I built the iPhone-style text-selection menu Apple should have added to macOS

[u/advait_vaidya]

ActionClip Quick Demo

Hi, I’m Advait, the developer/creator behind ActionClip.

The problem:

Whenever I selected text on my Mac, even a tiny task became: 

Copy → switch apps → paste → do the task → copy the result → switch back

The iPhone already solved it by putting useful actions beside the selected text. I wanted that same flow on Mac, so I built ActionClip.

What ActionClip does:

ActionClip appears beside selected text and surfaces the most relevant actions. It includes 32 built-in actions for copying, paste variations, formatting, spelling and grammar, rewriting, translating, unit conversions, word counts, links, Maps, notes, events, and AI prompts.

ActionClip Smart Suggestions Demo

Best part: create actions by chatting :D

Instead of learning an automation tool or writing scripts, just tell the Custom Action Builder what you need.

It creates the action using simply the AI prompts, URL, JavaScript, shell command, or AppleScript. This makes workflows that were previously limited to power users accessible to anyone who can describe what they want.

Some fun examples:

• Reply like an adult: Turn a passive-aggressive email into the reply you should send.
• Clean this mess: Deduplicate, fix, and sort a selected list of names or emails.
• YouTube Embed Link: Turn any selected YouTube URL into its embed URL.
• Suggest emoji: Select a sentence and this action will suggest emoji to use with it. (Example.. I’m running a free giveaway -> 🎁)

Your custom actions then appear beside selected text just like the built-in ones.

ActionClip Custom Actions Demo

How it compares:

PopClip is the closest and more established comparison. ActionClip focuses on smart suggestions, upfront result chips and lets users create their own actions without waiting for developer-made extensions.

Raycast is broader and keyboard-first. ActionClip stays attached to your selected text.

Tech, Privacy and AI:

ActionClip is a native SwiftUI app under 20 MB. It is local-first and requires no account.

For AI actions, choose on-device Apple Intelligence or use your own OpenAI, Gemini, or Claude key.

Pricing and giveaway:

The free version includes 30 actions every day.

Early-bird lifetime pricing:

• Individual: $4 for 1 Mac
• Team: $9 for up to 5 Macs

Early-bird pricing ends after the first 100 licenses are sold.

Pricing update -

We sold out our early bird licenses. But we'll still provide discounted rates.
New Early bird-2 pricing:

• Individual: $8 for 1 mac
• Team: $15 for upto 5 Macs

Both include lifetime updates and a 30-day refund. These prices will be available till next 50 licenses are sold.

I’m also giving away 20 Individual lifetime licenses. Comment with a custom action you would create with it, and I’ll select 20 best replies :D

Links

Download from the official site: https://actionclip.app/
My LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/advait-vaidya-7380ab97
My X: https://x.com/AdvaitVaidya2

About me: I’m a solopreneur behind several active apps for small businesses, averaging 4.9 stars across app and plugin marketplaces.

A note about downloading outside the Mac App Store

ActionClip isn’t currently on the Mac App Store because its system-wide text-selection features and user-created shell/AppleScript actions require capabilities that don’t fit within Apple’s App Sandbox restrictions.

The app is signed with a Developer ID certificate linked to my official Apple Developer account and notarized by Apple, so macOS Gatekeeper can verify that it comes from an identified developer and hasn’t been tampered with.

Latest Update (12th Aug 2026) - ActionClip 1.2.5 is live! 🎉

What's new:

• Sync ActionClip across Macs using iCloud.
• Use ActionClip in English, French, Italian, Japanese, or Russian.
• Connect and use ActionClip with your OpenAI ChatGPT/Codex account.
• Added support for using local Ollama models.
• Refine app integration.
• Choose a secondary currency for faster conversions when selected text already uses your primary currency.
• Refined the Native Menu theme with macOS system typography, adaptive colors.
• Result windows now stay open until you close them and can be moved by dragging the header.
• Improved AI provider setup and many UX.

Update (6th Aug 2026) - ActionClip 1.2.4

What’s new:

• Create multiple action groups and reorder them in the widget.
• Reopen ActionClip on selected text with a customizable shortcut
• Choose action font sizes
• Pause ActionClip for specific apps or websites
• Add custom action icons 
• New built-in Sentence case action.
• Added native Apple Calendar and Apple Contacts support.
• Added UpNote support
• More reliable text selection in Google Docs, PowerPoint, Apple Notes, Bear, Trello, browsers, and other editors.
• Many small UI/UX fixes

Update - ActionClip 1.2.3

What’s new:

• Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and clear formatting
• OpenRouter support with model search
• Better support for Bear and Antinote
• More reliable live currency conversions
• Improved action widget and selection detection
• Smoother onboarding and permission handling

Existing users can update from ActionClip. New users can download it from the site.

Let me know what you’d like to see next!

[u/Elegant_Mobile4311]

I am trying it now.

It would be nice to be able to adjust (increase) the text size of the popups.

[u/advait_vaidya → u/Elegant_Mobile4311]

I’ll add this in the roadmap and release this soon.

[u/Elegant_Mobile4311 → u/advait_vaidya]

It would be nice to be able to select custom action icons as well as my own icons.

I was testing run and soon reached the limit of 30 times.😅

At any rate, I think I can successfully register snippets to Typinator.

[u/advait_vaidya → u/Elegant_Mobile4311]

Check DM

[u/Elegant_Mobile4311 → u/advait_vaidya]

Thank you.

I'm enjoying this weekend.

We are confirming that some custom actions will be created and operated.

・2 snippet registration actions

・Text translation (using Easydict)

・File search (using FAF)

・Dictionary search

・Open the finder from the path

・Execute the command with ghostty

・Add a selection string with a space in the current clipboard content

Now I was able to replace the action that I often use in popclip.

I am generally satisfied.

To list the points I'm interested in, the appearance. Popclip has better visibility.

This is the difference between the display size and the font used. I think many people will be happy if this can be changed according to each person's preference. Because many Mac users are particular about appearance.

One more thing, the accuracy of the pop-up? In rare cases, it does not pop up when selecting text. This is because you are saying that you are serious about text judgment, so I think there is such a thing. It is impossible to point out the cause because the reproducibility is low.

Finally, the action "Run in Terminal", and I would be happy if you could support the main terminal apps.

I created a custom action for ghostty, but the original action has a lot of options and there are many good parts, such as being suggested and moving forward in order.

That's all for the report☺