Nova Pen turns your whole Mac into a canvas. Annotate, highlight, and sketch on top of any app — slides, browsers, video calls, code — without changing a thing underneath.
Free · macOS 12+ · Apple silicon & Intel
Smooth, marker-like strokes that feel natural. Pick any color and width and just start writing.
Translucent ink to emphasize what matters — without ever hiding what's underneath.
Wipe a single stroke or clear the entire screen in one click. Nothing underneath is touched.
Snap perfect rectangles, arrows, and straight lines while you free-draw. Hold and release.
A full spectrum of inks, one keystroke away. Recent colors stay within reach.
Capture the annotated screen straight to an image and share it the moment you're done.
Mark up slides and worksheets live so every student follows your exact train of thought.
Point, circle, and highlight during screen-shares to keep everyone aligned in real time.
Draw over gameplay, code, or product tours in real time so your audience never loses the thread.
"I circle things on screen all day in class. Nova Pen quietly replaced three tools."
"It's the closest thing to writing directly on the glass. Always on, never in the way."
"Our standups got 10× clearer once I could scribble straight on the shared screen."
Yes. Nova Pen is free to download and use for personal work — no account, no trial timer. A Pro tier adds shapes, snapshots, and multi-monitor for power users.
Yes. Nova Pen draws on a transparent layer that floats above everything — Keynote, Zoom, Chrome, full-screen video, anything. The app underneath keeps working exactly as before.
No. It's a lightweight native app that sits idle until you summon the pen, using a tiny fraction of CPU. It's built for Apple silicon and runs great on Intel too.
Absolutely. Toggle click-through with a shortcut and your annotations stay on screen while every click, scroll, and keypress passes straight to the app beneath.
macOS 12 Monterey and newer. Universal binary for both Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
Free · macOS 12+ · 0.6 MB · Not sure which? Apple menu → About This Mac