and mood–and to environments we evolved to thrive in,” the Portal team says. This update comes alongside a supporting science article that highlights how Circadian Flow takes Portal to a new level.
There’s more available in version 1.6
Portal for Mac also adds the following changes in its latest update:
- Play favorites: Users can select their favorite portals and play all them in a single flow.
- Audio normalization: This audio setting helps you balance volume level across different portals, so the transition between a calm river scenario to a thunderstorm in the Amazon doesn’t catch you by surprise.
- Quiet Nature Collection: As the developers say, this new collection of portals wants to highlight rare moments of stillness in their purest form. These additions have been filmed in Iceland, and join the several other options available in the catalog.
Portal for Mac is available via the Mac App Store with a free 7-day trial for all customers. It costs $69.99 annually or $12.99 monthly. You can also buy a lifetime pass for the one-time price of $299.99. In addition, all subscriptions include full access to both Portal for Mac and iOS.
