Parallex or a second macOS user account?
A second user account keeps two lives apart completely, but you see one at a time. Parallex keeps two accounts of the same app apart, in the same session, both on screen. Which you want depends on how much you need to separate.
At a glance
| Parallex | A second user account | |
|---|---|---|
| Both accounts on screen | Yes, side by side | No: you switch between accounts |
| What's separate | The app's sign-in, data, keychain items, notifications and permissions | Everything: files, settings and every app |
| Your files | Shared: Documents, Desktop and Downloads stay yours | Separate, unless you set up a shared folder |
| Setting it up | Pick the app and name the instance | Add a user, then sign in to every app and set up the Mac again |
| Apple's own apps (Mail, Messages, Notes) | Can't be copied | Separate, with their own Apple Account |
| iCloud | A copy can't use iCloud sync | Its own Apple Account, iCloud included |
| Cost | Free to try | Free, built into macOS |
When a second user account is better
- Someone else uses the Mac, and their files and settings should be theirs.
- You want work and home apart in everything, files included, not only in one app.
- The app you need twice is one of Apple's, like Messages or Mail, or depends on iCloud.
When Parallex is better
- You need both accounts in view: a client's Slack beside your own, two WhatsApp numbers, work and personal Claude.
- You want notifications from both as they come, each from an app with its own name and Dock icon.
- You'd rather not set up a second Mac's worth of settings, apps and files for the sake of one app.
Using both
They don't get in each other's way. Parallex works inside whichever user account you're in, so a second account can have its own instances too.
Questions
Do apps in the other user account keep running?
Yes, with fast user switching they keep running in the background, but you only see the account you're in, so you switch to read the other one's messages.
Is a second user account more private?
Yes. It's macOS's own separation, for everything in the account. Parallex separates an app's data from the original app, not from you: both instances are yours, in one account.
Get Parallex
Free to try, for macOS 14 and later. In Terminal:
curl -fsSL https://parallex.mandip.dev/install | shOr download the disk image, or with Homebrew: brew install --cask mandipadk/parallex/parallex.