# FAQ

Frequently asked questions about hypershot. For setup help, start with
[Getting Started](/docs/hypershot/getting-started).

## Capture & the editor

**What's the maximum export size?**

8192px per side. See [Artboard](/docs/hypershot/editing/artboard) and [Save to File](/docs/hypershot/exporting/save-to-file).

**What is a .hypercapture file?**

hypershot's own format — the full frame burst, annotations, and metadata in
one editable package. See [hypercapture files](/docs/hypershot/exporting/hypercapture-files).

**How do I capture a menu/tooltip that only appears while holding the mouse?**

Hold to freeze — keep the mouse button down after your selection and release
on the right moment. See [Hold to Freeze](/docs/hypershot/capturing/hold-to-freeze).

## Menu bar & tray

**The hypershot icon disappeared from my menu bar. Where did it go?**

macOS silently hides status icons when the menu bar is full — on notched
MacBooks the icon often sits *under the notch*, invisible. Hold **⌘** and
drag the icons in your menu bar to make room for hypershot's (drag it left,
away from the notch), or use a menu bar manager like
[Bartender](https://www.macbartender.com) to keep things tidy.

**How do I move the hypershot icon in the menu bar?**

Hold the **⌘** key and drag the icon — the standard macOS way to reorder
status items. Your position is remembered across launches, so you won't have
to do it twice.

## Performance

**Why does hypershot use so much memory on macOS compared to Windows?**

Short answer: it's how macOS accounts memory, not waste. On Windows,
hypershot peaks around **500 MB**; on macOS you may see **1.5 GB or more**
in Activity Monitor — especially with multiple high-resolution monitors and
as you add effects and annotations. That gap is expected, and here's why:

- **Apple silicon has unified memory.** The CPU and GPU share the same
  physical RAM, so every texture hypershot touches — each captured frame,
  each annotation layer — counts toward the app's memory on macOS. On
  Windows, GPU resources live in dedicated video memory and don't appear in
  Task Manager's per-app numbers. Same work, different accounting — Apple's
  own guidance notes GPU memory is part of system memory on these machines.
- **Retina scale multiplies everything.** A 5K display renders at
  5120×2880; a BGRA frame at that size is ~56 MB *per buffer*, and capture
  keeps several (the live stream, the frozen frame, the burst history you
  scrub in the editor). Multiple monitors multiply it again.
- **Capture buffers are double-tracked on macOS.** Screen capture frames
  arrive as IOSurfaces — GPU-backed buffers shared between the window
  server and the app. Activity Monitor's headline "Memory" column counts
  this shared/IOKit memory toward hypershot even though the underlying
  surface is shared system-wide, not privately owned by hypershot.

None of this means hypershot is leaking or hoarding: quit the app and the
memory returns immediately, and the footprint scales with your display
resolution and how many annotations/effects a capture carries — not with
time. For what it's worth, Activity Monitor's **Real Private Memory**
column is the honest single number for "memory only hypershot is using";
the default Memory column includes the shared/GPU accounting above.

If you *do* see memory climb without bound during a long session with no
documents open, that's a bug — tell us at
[support.hypernuclear.com](https://support.hypernuclear.com).

**My cursor lags during capture on macOS. What can I do?**

Screen-capture tools that install cursor-monitoring helpers can slow the
whole system down during capture. If you have **Tangrid** (or similar
cursor-enhancement/pointer apps) installed, try quitting it — capture lag
disappears for most users who do. (Other capture apps that don't monitor the
cursor system-wide, like CleanShot, don't hit this — the culprit is the
helper app, not hypershot.)

If that's not it, check Activity Monitor for anything pinning CPU during
capture; hypershot's capture engine is hardware-accelerated and shouldn't
lag on its own.

## Permissions

**hypershot stopped working after I changed permissions.**

If Screen Recording is revoked mid-use, hypershot opens the Permissions
window on your next capture. Accessibility only matters for hotkeys that use a
macOS system shortcut. See
[Permissions Revoked Mid-Use](/docs/hypershot/getting-started/permissions-revoked).

**Finder won't preview my captures.**

Enable the Quick Look extension — it's a manual toggle, and might need a
reboot. See [Quick Look Extension](/docs/hypershot/getting-started/quicklook).

## Licensing

**How many devices can I activate on?**

Three personal devices, on both a v1.x and a Lifetime license — each license
is for one person (see the [Terms of Service](/legal/terms)).
See [purchasing](/hypershot/purchase) for current tiers.

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From https://hypernuclear.com/docs/hypershot/faq/