Pointer highlight
A soft colored circle follows the cursor. Choose its color, opacity, size from 20 to 200, and fade.
Open source · macOS 14+ · Universal binary · Presentation & Cursor
Show them where
you are pointing.
Highlight your pointer, ripple every click and dim the rest of the screen for demos and screen shares. Press ⌃⌥⌘S for the spotlight or ⌃⌥⌘H to toggle all effects.
Free & MIT licensed · Apple Silicon & Intel · Latest release
Features
Three effects, one menu bar app.
Each effect works on its own, and every color, size and fade is adjustable with a live preview.
Click ripples
An expanding ring marks each left click, a different color marks right clicks, and a press indicator shows while the button is held.
Screen spotlight
Dim the whole screen and leave a bright circle around the pointer. Resize it with [ and ] or Option plus the scroll wheel.
Global hotkeys
Toggle all effects or just the spotlight from any app. Both shortcuts can be re-recorded in Settings.
Multi-display and recording aware
Every screen gets its own click-through overlay. Effects show up in recordings by default, and an optional toggle hides them from capture.
Light, native, adjustable
Built with SwiftUI and AppKit, with Reduce Motion support and optional launch at login. No network calls or third-party dependencies.
Screenshots
See it in action.
Install
Up and running in a minute.
PointerSpotlightGlow is open source and not notarized with a paid Apple Developer ID, so macOS needs one extra step the first time.
- Download PointerSpotlightGlow-macOS.zip and unzip it.
- Move PointerSpotlightGlow.app to your Applications folder.
- Clear the quarantine flag once, then right-click the app and choose Open:
xattr -cr /Applications/PointerSpotlightGlow.app
- Optional: for click ripples and Option-scroll spotlight resizing, allow PointerSpotlightGlow in System Settings → Privacy Security → Input Monitoring (or Accessibility).
Download
Get PointerSpotlightGlow for macOS
Free, forever. Built for macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, Apple Silicon and Intel.
Not notarized: on first launch right-click PointerSpotlightGlow.app → Open.
- macOS 14 Sonoma+
- Universal (Apple Silicon + Intel)
- MIT licensed · open source
- No ads, no accounts, no telemetry
- Built with Claude Code · how and why
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is PointerSpotlightGlow really free and open source?
Yes. It is released under the MIT license and the full source is on GitHub. There are no ads, no analytics and no paid tier. If it helps you, you can support development on Ko-fi.
What permissions does it need?
Click ripples and Option-scroll spotlight resizing need Input Monitoring (or Accessibility), because the app listens for mouse buttons and scrolling. It does not read keystrokes. Without the permission, the pointer highlight and spotlight still work.
Where is my data stored?
Only on your Mac. Your preferences are saved locally in UserDefaults. The app makes no network calls and does not capture your screen.
Why isn't the app notarized?
Notarization requires a paid Apple Developer account, and this is a free project. Right-click the app and choose Open once to get past Gatekeeper, or build it yourself from source with Xcode.
Was this written by AI?
Yes. PointerSpotlightGlow was generated by Claude Code from a written spec as a clean-room reimplementation, with no code or assets from any commercial app. The full source is on GitHub under MIT, so you can read every line before you run it. It has had less human review than a hand-written app, so bug reports are welcome.
Support ❤️
Built by one person, given away for free.
PointerSpotlightGlow is a free, open-source alternative to paid utilities. If it earns a spot on your Mac, a coffee keeps the updates coming.
☕ Support Or on Ko-fi