QuikapStudio on a Mac
The editor on Macs with Apple silicon, as a preview: what it does and does not do yet, how to install it past macOS's first-start check, its keys, and how to tell us what you find.
A preview. QuikapStudio, the editor, runs on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 and later) from 0.8.0-preview.1. It is built and tested on Windows, where the tests run the Mac's rules (its keys, its title bar, its messages), and it is not yet proven on a Mac: the first people to run it are the ones who tell us how it went. Quikap, the capture utility, is not on the Mac yet; until it is, QuikapStudio captures with macOS's own tool.
What you need
- A Mac with Apple silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4 or later): Apple menu › About This Mac says Chip: Apple M…. Macs with an Intel processor are not supported by this preview.
- macOS 12 Monterey or later.
- A license that includes the preview channel, or an Exprezoe staff sign-in: the preview is listed on the downloads page only for them. The preview itself asks for no license (see below).
Download and check it
On the downloads page, under QuikapStudio, choose Download for Mac:
QuikapStudio-0.8.0-preview.1-osx-arm64.zip, about 42 MB.Check it before you open it. In Terminal:
shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/QuikapStudio-0.8.0-preview.1-osx-arm64.zipThe line it prints must begin with the SHA-256 shown on the downloads page, character for character. If it differs, do not open the app, and tell us. The signed manifest and its signature are on the downloads page too, and prove the release came from the holder of the Quikap release key: Verify a download (its PowerShell 7 steps work on a Mac).
Install it
- Unzip it. Safari unzips a download by itself; otherwise double-click the zip in Finder. You get QuikapStudio, an app.
- Drag QuikapStudio into Applications.
- Open it, once past macOS's check. The app is not yet notarized by Apple, so the first time macOS says it cannot check it for malicious software. Choose Done, open System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll to "QuikapStudio" was blocked to protect your Mac, choose Open Anyway and confirm with your password or Touch ID. On macOS 14 and earlier, Control-click the app in Applications › Open › Open does the same. macOS asks this once.
- If macOS instead says the app "is damaged and can't be opened", the download lost what the zip carries (the
app's signature, or the execute permission of its program). Download it again with Safari. If it still says so,
tell us; meanwhile Terminal can clear the mark macOS puts on downloads:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/QuikapStudio.app.
The release that Apple has checked (signed with Exprezoe's Developer ID and notarized) opens with no warning at all. It comes once Exprezoe's Apple developer account is in place.
What the preview does, and what it does not do yet
| Works on the Mac | Not yet on the Mac |
|---|---|
| Opening images and captures; every image tool; Quick Styles; undo and redo; Export as PNG or JPEG | Recordings: playing and editing them needs Windows; a recording says so |
| The clipboard: Copy All (⌘ C), a selection, paste an image (⌘ V), New from clipboard (⌥ ⌘ V); a private copy stays out of clipboard managers | Quikap: its shortcuts, the frozen screen, recording and panoramas |
| Capture (the button, or ⇧ ⌘ N) with macOS's own tool; the picture becomes a capture in the Gallery, on the clipboard as a new capture is | Activation and the Pro edition: the preview runs as the Standard edition |
| The Gallery (⌘ G): browse, search, rename, favourites, import, Show in Finder, Move to the Trash (Finder's Put Back returns it) | Updates by themselves: a newer preview comes from the downloads page |
| Floating Canvas and Studio, the densities, Preferences (⌘ ,), the keyboard shortcuts sheet (F1) | The menus in the Mac's menu bar: they are inside the window, as on Windows |
| Finder's Open With for images, and an image dropped on the Dock icon |
Capturing
Capture asks macOS's own screenshot tool for a picture: drag an area, or press Space to take a window; Esc cancels. The first time, macOS asks whether QuikapStudio may record the screen: allow it in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen Recording, quit QuikapStudio (⌘ Q) and open it again. The picture opens in QuikapStudio as a capture of its own, kept in the Gallery, and is copied to the clipboard as a new capture is (the notice says Copied to clipboard). Quikap's frozen screen comes to the Mac with Quikap itself.
The keys
Every shortcut that uses Ctrl on Windows uses ⌘ on the Mac, and Alt is ⌥; the menus, the tooltips and the shortcuts sheet say so the Mac's way (Undo (⌘Z)). Redo is ⇧ ⌘ Z (⌘ Y works too). The tools' single keys are the same as on Windows: A for the Arrow, T for Text, B for Blur, D for Redact.
License, updates and privacy
- No activation. The preview runs without a license, as the Standard edition; Help › License says so. Activating a Mac, and the Pro edition on it, come with the release Apple has checked.
- Updates by hand. The preview checks for no update; Help › Check for updates says where a newer one comes from. To update, download the newer preview and drag it into Applications in place of the old one: your captures and settings stay where they are.
- It contacts no server. With no update check and no activation, the preview sends nothing anywhere. Captures stay on your Mac, as on Windows.
Removing it
Drag QuikapStudio from Applications to the Trash. Your captures stay where they were saved, as ordinary files.
Telling us what you find
The preview is proven on a Mac by the people who run it. A screenshot of anything that looks wrong helps most, with what you did just before it. Write to us the way your license came to you, or, at Exprezoe, in the team's channel.