Sleekshot for Mac: a Free Screenshot App with Arrows, Text and Blur

Sleekshot for Mac is a free screenshot app that lives in the menu bar on macOS 12 Monterey and later. Press ⌘ + ⇧ + 2, drag over an area and add arrows, boxes, blur and text right on the screenshot. Then copy it, save it as PNG or JPEG or copy the text in it with ⌘ + ⇧ + C. It's free on the Mac App Store.

It's the Mac sibling of Sleekshot for Windows and simpler on purpose: one job, done quickly, with no account, no in-app purchases and no Dock icon. The Mac version is newer than the Windows app, and our download page still calls it beta. The app is in English.

How Sleekshot for Mac works

1. Press ⌘ + ⇧ + 2, or choose Take Screenshot from the menu bar icon. The display under the pointer dims.
2. Drag over an area. The size bar shows its width and height. Drag the edges, the corners or the move handle to adjust it.
3. Draw on it with the toolbar next to the selection.
4. Press ⌘ + C to copy, ⌘ + S to save or Esc to close.

Screenshots come out at full Retina resolution, even when you use a MacBook screen with a regular external monitor. On macOS 14 and later, Sleekshot uses ScreenCaptureKit, which keeps the mouse pointer and Sleekshot's own windows out of the image. If the menu bar is too crowded to show the icon, which happens on MacBooks with a notch, a small floating icon appears instead. You can also save automatically: pick an auto-save folder and the file format in Settings.

The first time you take a screenshot, macOS asks you to allow screen recording for Sleekshot. That's the standard permission for any app that takes pictures of the screen. Sleekshot walks you through it, and it doesn't mean the app records video.

Tools and their keys

Hold ⇧ for straight lines, squares and circles. The Blur tool pixelates the area and makes it a permanent part of the saved image, so nobody can reveal the hidden text by removing a layer. In Settings, you can choose which tool is ready when you start drawing: Arrow, Rectangle, Line or Pencil.

Copy text from the screen with ⌘⇧C

Select any area with text, like a PDF page, a video frame or a screenshot in a chat, and press ⌘ + ⇧ + C. Sleekshot reads it with Apple's Vision framework, right on your Mac, and puts plain text on the clipboard. It's quicker than opening an image in Preview to use Live Text, and it works on text in any app window. More in how to copy text from an image on a Mac.

Why ⌘⇧2 and not ⌘⇧4

macOS uses ⌘ + ⇧ + 3, 4 and 5 for its own screenshot tool. Sleekshot uses ⌘ + ⇧ + 2 to avoid a clash, so both tools keep working. Are your fingers used to ⌘ + ⇧ + 4? Turn off the system shortcut in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Screenshots. Then record ⌘⇧4 in Sleekshot's Settings. The app shows a tip on how to do it. All the built-in keys are in our Mac screenshot shortcuts guide.

Sleekshot vs the built-in ⌘⇧5 screenshot tool

macOS already has a good screenshot tool, and for some jobs it's the better choice. Here's how they compare:

Use the built-in tool for window screenshots, screenshots on a timer and video. Use Sleekshot when a screenshot needs arrows, a hidden email address or copied text before it goes anywhere. For a wider comparison, see the best screenshot apps for Mac and how to screenshot on a Mac.

What's not in the Mac version (yet)

Sleekshot for Mac is smaller than the Windows app on purpose. It doesn't have:

• screen recording, one-click window screenshots, a full-screen button or a timer;
• the Upload button for short links;
• numbered steps, the highlighter, the extra arrow styles or ready-made sizes;
• moving arrows and shapes after you draw them (undo with ⌘ + Z instead), scrolling screenshots, GIF export or backgrounds.

If you also use a PC, the Windows version has all of that, including a free screen recorder and 7 arrow styles with numbered steps.