01
Press Start
Pick what kind of session you want, a sound and a length. PenHour silences notifications and locks the keyboard.
Paper first
Your handwriting is the content. The app gets out of the way.
A locked room
Keyboard off, alerts off, until the timer ends.
Searchable pages
Find any word you ever wrote, on this Mac.
Yours alone
No account, no cloud, no streaks to keep.
How it works
Three steps. One of them is just writing.
02
Write by hand
The screen shows a calm timer and one line of guidance. Nothing else. Your pen and notebook do the rest.
03
Scan it home
When time is up, scan your pages with your iPhone. They land in your notebook on the Mac, in order, ready to read again.
Your notebook
Every page you wrote, a search away.
PenHour reads your handwriting on your Mac, so you can find the day you first wrote about the move, or every time a name came up. The word lights up right on the page, like a highlighter.
- Entries grouped by month, with a calendar of the days you wrote
- View any entry as clean, readable text
- Export pages as images or PDF whenever you like
Sit down with a reason, or with none at all.
Each session type shows one gentle line on screen while you write. That's all the guidance you get.
Free write
“Write whatever comes. Don't stop to fix it.”
Reflect
“What happened today, and what did it mean to you?”
Solve a problem
“Write the problem in one line. Then ask why, five times.”
Five whys · First principles · Pros and cons · Worst case
Gratitude
“Three small things from today you're glad about, and why.”
Morning pages
“Three pages, longhand, before the day gets loud.”
Private by nature
Nothing ever leaves your Mac.
A journal should feel like a locked drawer, not a social app. So there's nothing to sign up for and nowhere for your pages to go.
No account
A license key, and that's it. No email, no profile.
A normal folder
Pages are plain image files you can back up, move or open anywhere.
On-device reading
Handwriting is turned into searchable text on your Mac. Never uploaded.
Touch ID lock
Optional. Your notebook opens only for your fingerprint.
Pricing
Pay once. Write for years.
One lifetime license. Add more Macs at 40% off each.
Lifetime licenseOne-time payment
$10USD
for 1 Mac
for 1 Mac
1 Mac
$10 for your first Mac. Each additional Mac is 40% off, at $6.
Buy for 1 MacPay once. No subscription, no account.
Everything in PenHour
- Locked writing sessionsKeyboard and notifications off until the timer ends.
- Scan with any phoneiPhone scanner or a QR code, straight to your Mac.
- Search your handwritingRead on device. Never uploaded.
- Touch ID lock and exportKeep the notebook private; take pages anywhere.
Requires macOS [VERSION] or later. iPhone optional; any phone camera works for scanning.
Questions, answered plainly
What if I need to leave a session early?
Hold the emergency exit keys for a few seconds. They're always shown at the bottom of the session screen, and you can change them in Settings.
Do I need a special notebook or pen?
No. Any paper and any pen work. Darker ink and lined pages scan a little more clearly.
Where are my pages stored?
In a folder you choose, on your Mac. Documents by default. Nothing is sent to a server.
How well does it read messy handwriting?
Well enough to search most words. It can miss some, so the scanned page is always kept as the original.
Can I use it without an iPhone?
Yes. Scan the QR code shown on your Mac with any phone's camera, and send pages over your Wi-Fi.