A ball hangs from your Mac menu bar on an elastic tether. Drag it, fling it, slingshot it. It bounces off your actual app windows, rolls along their edges and settles into the Dock. Cut the rope and it goes loose across the desktop. Real physics, not a canned animation, so it never does the same thing twice. One key hides it the instant somebody says your name. No account, no subscription, nothing leaves your Mac.
Hey Product Hunt.
I was looking for something to keep my hands busy during long work meetings. Pens, cables, the corner of a notebook, the usual. So I made this instead: a ball that hangs off the Mac menu bar on an elastic tether.
What it does:
- Drag it, fling it, slingshot it. The tether stretches and snaps back.
- Real physics against your real windows. The ball lands on their top edges, rolls along them, and reacts when you move them.
- Cut the rope and it comes loose across the desktop, bouncing off whatever is in the way.
- Seven balls, each with its own weight, grip and bounce.
- Tune gravity, bounce, size and rope length live, or leave the presets alone.
- One key hides it the instant somebody says your name.
- No account, no subscription, no telemetry. Nothing leaves your Mac.
It is a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, and it is built for macOS 14 and later.
Happy to answer anything. If the physics feels wrong somewhere, tell me, that is the part I will keep tuning.
Sooo interesting... I need a point system and a global leaderboard. It would be explosive.
The panic key is the real product. Everything else is physics. Shipping the hide shortcut before anyone asked for it is the tell that you built this during a meeting you were supposed to be in.
On long calls I end up peeling the label off whatever bottle is nearest. Does it stay quiet enough for a call with the mic on?
Yes! Clearly I'm going with the basketball. Congrats on a really fun launch!
I literally have one hanging next to my desk in my home office. Didn’t thought I would ever need it for screen. That’s crazy :D
this is such a dumb-fun idea and I mean that as a compliment. curious how it behaves with multiple monitors - if I fling the ball off the edge of one display does it actually cross onto the other, or does each screen have its own independent ball? also wondering if the physics loop is noticeable on battery at all when it's just sitting idle in the corner.
This instantly caught my attention for today's launch. I have ADHD, and I usually need something to tinker with while listening. haha I can also imagine my students using this.
About Tether on Product Hunt
“A ball for boring meetings to keep you busy”
Tether launched on Product Hunt on August 31st, 2026 and earned 237 upvotes and 24 comments, placing #4 on the daily leaderboard. A ball hangs from your Mac menu bar on an elastic tether. Drag it, fling it, slingshot it. It bounces off your actual app windows, rolls along their edges and settles into the Dock. Cut the rope and it goes loose across the desktop. Real physics, not a canned animation, so it never does the same thing twice. One key hides it the instant somebody says your name. No account, no subscription, nothing leaves your Mac.
Tether was featured in Mac (103.7k followers), Productivity (659.6k followers) and Menu Bar Apps (12.3k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 169.3k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Tether?
Tether was hunted by Alex. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
Want to see how Tether stacked up against nearby launches in real time? Check out the live launch dashboard for upvote speed charts, proximity comparisons, and more analytics.
Alex