Just move the pointer over Chinese text in almost any app and hold it still for a moment. A floating panel appears with pinyin, tone colors, and English definitions. Move the pointer away to dismiss. Zhongwen Hover is sandboxed and works without Accessibility or input-monitoring permissions — the only permission it ever asks for is Screen Recording, and only when you first use drag-to-OCR.

Press the OCR hotkey, then drag a rectangle over the Chinese text on your screen. Recognition happens on-device using Apple’s Vision framework — no image ever leaves your Mac. The recognised text then opens in the reader view, where hover lookups work as usual.

You will need to grant Screen Recording permission the first time you trigger OCR (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording).

• Ctrl + Shift + H — toggle the hover dictionary
• Ctrl + Shift + O — drag-to-OCR
• Ctrl + Shift + S — save the current word as a flashcard
• Ctrl + Shift + R — open the review session
• Ctrl + Shift + F — filter by HSK level
• Ctrl + Shift + D — delete the current card

Shortcuts can be changed in the app’s preferences.

No. Zhongwen Hover is a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store. You pay once and keep the app forever, including all future updates. There is no subscription, no renewal, and nothing to cancel.

Sign in to the App Store with the same Apple ID you used for the purchase, open the App Store app, and download Zhongwen Hover again from your purchases. You are never charged twice for the same Apple ID.

Refunds for App Store purchases are issued directly by Apple. Go to reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in, find Zhongwen Hover in the list and choose Request a refund. Apple decides refunds at its discretion, independently of the developer.

None is sent to the developer. Flashcards, lookups, review history, and OCR captures stay on your Mac. See the Privacy Policy for details.

macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple Silicon or Intel Macs. The app is sandboxed and requires no Accessibility or input-monitoring permission; Screen Recording permission is requested only the first time you use drag-to-OCR.

1. Make sure hover mode is toggled on (menu-bar icon or the hover hotkey) and that the hotkey is not conflicting with another shortcut. Hotkeys can be changed in the app’s settings.
2. Quit and relaunch the app after changing settings or permissions.
3. If you are using drag-to-OCR, confirm Screen Recording permission is granted in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording.
4. Some apps render text as images (scanned PDFs, certain games). In those cases use drag-to-OCR instead.

If it still does not work, email us with your macOS version, Mac model, and the app where it happens.

Definitions are drawn from CC-CEDICT, distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. HSK level tagging is derived from publicly available HSK word lists. Idiom (chengyu) recognition is built into the app.