Set up PeakPad

Buy, download, open and activate. It takes a few minutes.

1. Buy

   Pay once at checkout. Your licence key and the download link arrive right away, in your receipt email. Keep the email: you’ll paste the key in step 4.

2. Download

   Open the download. A disk image opens with PeakPad and an Applications folder. Drag PeakPad onto Applications.

3. Open it for the first time

   PeakPad isn’t notarized by Apple yet, so macOS asks you to confirm it once. Follow the short steps below. You only do this one time.

4. Activate

   PeakPad’s welcome panel asks for your licence key. Paste it from your receipt email and press Activate. PeakPad checks the key about once a day and keeps working offline for up to 30 days.

5. Open the panel

   Hover over the notch (or click it, if you chose click in Settings), or press ⌃⌥Space. Press the pin in the top corner to keep the panel open.

6. Allow what you use

   Each tool asks for permission the first time you use it, for example Calendar and Reminders for the agenda, Screen Recording for Capture, or Camera for Mirror. You can change these any time in System Settings.

How to open PeakPad the first time

PeakPad is an independent app that isn’t notarized by Apple yet, so macOS asks you to confirm it once. This takes about 20 seconds.

1. Drag PeakPad into Applications.
2. Double-click PeakPad in Applications. macOS shows a message that it can’t verify the app. Click Done (not Move to Trash).
3. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to Security, and click Open Anyway next to “PeakPad was blocked”. Enter your password if asked, then click Open.

PeakPad now opens normally every time, including after updates.

Prefer Terminal? This does the same thing in one step:

Moving PeakPad to another Mac

Open Settings on the old Mac and choose Deactivate this Mac. Then install PeakPad on the new Mac and activate it with the same key.

Troubleshooting

macOS says PeakPad can’t be opened

That’s the one-time confirmation from step 3. See How to open PeakPad below.

“That key wasn’t recognised”

Check the key against your purchase email. Copy it again rather than retyping, and make sure no space came along with it.

“This licence isn’t active”

The key may have been refunded or disabled. Email hello@peakpad.app and we’ll look into it.

“Already active on the maximum number of Macs”

Each key works on one Mac at a time. On the Mac you’re leaving, open Settings and choose Deactivate this Mac, then activate on the new one.

The panel doesn’t open

Move the pointer to the top-centre of the screen, or press ⌃⌥Space. If you changed the shortcut in Settings, use that one.

There’s no Ask Peak tab

Ask Peak needs macOS 26 or later on a Mac with Apple Intelligence. On older systems the tab isn’t shown. Everything else works on macOS 14.6 or later.

Still stuck?

Email hello@peakpad.app with what you see and your macOS version. Or report a bug.