Direct download
Download Hammock.
macOS 13 Ventura or later. Universal — Apple silicon and Intel. Signed and notarised by Apple, and ~11 MB of memory on the defaults it ships with.
Hammock 1.3.2
The full app. Every feature unlocked for 14 days, then Snap, Jump and Color stay free forever — along with the notch HUD they draw into — and the other 13 switch themselves off. No card, nothing to cancel.
Already have a key? Paste it into Settings → General → License. One licence covers 3 Macs.
Signed and notarised
Developer ID signed, and the notarisation ticket from Apple is stapled into the app. Gatekeeper checks both before it opens, offline included.
Updates itself
Through Sparkle, over our own appcast. It asks whether a newer version exists; it sends nothing about you.
No account
Nothing to sign up for. The trial and the licence identify a Mac by a one-way hash of its hardware ID, and that is the only identifier involved.
What happens next.
- 01
Open the disk image, drag it to Applications
The usual DMG. Because it is signed and notarised by Apple, macOS opens it normally: you get the one-line “downloaded from the Internet” confirmation the first time and nothing else. No right-click → Open, no trip to Privacy & Security to allow a blocked app.
- 02
It lives at the top of the screen
There is no Dock icon and no window waiting for you — Hammock is a menu-bar app. Look for the mark next to the clock. Every feature that has a switch ships switched off; the one that has none is the notch HUD the others draw into, and with nothing switched on it has nothing to draw.
- 03
Getting Started opens itself
A card for every feature there is a switch to turn on, each running the real thing while you are on it. Turn on what you want as you go and skip what you do not — it retires itself once you reach the end. The same hands-on steps stay behind a Try it block at the top of every feature’s settings page afterwards, so none of this is a one-time tour you have to sit through now.
Permissions
Nothing is asked for on install.
macOS permissions are requested by the feature that needs them, at the moment you switch that feature on, and never before. Turn nothing on and Hammock never asks for anything. You can take any of them back in System Settings, and the feature will say so rather than quietly stop working.
| Permission | Used by | What it does | When you are asked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | Snap, Layouts, Jump, Palette, Swipe, Sweep, Clipboard, Snippets | Reads and moves other apps’ windows, and carries the r⌘ / r⌥ leader keys. It is not a keylogger: anything that is not a chord Hammock is watching for passes straight through untouched. Every r⌘ / r⌥ chord rides that one tap, so without the grant the shortcuts for OCR, Focus, Shelf and Awake will not fire — though all four features themselves run without it. | The first time you switch on any of them — and on the first card of the walkthrough, which explains it before asking. |
| Send Keystrokes | Clipboard, Snippets | Replays the paste that puts the item you picked into the app you were typing in. macOS treats it as a separate grant from Accessibility. | When you switch either one on. |
| Screen Recording | OCR and Element Capture; optional for Color | Reads the pixels inside the box you draw, so they can be recognised (OCR) or captured and edited (Element Capture) on the Mac. For Color it is optional and only buys the magnifying loupe. | When you switch OCR or Element Capture on, or the first time you ask Color for the loupe. |
| Automation (Finder, Spotify & Music) | Shelf — the Finder stash; Now Playing — album artwork (opt-in, off by default) | Asks Finder what you currently have selected, so the shelf hotkey can stash it. If you turn on album artwork, also asks Spotify or Music for the current cover. | The first time you press the shelf hotkey with Finder in front, or the first time a track plays after you switch album artwork on. The rest of the Shelf and Now Playing work without it. |
| Files & Folders | Shelf — automatic screenshot stashing only | Reads new screenshots out of whichever folder your Mac saves them to. | Only when you switch that setting on. Opening Settings does not trigger it. |
| Bluetooth | Notch device chips | Reads the battery level of a device as it connects, for the notch chip that shows it. | Only when you switch the device chips on. |
| Notifications | Trial and licence notices, Accessibility alerts, Awake, Sweep | Six messages, and no others exist: two at the end of a trial — one two days before, one on the day — plus Accessibility being taken away while a feature needs it, a keep-awake session ending on its timer, the same session ending on low battery, and Sweep losing its check for windows on other Spaces. | Never on install and never at launch — the prompt appears the first time Hammock actually has something to tell you. Settings lists it as a permission you can grant in advance instead, and saying no costs you nothing but the messages. |
System requirements.
- macOS
- 13 Ventura or later
- Architecture
- Universal — Apple silicon and Intel
- Memory
- ~11 MB on the shipped defaults, ~22 MB with every feature on
- Disk
- Under 30 MB, and no background helpers
Trouble installing, or a question first? Support and the FAQ cover permissions, licensing and uninstalling, and the changelog lists every release.