SafeShot
Privacy-first screenshot tool
Your screenshots stay yours. No cloud. No tracking. No compromises.
What is SafeShot?
SafeShot is a lightweight screenshot tool that lives in your system tray. Capture any area of your screen, annotate it, and save or copy instantly. Everything stays on your computer, nothing is ever uploaded anywhere.
Why SafeShot?
We got tired of screenshot tools that phone home, upload your images to unknown servers, or come bundled with trackers and bloatware. Many popular alternatives are developed overseas with questionable privacy practices and opaque data handling.
SafeShot is different. Built in the USA 
with security as the foundation, not an afterthought. The app has zero network capabilities by design. It physically cannot connect to the internet. Your screenshots never leave your machine, period.
Oh, and the installer is under 4 MB.
Platform Support
| Platform | Status |
|---|
| Windows 10+ | ✅ Passed QA |
| macOS 11+ (Intel) | ✅ Passed QA |
| macOS 11+ (Apple Silicon) | 🔶 Untested |
| Ubuntu / Debian | 🔶 Untested |
| Fedora / Arch / Other | 🔶 Untested |
All downloads available on the releases page.
🔶 Untested platforms are built from the same codebase and should work, but haven't been verified yet. If you run into issues, please open an issue.
Download and Install
Windows (winget)
winget install safeshot
macOS (Homebrew)
brew install mchiappinam/safeshot/safeshot
Manual install
- Go to the latest release
- Download the installer for your platform
- Run the installer and follow the prompts
- SafeShot will appear in your system tray (near the clock)
SafeShot starts automatically when your computer boots. You can toggle this from the tray menu.
How to Use
Capture a Screenshot
- Press Print Screen (Windows/Linux) or ⌘⇧S (macOS), or
- Click the SafeShot icon in your system tray
- On macOS, click the SafeShot icon in the Dock or Launchpad
The capture hotkey can be changed in Settings.
Select an Area
- Click and drag to select the area you want to capture
- Drag the edges or corners to resize
- Drag inside the selection to move it
- Press Ctrl+A (Windows/Linux) or ⌘A (macOS) to select the entire screen
Annotation Tools
Once you've selected an area, a toolbar appears with drawing tools:
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| ✥ Move Selection | Move or resize the selected area |
| ✋ Move Objects | Move or resize annotations |
| 🧽 Eraser | Remove annotations by clicking or dragging |
| 🖊 Sharpie | Freehand drawing |
| 🖍️ Highlighter | Semi-transparent freehand |
| 🖋 Calligraphy | Angled nib with thick/thin variation |
| ╱ Line | Straight line |
| ➜ Arrow | Line with arrowhead |
| ○ Circle | Ellipse shape |
| △ Triangle | Triangle shape |
| ▢ Rectangle | Rectangle shape |
| ◇ Diamond | Rotated square |
| ⬠ Pentagon | Regular 5-sided polygon |
| ⬡ Octagon | Regular octagon |
| ★ Star | 5-pointed star |
| ♥ Heart | Bezier curve heart |
| T Text | Click to type, click existing text to edit |
| 💧 Pick Color | Sample a color from the screen |
| 🎨 Color | Pick a color |
| ⚙ Settings | Thickness, fill mode, selection presets |
Save and Copy
- Ctrl+C / ⌘C copies the screenshot to your clipboard
- Ctrl+S / ⌘S quick saves to Pictures/SafeShot
- Ctrl+B / ⌘B opens a Save As dialog
- Ctrl+Z / ⌘Z and Ctrl+Y / ⌘Y for undo and redo
- Delete / Backspace with the hand tool to remove the last interacted annotation
- ESC to cancel and close
Tray Menu
Right-click the SafeShot icon in your system tray for:
- Capture Screenshot
- Open Save Folder
- Start on Boot (toggle)
- How to Use
- Settings
- About
- Quit
Settings
Open from the tray menu to configure:
- Quick save folder - Where Ctrl+S / ⌘S saves screenshots (default: Pictures/SafeShot)
- Save As folder - Starting folder for the Ctrl+B / ⌘B dialog
- Capture hotkey - Change the screenshot shortcut to any key combination
- Cursor capture - Include the mouse cursor in screenshots
- Notifications - Show/hide notifications after save or copy
- Win+Shift+S override - Replace Windows Screenshot with SafeShot (Windows only)
Features
- Instant screen capture with area selection
- 18 tools with color picker and thickness control
- Shape resizing with the hand tool (drag endpoint dots)
- Edit existing text annotations by clicking them
- Text wrapping with preserved width
- Eraser tool to remove annotations by click or drag
- Calligraphy pen with angled nib effect
- Solid, hollow, blur, or redact shapes
- Blur pixelates content underneath a shape
- Redact auto-detects text lines and covers them with bars
- Per-monitor multi-display support with mixed-DPI handling
- Touchscreen support for drawing and selection
- Keyboard shortcuts for everything
- Auto-start on boot
- Saves to your Pictures/SafeShot folder
- Remembers your last color, thickness, tool, and fill mode
- Selection presets: custom, last used, full screen, or fixed sizes
- Optional cursor capture in screenshots
- Native notifications after save/copy (can be turned off in Settings)
- Configurable hotkey
- Win+Shift+S override option (Windows only)
- Custom save folders for quick save and Save As
- Tiny installer (~4 MB)
- Zero network access, fully offline
Privacy
SafeShot has zero network capabilities. It cannot connect to the internet. Your screenshots are never uploaded, shared, or tracked. Everything stays on your local machine.
System Requirements
- Windows 10 or later
- macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later
- Linux with WebKitGTK 4.1
- ~20 MB disk space
Linux Notes
- Works best on X11. Wayland support depends on your desktop environment and may have limitations with screen capture and clipboard.
- The Print Screen shortcut may be intercepted by your desktop environment's built-in screenshot tool (GNOME, KDE). You may need to disable it in your DE settings or use SafeShot from the tray icon instead.
- The
.deb package requires libwebkit2gtk-4.1 and libappindicator3-1 as dependencies.
- The
.AppImage is self-contained and should run on most distributions.
License
Free for personal use. Commercial use requires a license. See LICENSE.
Author
Developed by Matheus Chiappina