Straight answers.
What Capecho is, what's available now, what it costs, and what happens to your screen.
Is Capecho available now?
Yes — Capecho is on the Mac App Store and the iPhone App Store, and the Mac app is also a direct download from capecho.com. You capture on your Mac and review on your Mac or iPhone.
Why Mac first?
Capture happens while you read on the desktop, and the Mac capture path (hotkey + on-device OCR) is built first. The iPhone review companion is now on the App Store too.
Is there a mobile app?
Yes — the iPhone review companion is on the App Store, so you can review your captured words on the go. An Android version is coming. Mobile capture is a later add.
Is Capecho in the Mac App Store?
Yes — Capecho is on the Mac App Store and the iPhone App Store. The Mac app is also available as a directly signed, notarized download from capecho.com.
Windows or a browser extension?
Later, as capture-surface expansion. Not in this release.
Does Capecho upload my screen?
No. Your Mac's text recognition runs on-device, only at your keypress, and returns only the text — the screen image never reaches Capecho, and nothing is uploaded.
What permission does it need, and can I skip it?
Capture uses macOS's on-device OCR (the text recognition behind Live Text), and macOS gates that behind the permission it labels Screen Recording — Capecho never records or streams; the system runs one OCR pass at your keypress and returns only the text, so the screen image never reaches Capecho. Decline it and copy/paste mode still works: it reads your copied selection only after you press the shortcut, never clipboard monitoring.
Does my sentence go to an AI?
Three layers: it syncs to your private Capecho account when you save (so you can review across devices); it's never added to the shared, public word-explanation cache (built from the word alone); and it's sent to a third-party AI (Gemini) only when you tap the optional in-context explanation (10/day free), under a strict no-training policy (your input is never used to train AI models or reused for anything else).
Can I delete or export my data?
Yes. Export anytime to Anki/CSV. Delete your account and your encrypted context sentences and private glosses are hard-deleted within ~30 days.
Does it work offline?
Yes — capture (on-device OCR) and review work without a connection; only the explanation enrichment waits for reconnect.
Is Capecho free or paid?
The core loop is free, with unlimited saved words: capture, the full word explanation (core meaning + POS, senses, pronunciation), Word Book, FSRS review, cross-device sync, and Anki/CSV export. The only metered extra is 10 in-context explanations a day; Pro ($6/mo or $48/yr) makes those unlimited.
What are the free limits?
Just one: 10 in-context explanations (the word as used in your sentence) a day. Saving words is free and unlimited, and the cache-shared word explanation itself is free and unlimited too.
What happens when I hit the free limit?
Only the in-context explanation pauses — capture, unlimited saving, the word explanation, your Word Book, review, and export all keep working. The daily in-context limit resets at your account's local midnight.
What's in Pro, and what does it cost?
Unlimited in-context explanations — the one feature that costs us per use — for $6 a month or $48 a year (save 33%). Everything else, including unlimited saved words, is already free; you upgrade inside the app and can cancel anytime.
Do I have to build flashcards?
No. Capture is one keystroke and the card assembles itself (your sentence + the word + its explanation).
Do I need an account, and how do I sign in?
Yes, to sync and review across devices: Google or email (one provider per account).
Can I export to Anki?
Yes — Anki and CSV (both included, free), with a target-language column so multi-language decks don't collide.
Is this an Anki replacement?
No, a complement: the same spaced-repetition engine (FSRS) without the manual card-building, and you can export to Anki anytime.
Is Capecho a translator?
No. It explains a word and keeps your sentence; it doesn't translate your screen.
What languages does it support?
Built first for English. Other target languages can still be captured, saved, and reviewed; generated explanations expand to more languages only after their quality is validated.
Download Capecho for Mac.
Capture a word the moment you meet it, understand it in a popover without breaking your flow, and echo it back right before you'd forget — no deck-building, and the core loop stays free.
- On-device OCR
- Free core loop
- Anki & CSV export
Now on Mac and iPhone — capture on your Mac, review on your phone.