How to Hide Slack While Screen Sharing on Mac

You've been there. You're in the middle of a customer demo, an interview, or an all-hands presentation — and a Slack notification pops up on screen. Or worse: the entire Slack window is visible and someone on the call can read your private DMs.

Here are the practical ways to keep Slack hidden when sharing your Mac screen.

The problem with screen sharing and Slack

When you share your full screen on Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, or Loom, everything on your display is captured — including any app that happens to be open. Slack, with its constant notification flow and visible message threads, is one of the biggest culprits for accidental oversharing.

The core issue is that macOS doesn't let one app hide another app's windows from a screen capture. Slack can't opt itself out of your screen share, and your screen sharing app can't skip Slack. So you need a workaround.

Method 1: Quit or hide Slack before every call (manual)

The most obvious fix: close Slack before you share your screen.

• Press ⌘Q to quit Slack, or ⌘H to hide it
• Or right-click the Slack icon in your Dock and choose Quit

Why this is annoying: You have to remember to do it every single time. You lose your notification flow for the duration of the call. And if you forget, you're exposed the moment you start sharing.

Method 2: Move Slack to a different Space (manual)

macOS Spaces lets you organize apps across virtual desktops. You can put Slack on Space 2 and share only Space 1.

1. Open Mission Control (swipe up with four fingers, or press F3)
2. Drag Slack to a different Space
3. When sharing, share only your primary Space

Why this is annoying: Most screen sharing apps share the entire display, not individual Spaces. This only works if you specifically share a single app window or a specific Space — which many people don't do. And managing Spaces adds friction to your workflow.

Method 3: Use Slack's "Do Not Disturb" mode

Slack's Do Not Disturb silences notifications. It doesn't hide the app window, but at least prevents new messages from popping up.

• Click your profile photo in Slack → Pause notifications
• Or set a recurring schedule in Slack Preferences

Why this is annoying: DND only stops notifications. The entire Slack interface — all your open channels, pinned messages, and DMs — is still fully visible to anyone watching your screen.

Method 4: Use Stealth to blur Slack automatically

Stealth is a macOS menu bar app specifically built for this problem. It places a frosted glass blur overlay on top of Slack (and any other apps you choose) when Privacy Mode is active.

Here's how to set it up:

1. Download Stealth and drag it to Applications
2. Launch Stealth — a menu bar icon appears
3. Click the icon → Settings → Protected Apps → Add Slack
4. In the Trigger Apps section, add Zoom (or Google Chrome for Meet)
5. Enable "Auto-detect screen sharing"

That's it. Now whenever you open Zoom for a call, Stealth automatically blurs Slack. When the call ends, Stealth turns off. You never have to think about it again.

What Stealth does (and doesn't do)

Stealth places a blur overlay on top of protected app windows. This means:

• Viewers on your screen share see blur where Slack would be — they can't read your messages.
• You also see blur while Privacy Mode is active. Hold ⌃⌥⌘P to temporarily peek at the real content (note: viewers see it too during a peek).
• Slack keeps running normally in the background — you still get notifications and can interact with it by revealing individual windows.

One important limitation: this only works when you share your entire display. If you share a single app window in Zoom or Meet, Stealth's overlay won't appear in that share.

Which method should you use?

If you screen share occasionally: just quit Slack before each call. It's the simplest option.

If you screen share frequently — multiple calls per day, customer demos, or recordings — the manual methods add up to real friction and real risk. Stealth's auto-detect means you never have to think about it.

Summary

• Quit/hide Slack — works but requires remembering every time
• Move to a Space — limited, only works with single-Space sharing
• Do Not Disturb — stops notifications only, doesn't hide the app
• Stealth — blurs Slack automatically on every call, no friction