PanoPaper vs a browser tab
Every camera on one screen. Not in a browser tab.
Most of us watch our cameras in a browser: Protect's live view in one tab, an IP camera's own page in the next. PanoPaper turns your Mac into a real video wall. Every camera, UniFi and others, in one grid that fills the screen, in Full Screen or right on your desktop.
For macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later, with UniFi Protect, ONVIF or RTSP cameras.
A look, or keeping watch
A tab is fine for a look. A wall is for keeping watch.
A browser tab works well when you want to check something. Open Protect, look, close it. Keeping your cameras in view all day is something else: tabs get buried under windows, and cameras that aren't in Protect each live on a page of their own.
PanoPaper's All Cameras puts every camera you have into one grid and keeps it there. Show it in Full Screen on a spare display, or let it be your desktop wallpaper, dimmed a little behind your windows while you work.
Side by side
How they compare.
| Topic | A browser tab | PanoPaper |
|---|---|---|
| What you open | Protect's page, and a page for each IP camera that isn't in Protect | One wall with every camera, Protect's and the others |
| Several NVRs | One console on each page | Every NVR's cameras in one grid, or just one NVR's |
| Layout | A Live View you arrange in Protect | A grid that fits the screen by itself, every camera in view |
| When someone shows up | Protect's outlines on its own page | The camera's tile lights up with a moving outline, plus a line at the top of your screen and a soft chime |
| One camera, bigger | Click it on the page | Press its number, or click its tile in Full Screen. The key left of 1 brings the wall back |
| Several displays | A window on each, arranged by hand | A wall or a single camera on each display, chosen once and remembered |
| While you work | A window in the way, or hidden behind the others | The wall becomes your desktop wallpaper, behind your windows |
| Price | Free | Free to try, then PanoPaper Pro as a yearly plan or a one-time purchase, for up to 3 Macs |
Protect details as of October 2026.
Made to be a wall
What makes All Cameras a video wall.
- Every camera, always in view. The grid is worked out from how many cameras you have and the display's shape. Nothing to scroll, no empty space.
- Names and keys on every tile. Each tile shows the camera's name, and the first nine the number key that brings that camera up on its own.
- Fill or whole pictures. Let the pictures fill the grid edge to edge, or show each one complete. Drag a picture in Settings to choose which part of it shows.
- The sharpest picture. Every tile plays the camera's best stream, decoded by your Mac's hardware. Want to spare your network? Automatic picks smaller streams for small tiles.
- 360° cameras, made flat. A 360° camera shows a normal view of the room in its tile, not a round picture.
- Full Screen over everything. From the menu bar or a shortcut of your own, the wall rises above every window, the menu bar and the Dock. Esc brings you back.
To be fair
When the browser is the better choice.
A browser needs nothing installed and works on any computer, which makes it the easy pick on a shared or borrowed one. It's also where Protect keeps your recordings and their timeline: for going back to what happened at 3 a.m., Protect's own page is the place.
For keeping every camera in view, day in and day out, PanoPaper is made for it.
Questions
What people usually ask.
Can UniFi and other cameras share one wall?
Yes. UniFi Protect cameras and ONVIF or RTSP cameras sit side by side in the same grid, in the order you choose.
How many cameras fit?
All of them. Every camera gets a tile, and the grid adapts to how many you have. What your network and your Mac can carry is the only limit.
Can I leave some cameras out?
Yes. Show just one NVR's cameras, or disable a camera in Settings and it leaves the wall.
Do I hear the cameras?
Not in the wall: several microphones at once would just be noise. Show one camera on its own and you hear it.
Can I keep recordings and the timeline?
Yes, in Protect. PanoPaper only watches live and never changes anything in Protect, so both work side by side.
What does it cost?
PanoPaper is free, with every feature. For the first 7 days your cameras look clean. After that, “UNLICENSED” shows across them until you buy PanoPaper Pro, as a yearly plan or a one-time purchase.
Every camera, one screen. No tab to keep open.
macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.
