AppSwitcher

Stop hunting. Start teleporting.

I spend my workdays on macOS and my evenings on Windows. After using rCmd on Mac, I stopped searching for windows and started using muscle memory to jump to them.

Back on Windows, Alt+Tab felt slow and unpredictable for the same workflow, so I built AppSwitcher.

Download Latest Release | Portable (.zip)

▶ See it in action

demo.mp4

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🚀 Why use this?

Alt+Tab is MRU (Most Recently Used), so the order keeps shifting. You have to look, scan, and tap.

AppSwitcher uses static hotkeys:

• Apps+C -> always Chrome
• Apps+V -> always VS Code
• Apps+T -> always Terminal

You stop thinking about where a window is and just jump there.

✨ Key features

• Three Intelligent Cycle Modes:
  • NextApp: Cycle between different apps assigned to the same key.
  • NextWindow: Cycle through all open windows of a single app (great for multi-instance browsers).
  • Hide: Minimize the app if you press the hotkey while it's already focused (the ultimate "toggle").
• Start if not running: optional per-app setting to start the app when no matching process is running.
• Packaged app support: works with modern Windows packaged apps (for example Windows Terminal) in addition to classic desktop apps.
• Peek mode: hold the hotkey to peek at the target app and release to return to the original app.
• Lightweight desktop app: native C#/.NET app with a tray-first workflow.

🔒 Power user ethics

AppSwitcher uses a system-wide keyboard hook to detect your hotkeys. That is exactly why transparency matters.

• Open source: review the code and verify behavior yourself.
• 100% offline: no telemetry, no auto-updates, no backend service.
• No admin required by default: runs in user space.
• Portable option: use the ZIP build if you want a no-installer workflow.

Windows SmartScreen may appear on first launch. As an independent release, AppSwitcher has not built strong SmartScreen reputation yet. If prompted, click More info then Run anyway.

🗺️ Roadmap

• Peek mode: show target app as long as hotkey is held down and then bring back the original app when released.
• Custom key combinations: allow more complex hotkeys, for example Ctrl+Shift+T.
• Dynamic bindings: automatically assign letters based on app name
• More modifiers: add Caps Lock and function keys as optional modifiers.

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💽 Installation and requirements

Requirements

• Windows 10 version 20H1 (build 19041) or newer, or Windows 11
• .NET 8 Desktop Runtime (or higher) for non-self-contained builds

Choose a release

Release	Requires .NET installed	Installer
Installer	Yes	Yes
Installer self-contained	No	Yes
Portable	Yes	No
Portable self-contained	No	No

• Installer - recommended for most users. Runs setup and adds AppSwitcher to Programs.
• Installer self-contained - bundles .NET runtime, larger download.
• Portable - ZIP only, no setup. Extract and run AppSwitcher.exe.
• Portable self-contained - ZIP with bundled runtime, no separate dependency.

Steps

1. Download from app-switcher.com or GitHub releases.
2. Run the installer, or extract the ZIP archive.
3. Start AppSwitcher.exe.

The app starts in the background. Open Settings from the system tray icon to configure hotkeys.

⌨️ Set up your first hotkey

1. Right-click the tray icon and open Settings.
2. Add a hotkey and choose the target app.
3. Pick a modifier and a letter key.
4. Optional: enable Start if not running for that app.

Tip: the Menu/Apps key is often an excellent modifier because it is usually unused as a shortcut modifier.

⌘ CLI commands

Run:

AppSwitcher.exe <command>

Available commands:

Command	Description
--log-all-windows	Log all windows to the log file, useful when troubleshooting
--enable-auto-start	Enable application auto start on system boot
--debug	Enable debug logging, useful for troubleshooting, do not use otherwise
--trace	Enable trace logging, useful for troubleshooting, do not use otherwise
--help	Show the help message with available commands

🛠 Technical notes and known issues

• Configured modifier down/up events are suppressed to avoid side effects in foreground apps.
• Pressing modifier alone (without letter key) still works as usual. For example, Apps alone can still open context menu.
• If you assign common shortcuts (for example Ctrl+V) as AppSwitcher hotkeys, those combinations will be intercepted system-wide and will not reach the foreground app.
• Complex shortcuts may conflict. Example: if Ctrl is your configured modifier, an app shortcut like Ctrl+Shift+T may fail because Ctrl is suppressed before the full combo reaches the app.
• Elevated windows limitation (UIPI): when an administrator app is focused, AppSwitcher hotkeys will not be intercepted unless AppSwitcher is also run as Administrator.

Inspired by rCmd for macOS.