A menu‑bar app for macOS · v1.1.0

Screenshots,
instantly from the menu bar.

ShotBar lives in your menu bar and captures with a single F-key. No finger gymnastics, no clutter, no app telemetry - just sharp Retina output from a signed and notarized macOS app.

macOS 15.5+Signed and notarized
Free & MIT licensedNo account, no app tracking
1.2 MBScreenCaptureKit native
SandboxedScreen Recording only
ShotBarv1.1.0
Capture selection F1
Active window F2
Full screen F3
Recent captures 12 today
Preferences… ⌘,
Saving to ~/Pictures PNG · clipboard
Captured · copied to clipboard
01 — Features

A small app that does six things very well.

Every feature earns its place. No editing suite, no cloud, no sign-in - just the things you actually need a hundred times a day.

A.01

Three capture modes

Drag a selection, grab the active window, or shoot the whole desktop — including every connected display.

A.02

F‑key, not finger‑knot

Bind any function key from F1 to F12 to any mode. No more hammering a four-key shortcut with two hands.

A.03

Save your way

Clipboard or disk. PNG (lossless) or JPEG (92% quality). Filenames timestamped automatically.

A.04

Retina‑crisp, every monitor

Pixel-precise coordinate mapping for scaled displays, Retina panels, and multi-monitor setups.

A.05

Privacy by default

App-sandboxed. One permission: Screen Recording. No accessibility access. No app analytics. No app network calls.

A.06

Quiet feedback

A subtle HUD confirms each shot. Optional shutter sound if you miss the click of a real camera.

02 — Shortcuts

Defaults that make sense.

Three keys, three modes. Reassign anything to anything in Preferences - F-keys only, no modifier soup.

F1

Selection

Drag a rectangle anywhere. Live pixel readout while you select.

F2

Active window

Captures the previously focused window - never the menu bar popover.

F3

Full screen

One file per display when you have more than one connected.

03 — Engineering

Modern Apple frameworks. No shortcuts.

Built on ScreenCaptureKit and SwiftUI with a clean, testable architecture. Free, open, and forkable.

Architecture at a glance

Models, services, and UI separated cleanly. AppServices coordinates dependency‑injected managers — small enough to read in an afternoon.

// ShotBarApp/
Models/       Hotkey · Preferences · Enums
Services/     HotkeyManager · ScreenshotManager
UI/           PreferencesView · MenuContentView
Components/   SelectionOverlay · Toast
Utils/        Extensions · helpers

Why it stays reliable

  • B.01ScreenCaptureKit native. Modern capture API for crisp macOS screenshots.
  • B.02Carbon Event Manager. Stable system-wide hotkey capture, hot-swappable at runtime.
  • B.03Multi-display correctness. Coordinate mapping designed for Retina and scaled displays.
  • B.04Graceful fallbacks. Sub-second capture with thorough error handling.
  • B.05Combine-driven state. Reactive coordination without notification sprawl.
04 — Get it

Download the signed, notarized DMG.

ShotBar v1.1.0 is signed with Developer ID and notarized by Apple. Drag it into Applications and grant Screen Recording permission on first launch.

Download .dmg Buy me a coffee
SHA256 verified · 1.2 MB · v1.1.0 · April 2026
Or build from source
# clone & build
git clone https://github.com/aneesahammed/shotbar.git
cd shotbar
xcodebuild -scheme ShotBarApp \
  -configuration Release build
05 — FAQ

Things that might trip you up.

Q.01

The app won't open on first launch.

macOS may ask you to confirm the first launch because ShotBar was downloaded from the internet. Open it once from Applications, then it launches normally.

Q.02

Nothing happens when I press F1.

Grant Screen Recording: System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Screen Recording -> toggle ShotBar on. macOS may ask you to relaunch the app.

Q.03

F-keys do brightness or volume instead.

System Settings -> Keyboard -> enable "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys." Or hold Fn while pressing.

Q.04

Output looks soft on my external monitor.

ShotBar always captures at the display's native resolution. Soft output usually means the display is running at a non-native scaled mode - check your display settings.

Q.05

Does it phone home? Collect anything?

No. The ShotBar app makes zero network calls. There is no analytics SDK, no crash reporter, no update check. This website uses GoatCounter for privacy-friendly pageview counts.