Keep it beside what you're working on
Capture what you need and keep it beside your work. Mark it up, crop it or blur a private detail before copying.
A little shelf for your Mac
Keep the good bits.
Screenshots, recordings, files and notes. Always in view, beautifully out of your way.
14 days free. No automatic subscription.
44 seconds of Pensile
Your next good idea is one shortcut away.
⇧⌘1macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple silicon and Intel
PrivateFrom a fleeting moment to a lasting reference.
Capture. Keep. Carry on.
A small place for everything that deserves a second look.
Record it, too
Choose Record Screen in the menu, or Record under an area you’ve chosen. Film an area, a window or the whole screen, with sound, clicks and your voice, then trim it, crop it or save a GIF.
Done for now, not gone
Hang your references, then choose a stack or a small tab when you want them away. Move either endpoint to fit your screen; cross them to flip the line.
Files can hang there too
Drop in a PDF, photo, movie or song. Pull it down for a live preview, with your original file left in place.
Notes where you'll see them
Catch a thought on a coloured sticky note. Keep it on the desktop or hang it on the line, saved as plain text in your folder.
A little life on the line.
Sparrows, robins and other birds drop by to perch, hop and flap. Wind chimes gently ring. Add a little company, with sounds you can switch off.
Watch the film
See through. Work through.
Hold your chosen key to see and click through a cursor circle or the whole shelf. It stays open for two seconds after release.
iPhone and iPad
Your album, in your pocket.
Pensile for iPhone and iPad keeps your screenshots, pictures, files and notes in an album you turn by hand, as slides, on a corkboard, a menu board or a receipt roll, in step with your Mac through your own iCloud.
- Share a screenshot to Pensile from any app, or add photos, files and notes.
- Search the writing in your screenshots, read on your device, and mark them up with the Mac's tools.
- On iPhone Duo, the album's spine lies on the fold.
- Free on iPhone and iPad: every feature, with nothing to buy.
Details
And the rest
Pensile lives in the menu bar. There's no window to manage and no library to sort: what you pinned is where you left it.
Windows, corners and all
Click a window to capture just that window, rounded corners and all. Or drag over any area, or take a whole display.
Every display
One stack for all your displays, or a line on each. Send a picture to the next display with ⌘⇧→, or bring the stack to the screen you're on.
Plain files in your folder
Screenshots are PNG files, recordings are movies and notes are text files, in a folder you choose, sorted into folders by kind if you like. Take something off the line and the file stays.
Clips and frames
Paper clips or wooden pegs, with pictures bare or in white, Polaroid, wooden, gold or film-strip frames.
Out of the way
No Dock icon and no main window. Pictures float above your windows, or, if you'd rather, sit among them and come forward when you use Pensile.
Private
No Pensile account, analytics or tracking. Pensile does not upload your captures, notes or pinned files.
Pricing
A small price for a clearer desktop.
Download Pensile free and try every feature for 14 days. Then choose a lifetime purchase or a yearly subscription, inside the app.
Yearly
$9.99/ year
A small price, renewed each year. Cancel whenever you like in your App Store settings.
- Everything in Pensile
- All updates while subscribed
- On your Macs
Best value
Lifetime
$29.99once
One purchase. All of Pensile, with no renewal.
- Everything in Pensile
- All future updates
- On your Macs
Pensile for iPhone and iPad is free. Bought in the app, through the App Store. Prices in US dollars; the App Store shows yours in your currency.
Questions
Good to know
How does the free trial work?
Download Pensile from the Mac App Store and start the 14-day trial from the window it opens with. Everything works during the trial. When it ends, what you've pinned stays right where it is; to capture and pin new things, buy Lifetime or subscribe, inside the app.
Will it work on my Mac?
Pensile requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later and supports Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
Is there Pensile for iPhone and iPad?
Yes. It keeps the same screenshots, pictures and notes as your Mac, in an album, as slides, on a corkboard, a menu board or a receipt roll, and syncs through your own iCloud once you turn sync on in both. It's free, with nothing to buy.
How do I cancel the yearly plan?
In your App Store account settings, under Subscriptions, at least a day before it renews. You keep Pensile until the end of the year you paid for.
Where does Pensile live?
In the menu bar, as a small monochrome Pensile logo. It has no Dock icon and no main window: what you pin floats on the screen or hangs on the line along the top.
Why does it ask for Screen Recording permission?
macOS asks for it before any app can take a screenshot or record the screen. Pensile uses it only for the pictures and recordings you ask for, at the moment you ask for them.
Where are my screenshots kept?
Screenshots as PNG files and recordings as movies, in Pensile's own folder, or in any folder you choose in Settings, such as Pictures › Screenshots, sorted by kind if you like. They're ordinary files, and stay there when you take them off the line.
What languages is it in?
English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French and Spanish.
More apps
More from the maker of Pensile
CopyccinoClipboard history as cards: browse, search and paste every copy.copyccino.starvale.io
DigitCube54 everyday developer tools in one native app. Format, convert, decode, hash and generate, all offline.digitcube.starvale.io
TwaintyA quiet Markdown editor to read, write and think in. At rest, the window is the page and nothing else.twainty.starvale.io
GobyStationDeep clean for macOS. Finds what macOS and your apps leave behind, and maps what is filling your disk.gobystation.com