CleanSlate vs ScreenVeil: clean desktop or clean window?

What is the practical difference between CleanSlate and ScreenVeil?

CleanSlate changes the desktop you are working on; ScreenVeil creates another window for the audience. That distinction becomes important after the presentation starts. Do you want private work put away until the call ends, or do you need to read it while continuing to present?

Consider a consultant showing a proposal and a spreadsheet while checking private notes. A tidy desktop is useful at the start. It does not answer the later question of what happens when the notes come forward. With ScreenVeil, select the notes app or window as private and share Privacy Screen. If you share the real desktop instead, the notes can appear.

We publish ScreenVeil. Competitor details below come from the official pages checked on October 14, 2026; we have not run a comparative capture test of CleanSlate.

Documented differences

• CleanSlate official features
• CleanSlate license tiers
• ScreenVeil license terms

Does hiding a Chrome tab title hide its contents?

No. Removing a title would only remove one label; the web page itself could still contain names, messages or account details. We could not confirm Chrome tab-title hiding on CleanSlate's current official feature page, so we do not use that claim as a reason to buy it.

Start with the capture choice instead. Google Meet can share one tab, one window or the entire screen. For a web-only presentation, a prepared tab is often enough. For a multi-app presentation with ScreenVeil, keep private tabs in a separate browser window and select it under Hide a window.

A separate Chrome profile can keep accounts apart, but it does not make its window private to a recorder. Neither a clean tab bar nor a different profile removes sensitive content inside the tab you are presenting. Use a demo account and inspect the page before sharing it.

• Google Meet: select a tab, window or screen
• Prepare browser tabs and windows

What changes when you open another private window mid-call?

A newly opened window needs another check. CleanSlate describes local cleanup and focus controls; that description does not establish that a reopened private window stays absent from every meeting or recorder. Rehearse the transition with dummy content instead of inferring the result from the clean desktop.

ScreenVeil gives you two different scopes. A private-app rule excludes that app. Hide a window excludes a specific selected window, while other windows of the same app can remain public. If a new window appears, stop sharing or cover the feed before selecting and checking it.

Specific-window choices reset when Privacy Screen stops. Reopening the same document does not make the new window an inherited exclusion. This matters for browser pop-outs, meeting windows, file pickers and slideshows that create another window when they start.

• ScreenVeil specific-window rules and reset behavior

Notifications, sounds and window contents need separate checks

Apple provides a setting to pause notifications while mirroring or sharing the display. CleanSlate also advertises enabling Do Not Disturb. If an occasional banner is the whole problem, try the built-in control before adding another purchase.

Privacy Screen excludes macOS notification banners by default in the documented macOS 26.1 test setup. It does not filter audio, and a pop-up drawn inside a public app may remain visible. Open the recorder or meeting audio settings as well as the notification settings.

A harmless incoming message is a useful rehearsal: check the received image, listen to the received sound, then deliberately open the sample conversation. Those are three different checks. Passing the banner check alone says nothing about whether the open conversation is in the capture.

• Apple: notification sharing settings
• ScreenVeil tested behavior and limits

Choose using the moment that would interrupt your real presentation

If you present one deck and can leave unrelated work alone, use window sharing and notification controls first. CleanSlate may suit you when you also want local desktop cleanup or dimming. Its current page lists presentation-start and presentation-end automations, which are worth evaluating if cleanup is a routine chore.

If you move from slides to a browser to a spreadsheet while notes or messages must stay available, try ScreenVeil's three free sessions with that exact sequence. Keep the private information fictional. The received view should stay current while the private apps remain absent.

Also test recovery: stop sharing, reopen Privacy Screen, select it again and continue. If the workflow takes too much attention away from the client, a simpler prepared window or separate presentation device may fit better. The useful comparison is the work you can complete safely, not how empty the desktop looks in a product screenshot.

• ScreenVeil installation and first-share instructions
• Try ScreenVeil on your Mac