AI word explanations on your Mac menu bar

After downloading the DMG, drag PopGloss into Applications and open it. First launch guides you to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility to enable PopGloss. This permission reads the selected text and its position; PopGloss never requests screen recording. No restart needed after granting.

Select text in any accessibility-aware app and a light bubble appears next to the selection; click it for an explanation. You can also switch to a shortcut in settings: the default is ⌥ + select (hold Option while selecting, release to trigger), or customize to ⌥+Space, double-click or triple-click.

Length: short (1 sentence) / medium (2–3 sentences, default) / detailed (paragraph + bullets). Styles: plain, academic, coding, language learning. Switch anytime from the menu bar or settings — effective immediately.

By default 200 characters are grabbed on each side of the selection. Switch to 100 or 500 in settings. When an app can't provide the full text you'll see "context unavailable" and the explanation uses only the selection.

Lookup history is stored in a local SQLite database (last 100 entries by default; configurable to 50/100/500/1000). Search, copy and delete are supported; turning off "record history" stops all writes. History is never uploaded.

Billed per credit: one standard explanation = 1 credit (high-quality model = 2 credits), regardless of selection length. Balances never expire and never reset monthly; buy credit packs in the app under Settings → Credit Packs — activation happens automatically after payment.

No bubble on selection? Check that Accessibility is enabled, that "pause selection" is off, and that the app isn't excluded. Image-based PDFs and some custom-rendered controls can't provide text — expected behavior. If an explanation fails, check your connection and retry.

Accessibility permission, to read the selected text and its position. No screen recording permission is needed. First launch walks you through it.

Explanation requests send the selection and its context to the AI model — that's required to generate the explanation. The server stores no text, only length and a hash for usage stats; history stays on your Mac.

Per-credit billing: a standard explanation = 1 credit (high-quality model = 2 credits), regardless of length; your balance never expires — no monthly reset, no forced subscription. Credit pack: 1,000 credits / $10.

No sign-up, works out of the box: every Mac gets 10 free credits. When they run out, buy a credit pack in the app under Settings → Credit Packs.

Buy a credit pack. Balances never expire and never reset; use exactly what you buy. No subscription.

macOS 13 Ventura or later, native on Apple Silicon and Intel. Explanations need a connection; offline you can still browse your local history.

Yes. Payments are processed by Creem as merchant of record; invoices are available from Creem's customer portal.

Full refund within 14 days unless a large number of credits has been consumed; consumed credits are deducted pro rata. See the refund policy page.