Harnessing the power of immersive technologies, Portal helps you transform your work surroundings into a haven for focus and creativity.
Portal is a beautiful new productivity app, built for today's distraction-filled world.
While most productivity apps look inwards at how our habits and behaviours can make us more productive, we focus on looking outwards and at the impact that our surroundings have on how we think, feel & act.
The app itself combines cutting-edge immersive technologies, the latest research from the field of environmental psychology and stunning reproductions of the world's greatest surroundings to instantly transform any space into a beautiful haven for productive work.
It's a very different way of approaching the problem of productivity, and comes with enormous potential benefits in terms of its simplicity, effectiveness and ease of use.
We believe very strongly in the enormous potential in all of us and that there's never been more opportunity to have a positive impact on our own lives and the lives of others.
But in today's world of noise & distraction, fuelled by an attention-driven economy and amplified by the blurring of our home and work environments, it's proving more challenging than ever to keep our focus on what really matters to us.
It's easy to blame ourselves - do we need to build better habits, schedule our time better, work harder? All of this can help.
But what we've realised is that very often one of the biggest root causes of these problems isn't with us as individuals, it's with the environments we live and work in and we've made it our long-term mission to work towards building a more beautiful world with surroundings that work for us, not against us.
It's not hard to imagine how different you would feel if you were sitting on top of a mountain right now, or in the midst of a beautiful ancient woodland or on a stunning tropical beach.
Portal taps deep into this psychology of how we respond to our environment and the world around us. It uses cutting-edge immersive technologies to transform any space into a haven for focus and productivity - instantly shifting your state of mind and creating a true space to think.
We integrate highly realistic full-motion visuals directly into your Mac desktop with the intention of creating a true feeling of a “window to the world”.
It may be counterintuitive that putting motion on your desktop would reduce distraction - but when done right there's strong evidence around the positive impact that windows have on us.
To bring this to life we've had to push things far beyond the “motion desktop” experiences that have come before. We capture long loops of carefully crafted visuals using 12K digital cinema cameras and make full use of Apple Silicon's video hardware optimisations to ensure playback uses as few system resources as possible.
Our custom built state-of-the-art spatial audio technology and meticulously captured, world-class sound is designed to make you feel as though you're there, creating a sense of space and separation whilst blocking out noise and distraction.
Philips Hue & Nanoleaf smart lighting help extend the experience right into your workspace, providing subtle cues to your mind and creating a true sense of immersion.
We've meticulously captured over 80 portals ourselves in some of the most beautiful and peaceful corners of the world. We aim to balance the latest technology and evidence-based approaches with creativity and artistry to capture the feeling of these incredible places in a way that can enhance productivity and inspire creativity without pulling your focus away.
Integrate Portal into your routines with macOS Shortcuts support
No data harvesting, targeted advertising or unnecessary data capture
Travel to over 80 places and let them shape your state of mind
Our motion visuals and spatial audio are optimised for performance
Portal for Mac is built for everyone working towards a better world for themselves and others, but who, like us, often find it difficult to find focus in today's distracted world.
While we believe this covers almost everyone deep down, we've found the following customers are getting the most value out of Portal at this stage of the product's development:
Writers, designers and other creative professionals often seek inspiring environments to stimulate their creativity and often turn to nature as their space to think. Portal provides unique, dynamic and immersive environments that nurture the creative process.
It’s a way to filter out distractions, focus and relax your mind.
Individuals whose bread and butter is working on complex, high intensity projects where deep focus, and attention to detail is crucial, and where even the slightest distraction can feel like you've been put back to square one.
One of the best things about Portal is that I can escape when I am under engineering stress and work through hard problems on my terms. I absolutely love that on my Mac so much.
People diagnosed with ADHD often struggle maintaining focus and today's distraction-filled world only makes this more challenging. Our own research revealed many of our customers have ADHD, and find Portal a life saver for getting stuff done.
It's a must-have app. I can't imagine having a computer without it.
Those working in traditional office settings are constantly buffeted with noise and distraction. Portal transports you to more tranquil, focus inducing surroundings to help you get into flow on your terms.
It's a magical experience to get yourself in the zone. The kind of application you wish you could install on the device of everyone you care about.
Portal's an excellent tool for students and academics seeking an immersive and distraction-free environment for studying, research, or writing.
I honestly am not sure I would be keeping all A's if I did not have it.
Less than a dollar a week.
Portal for Mac is available via the Mac App Store and comes with a free 7-day-trial for all customers.
Portal - Immersive Escapes (iOS) was released in 2019, and has had over 1M downloads, an average worldwide rating of 4.8, with over 15k ratings.
Described as “Another level” (GQ), “A haven for your mind” (Vogue) and “Truly Escapist” (Huffington Post), Portal has also been featured by the likes of CNN and Forbes and is regularly listed as a leading mindfulness, sleep and wellness app.
Portal has been championed by Apple as their "App of the Day" on numerous occasions, has received the coveted "Editor's Choice" accolade, and has appeared as one of their demo apps across Apple Retail Stores globally.
Portal won a Webby award in 2020 for Best Visual Design.
We have a growing reputation for technological innovation within the wellbeing sector.
In the short term we hope Portal can help create a productive and positive environment that helps people do their best work and plays a small part in unlocking ambitions large or small.
In the long term we hope that Portal’s effectiveness helps shine a light on the important role our surroundings play in our lives, strengthen our connection with nature and inspire positive change in the world.
For all press enquiries, please email us — hello@portal.app