These have been around for a while. I just saw them offered at Menard's (maybe it was Loews?).

I considered them but we have a Westie who would rip right through anything like that at the first sighting of a squirrel. We ordered matching screen doors from Pella for our French doors (not sliders).

I installed a roll up screen for my son/DIL on a flip house they were doing---purchased at Lowe's. It was on a 34" wide opening for a screened porch. The cartridge mounted on one side of the opening, reducing the avialable opening to 32". There was a top and bottom track---I drilled holes in the bottom track to hopefully allow water to have a way out. The bottom track necessitated stepping over it---odd in an otherwise clear opening.

I was not happy with the operation---the preload on the retracting spring had to be preset before mounting the cartridge---I had to unmount it twice when the amount of prelaod turns in the directions was woefully inadequate.

It did work--albeit in a very jerky and hesitant manner.

I would not use one on my own place.

thanks for your note, handymac. i see that screen door has some drawbacks that could cause headaches. i think i'll replace my slide screen with another one of similar design. they make screens now that are nearly invisible. are they any good?

Point - it will take LESS time to exit/enter a vertical entry than horizontal - hence less opportunity for winged insects to enter

There are multiple roll-up screens companies out there. My front door has a Phantom Screen--they and many competitors make these for french doors, too, with a magnet closure in the middle. Google "roll-up screen". Mine has held up very well over about 4 years, and I am comfortable recommending the brand (not given lightly). My only complaint is that my indoor cats have figured out how to escape under the screen without popping the closure magnet--they do warn of this on their website. The screen has not ripped or torn (it pops open and rolls up with a bang if someone--even the dachshund--runs into it or tries to claw at it. The noise of that alone is a great deterrent to animals trying that again. No maintenance except an occasional spray of (company-provided) silicone lubricant to the runners.

Here is a link that might be useful: Phantom Screen

Sorry-- forgot to actually address your main question. Yes, my rolling screen does a great job of keeping out insects--as much as any screen. The bottom (where the cats go through) is "loose" in that it is not physically attached to the frame, but taut in a the screen-in-use "closed" position, but there is a very low-profile groove that it sits in... the cats just push the up and out of the way gently, and it returns to sitting in the groove. It is sprung so that there is "give" if you push against the screen when in use, but that's so it doesn't tear if you run into it... hard to explain, but yes, it works well against insects.