macOS moves your windows after sleep. Apple calls it "intended".
Wake your Mac, unlock it, log in, plug the dock back in: every window returns to its display, position and size on its own. No layouts to save, no shortcut to press. Built for identical monitors that macOS keeps swapping.
14 days free · no account, no card · 3 MB · notarized by Apple · macOS 13+, Apple Silicon and Intel
Unlock, sit down, done. Two identical monitors, real recording, no hands.
It happens on its own, every time you come back:
Every window is back on its display. You pressed nothing.
847 "Me too" votes on Apple's forum since 2011. 0 fixes from Apple. 1 app.
Notarized by Apple · No network access · Source on GitHub · 3 MB download · Stripe checkout · 14-day refund
Reported to Apple since 2011. Still happening on macOS 27.
"It feels like someone is walking over to your desk and moving everything around, just to annoy you."
JR1427, Hacker News
"For something like 14 years(!), this has driven me up a wall."
peterjmag, Hacker News
"It was driving me crazy to have to redistribute every time my new M1 MacBook took a nap."
EmmerEff, Apple Community
"Forgetting to do this and you're spending a minute+ re-organizing your windows. Such an annoyance for such an expensive machine."
davidandora, Apple Community
"I've had this problem for years with pre-M1 MacBooks and shockingly the M1's have still not fixed the problem."
betaclone, Apple Community
"I have this issue for years now so that I am not noticing anymore."
milkers, Hacker News
Apple's reply to the bug report, as quoted by the person who filed it: "This issue behaves as intended."
That is why this app exists. See every workaround people have tried, or skip them:
Your Mac sleeps. macOS piles every window onto one monitor, and swaps identical monitors because they share a serial number. You drag everything back. Every single time.
Lives in the menu bar. Install it once and forget it: it saves while you work and restores on its own when the Mac wakes, unlocks, or you plug the monitors back in. You never need to open it.
Two, three or more of the same model that share a serial number are told apart by their system UUID, then by the physical port they are plugged into, and only then by position. One layout is kept per combination of displays.
Other tools ask every app for every window through Accessibility, which is slow and stalls when one app stops responding. Many Displays reads the window server's list instead: around 20 ms for hundreds of windows, without talking to any app.
If macOS swapped left and right, changed the main display, resolution, refresh rate, rotation or HDR, or turned on mirroring after a reconnect, each one is put back before the windows. Can be turned off in the menu.
Windows on your other desktops (Spaces) are remembered and restored too, without switching to them. With ten desktops across two monitors, everything comes back at once. Mission Control swipes and animations are never mistaken for a layout change.
While windows move, the screens get a soft blur with a countdown, so you are not watching windows jump around. It only appears when something actually needs to move and never stays longer than 10 seconds. Optional.
No network access, no analytics, no account in the app. Your layouts stay in a JSON file in your Library folder. The source is published on GitHub, so you can read exactly what it does.
Most window tools need you to store a layout, name it, keep it updated and trigger a restore with a shortcut or a menu. Many Displays learns the layout while you work and restores it when the event happens: wake, unlock, log in, replug.
| Many Displays | Stay, Workflo, Snapset, Putback, Display Maid… | |
|---|---|---|
| Save a layout first | Never. It learns as you work. | Usually: name it, save it, re-save it when something changes |
| When it restores | On its own, when the Mac wakes, unlocks, logs in or gets its monitors back | A shortcut, a menu item, or only when a display connects |
| Identical monitors (same serial) | Told apart by system UUID and physical port | Seen as the same display; swapped at random |
| Displays themselves | Arrangement, resolution, rotation, HDR put back first | Windows only |
| How windows are read | Window server, about 20 ms for hundreds of windows | Each app through Accessibility; stalls when one app hangs |
| MacBook on its own | Fully idle | Keeps watching |
| Price | $19 once, a year of updates | Free to $35, some by subscription |
Based on each product's public documentation in October 2026. Something changed? Tell us: support@manydisplays.com.
When you move, resize, open or close a window, the layout is saved within about 1.5 seconds, plus a light check every 20 seconds. With the MacBook alone and no external displays it goes idle: no observers, no timers.
On lock, sleep, display sleep or a reconnect, saving stops. Whatever macOS does to your windows in the meantime is ignored, and the last good layout is kept.
No shortcut, no click. Once the displays have been steady for a few seconds, the arrangement is fixed first, then every window goes back in several quick passes, because macOS keeps nudging windows for a while. For three minutes afterwards, changes nobody asked for are undone instead of saved.
You have tried the settings, the cables, maybe a dummy plug. Apple is not going to fix it. Install Many Displays once, forget it is there, and never drag a window back across the desk again. Free for 14 days with everything on, no account. Then one payment: a year of updates, and the last version of that year is yours forever. No subscription.
A minute of dragging windows back, twice a day, is eight hours a year.
The app makes no network connections and has no analytics. It only talks to the update server when you choose "Check for Updates…" or have automatic update checks turned on. Licence keys are verified on your Mac; entering one sends nothing anywhere. Read the privacy policy.
Yes, that is the case the app was built for, with any number of them. macOS identifies displays by vendor, model and serial number, and many monitors ship with the same serial (0 or 0x01010101), so two identical screens look the same to macOS and it shuffles them after every sleep. Many Displays tells them apart by their system UUID, then by the physical port they are plugged into (on Apple Silicon), and only then by position. If macOS swapped the arrangement, it is put back before the windows.
It remembers the Space, but since macOS 14.5 Apple blocks moving other apps' windows between Spaces unless System Integrity Protection is disabled, so the app does not do it. In practice, with "Displays have separate Spaces" turned off, sleeping does not change a window's Space, only its display, which is what gets restored. If a window ends up on a different Space, the menu says so. Some apps hide their off-Space windows from Accessibility; those are restored the moment you switch to their Space.
Download the app and use everything for 14 days. No account, no card. After that it asks for a licence key, which you get by email right after buying.
One licence is for one person on up to 3 Macs. It includes every update released in the year after your purchase. When that year ends, the last version you are entitled to keeps working for as long as you like; buying again only matters if you want newer versions. There is a 14-day money-back guarantee. See the terms.
The code is published under the Functional Source License: you are welcome to read it, build it yourself with Xcode, modify it and contribute, as long as you do not sell it as a competing product. Each version becomes MIT-licensed two years after release. Paying gets you the signed and notarized build that opens without warnings, automatic updates, and support by email. It is also how the project is funded.
No. Sleep, lock, close the lid, unplug the dock, walk away: when the displays are back, Many Displays restores everything by itself, usually before you have sat down. There is a shortcut (⌃⌥⌘R) to restore on demand, but you should never need it. If you prefer to trigger restores yourself, turn off "Restore Windows Automatically" in the menu.
With no external displays the app goes idle and never touches your windows. Layouts are kept per combination of displays, so your desk setup and your lid-open setup are remembered separately. If undocking leaves the built-in screen at a wrong resolution, the last known good mode is restored.
No. Windows you closed while away are never reopened, and new windows are left alone and tracked from then on.
macOS only lets an app move another app's windows through Accessibility. It is the same permission Rectangle, Magnet, Moom and every window tool ask for. Many Displays uses it only to move and resize windows: it never reads what is inside them, never sees your keystrokes, and makes no network connections. The code that does it is on GitHub.
That is the main use case. Unplugging the dock, closing the lid, locking, sleeping and display sleep are all handled the same way: saving freezes, and everything is restored once the displays are back and stable. Layouts are kept per combination of displays, so your desk and your sofa are remembered separately.
No. Anything you drag or resize yourself is a new layout and gets saved. Only the moves macOS makes on its own after a wake are undone.
No. Many Displays only moves windows in the seconds after your displays come back; the rest of the time it just watches. Tiling and snapping tools keep working. BetterDisplay and Lunar can stay installed; if you use BetterDisplay's arrangement protection, keep one of the two in charge of the arrangement.
macOS 13 Ventura or later, including the current release, on Apple Silicon and Intel. Updates ship through Sparkle inside the app.
The app keeps working forever with the last version you are entitled to. If you want newer versions, you can buy again; nothing renews automatically and there is no subscription.
No. It reacts to events instead of polling, reads the window list from macOS in about 20 ms, and goes completely idle when no external display is connected.