What is Shottr?
Shottr is a small, fast screenshot app for Macs, aimed at people who care about pixels — designers, front-end engineers and mobile developers. The developer describes it as a native app of about 2.3 MB, optimised for Apple Silicon, that takes roughly 17 ms to grab a screenshot and around 165 ms to display it. It goes well past the system screenshot tool: scrolling capture for long pages and chat threads, on-device OCR that also reads QR codes, annotation and pixelation, a screen ruler, a colour picker that reads the pixel under the cursor, pinned always-on-top images, and background presets for presentable screenshots. It is free to download and use, with a one-time paid licence required for commercial use, and it is not open source.
Verified product facts
- Type
- screenshot toolEditorially reviewed
- Platform
- macOS
- Apple Silicon
- Yes
- Pricing
- FreemiumDeveloper-stated
- Price
- USD 12Developer-stated
- Developer
- Electric Endeavors LLCDeveloper-stated
- Relationship to Nuanyue
- Third-party product — not published by NuanyueEditorially reviewed
- Current version
- 1.9.3Developer-stated
- Official website
- shottr.cc/
Last updated . Facts marked developer-stated come from the developer and are not independently confirmed; editorially reviewed marks a Nuanyue judgement.
Key features
What Shottr does at a glance.
Area and fullscreen capture
With a fullscreen-then-crop workflow the developer recommends over area selection
Scrolling capture
For long web pages and chat threads, with a manual scrolling mode for systems where automatic capture fails
On-device OCR
Reads text from an area and copies it to the clipboard, and also decodes QR codes
Annotation tools
For text, freehand drawing, highlights, spotlights and arrows, plus pixelation and object removal for hiding sensitive content
Gradient backgrounds, shadows and rounded corners
For presentable screenshots
Screen ruler
Arrow keys measure vertically or horizontally and the measurement is imprinted on the screenshot
Colour picker
Copies the colour under the cursor, and zoom for inspecting individual pixels
Pinned screenshots as floating always-on-top windows, and combining several captures on one canvas
Uploads to S3 or iCloud
For sharing, with a dedicated folder for saved screenshots
What you can use Shottr for
- Capturing a full web page or a long chat thread in one image
- Copying text out of something that will not let you select it
- Marking up a screenshot for a bug report or a design review
- Measuring the spacing between interface elements on screen
- Producing presentable screenshots with backgrounds for documentation or a store listing
Who is Shottr for?
- Designers and front-end engineers who need precise measurements and colour values from the screen
- Mobile developers capturing device frames and long scroll views
- Anyone who wants a faster, more capable replacement for the built-in screenshot shortcut
Who is Shottr not for?
- Anyone who needs a screenshot tool on Windows or Linux — the developer states those versions are unlikely, since the codebase relies on low-level macOS APIs
- Teams that need the interface in a language other than English; the developer is deliberately avoiding localisation for now
- Users who want an open-source tool, since Shottr is closed source and requires a licence for commercial use
Limitations
- Commercial use requires a paid licence; the free tier only stops asking after 30 days and is not licensed for work
- One Basic licence covers one user and up to five Macs, and the Friends Club tier cannot be discounted or upgraded into
- Scrolling capture does not work reliably in Terminal, Visual Studio Code or Finder's column view, and can be disturbed by scroll-modifying utilities; a manual scrolling mode exists as a fallback
- The upload feature makes screenshots public — anyone who obtains the URL can view the image, so it should not be used for anything private
- Requires macOS Screen Recording permission, and Accessibility permission for scrolling capture
- The interface is English only
Strengths and trade-offs
What Shottr does well, and what to weigh before choosing it. Points marked developer-stated come from the developer’s own material and have not been independently confirmed.
Strengths
- Free to download and use, with a one-time $12 licence rather than a subscription, and a 14-day refund window.
- Native and small, and the developer states it is optimised for Apple Silicon.Developer-stated
- OCR runs on the Mac — the privacy policy states both the image and the recognised text stay on the device.
- Scrolling capture, the screen ruler and the colour picker are in the app, where most screenshot tools need an extra utility.
- Raycast extension and an Alfred workflow exist for triggering captures from a launcher.
Trade-offs
- A licence is required for commercial use, so the free tier is not a complete solution for work.
- Scrolling capture fails in Terminal, Visual Studio Code and Finder column view, where scrolling is emulated rather than native.
- The upload feature makes screenshots publicly readable to anyone with the URL, which rules it out for sensitive content.
- English-only interface, with localisation deliberately deferred by the developer.
First-use experience
What the app asks of you when you set it up. Only established facts appear here; anything we could not confirm is left out rather than guessed at.
- Installation
- Download the disk image from shottr.cc, open it and drag Shottr into Applications. The current stable release is 1.9.3.
- First launch Developer-stated
- Shottr asks for Screen Recording permission on first launch, which it needs to take screenshots. The developer notes that the app takes screenshots of the menu bar area rather than recording the screen, and that those images are neither saved nor transmitted.
- System integration Developer-stated
- Lives in the menu bar with a dock icon that can be hidden only through an experimental Friends Club setting. Accessibility permission is requested separately and is needed only for scrolling capture.
- Apple Silicon
- Supported
What it is
Shottr is a screenshot tool that behaves like a native Mac app rather than a cross-platform port. The developer’s own framing is that it is small — about 2.3 MB — and fast, quoting roughly 17 ms to capture and 165 ms to display, and states it is optimised for Apple Silicon. The audience named on the site is narrow and specific: designers, front-end engineers, mobile developers, and anyone who cares about pixels.
That focus shows up in the tools. This is not just a capture-and-annotate app.
Capturing
There are two capture modes, and the developer recommends the less obvious one. Rather than selecting an area first, take a fullscreen capture and crop inside the app: that freezes the screen, so menus and hover states stay put while you work out what to keep, and most of the app’s tools are optimised for that workflow.
Scrolling capture assembles a long page or chat thread into one image. It is the feature with the most caveats. It does not work reliably in Terminal, Visual Studio Code or Finder’s column view, all of which emulate scrolling rather than performing it natively, and utilities that modify scroll behaviour can interfere with it. A manual scrolling mode is provided as a fallback for those cases.
Measuring and extracting
The screen ruler turns the keyboard into a measuring tool: press the up or down arrow and move the pointer to measure vertically, left or right for horizontally, and click to imprint the measurement on the screenshot. The colour picker works the same way — take a capture, zoom in, hover the pixel you want and press Tab to copy its value.
OCR is the third extraction tool. Select an area and Shottr parses the text and copies it to the clipboard, which is useful for anything that refuses to be selected. It also reads QR codes. The privacy policy states that recognition runs on the Mac and that neither the image nor the recognised text is transmitted anywhere.
Pricing and licence
Shottr is free to download and use. After 30 days it begins asking you to consider upgrading, and a licence is required for commercial use — that is a licence term, not a nag screen. The Basic tier is a one-time $12 covering one user and up to five Macs. The Friends Club tier is a one-time $30 and adds experimental features and priority support; it cannot be discounted and a Basic licence cannot be upgraded into it. The developer is explicit that neither is a subscription, and direct purchases carry a 14-day refund window.
The one feature to think about before using is upload. Screenshots you upload become publicly readable to anyone who has or guesses the URL, which the developer states plainly in the terms. Everything else stays on the Mac.
Platform limits
The current stable release declares macOS 12 as its floor, and the disk image is a universal build covering Apple Silicon and Intel. The site also offers an older 1.6 build and a beta channel for macOS 10.15 and up.
There is no Windows or Linux version and the developer does not expect one: the app depends on low-level macOS APIs and the codebase is not portable. The interface is English only, and the developer has said localisation is deliberately deferred so that feature work is not slowed down. Windows or Linux users, and anyone needing a non-English interface, should look elsewhere.
Release history
Dated releases recorded for Shottr, newest first, each with the source it was read from.
1.9.3
Current stable release, published to the developer's version feed as build 136 with the disk image built as 1.9.3b.
Source: Official website
Questions about Shottr
Is Shottr free?
You can download and use it for free, and after 30 days it starts asking you to consider upgrading. A licence is required for commercial use: the Basic tier is a one-time $12 covering one user and up to five Macs, and the Friends Club tier is a one-time $30.
Is Shottr a subscription?
No. The developer states plainly that it is a single-time purchase rather than a subscription, and there is a 14-day refund window on direct purchases.
Does Shottr upload my screenshots anywhere?
Only if you use the upload feature. Screenshots are otherwise stored and processed locally, and the developer states that OCR runs on the Mac and that neither the image nor the recognised text is transmitted. Uploaded images do become publicly readable to anyone with the URL.
Which macOS version does Shottr need?
Version 1.9.3 declares a minimum of macOS 12. The site also offers an older 1.6 build and a beta channel for macOS 10.15 and up.
Does Shottr run on Apple Silicon?
Yes. The 1.9.3 disk image contains a universal binary covering arm64 and x86_64, and the developer states the app is optimised for Apple Silicon.
Will there be a Windows or Linux version of Shottr?
The developer states those versions are unlikely, because the app relies on low-level macOS APIs and the codebase is not portable.Developer-stated
Competitors
Direct competitors: overlapping features aimed at the same users.
macshot
Free, open-source native screenshot and recording tool for macOS.
Both take screenshots with scrolling capture and OCR on macOS, but macshot is open source while Shottr is closed source with a paid commercial licence.
Snipaste
Screenshot tool that pins captures as floating windows.
Both are lightweight screenshot tools with pinning and annotation, but Snipaste is free and cross-platform while Shottr is Mac-only with a paid tier.
Compared with
Head-to-head comparisons Nuanyue has published.
CleanShot X
Discover a superior way to capture your Mac's screen.
Both are Mac screenshot and annotation tools; CleanShot X is a subscription or one-time paid app with cloud hosting, while Shottr is free to use with a one-time licence only for commercial use.
Links
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the sources below. Last updated .
- Shottr — official websiteGrade B
- Shottr — documentationGrade C
