How can we help?

How do I open Brink?

Brink lives in the menu bar. To show its panel from any app:

• Double-tap ⌘ (left or right), the default.
• Or turn on a keyboard shortcut in Settings, such as ⇧⌘N.
• Or choose Show Brink in the menu bar icon’s menu.

The panel slides in from the edge of the screen your pointer is on. Press Escape or click outside it to hide it. In Settings you can also choose which edge it uses, and have it open when you rest the pointer at that edge.

Double-tap ⌘ doesn’t work. Why does Brink need Input Monitoring?

macOS only lets an app notice a double tap of a modifier key with Input Monitoring permission. Brink watches only modifier keys, to detect the double tap; it doesn’t record or store your keystrokes. (See the privacy policy.)

1. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Input Monitoring and turn on Brink. Brink’s first-launch prompt can take you there.
2. If macOS offers Quit & Reopen, accept. If Brink still asks, let it relaunch itself.
3. If the switch is on but double-tap still does nothing, remove Brink from the list with −, add it back (or turn it off and on), then relaunch Brink.

Double-tap can’t work while macOS’s Secure Input is on, for example in a password field or with Terminal’s Secure Keyboard Entry. Prefer not to grant the permission at all? Turn off double-tap and use a keyboard shortcut such as ⇧⌘N, which needs no permission.

Where are my notes stored? Are they backed up?

Only on your Mac, in Brink’s App Sandbox container:

~/Library/Containers/tech.cynaptic.brink/

Time Machine backs it up with the rest of your Mac. You can also Export every note as Markdown files in a zip archive from Settings › Notes, and Import them again. Nothing syncs between Macs today.

I deleted a note by mistake.

Right after deleting, click Undo in the panel’s status line. Later, open Recently Deleted from the “+” menu: deleted notes and task lists stay there for 30 days, and Restore brings one back.

How do I restore my Brink Pro purchase?

Open Settings › Brink Pro and click Restore Purchases (a locked Pro tab has the same button). Make sure your Mac is signed in to the App Store with the Apple Account you bought Brink Pro with. Brink Pro is a one-time purchase, so restoring it costs nothing.

Purchases are handled by Apple, so for refunds or billing questions use Apple’s Report a Problem page.

How does the free trial work?

You can try every Brink Pro tab type free for 14 days, once per Apple Account. Start it from a locked Pro tab or Settings › Brink Pro; it goes through the App Store, at no charge. Settings › Brink Pro shows the days left.

The trial doesn’t turn into a purchase on its own. When it ends, open Pro tabs keep working until you quit Brink; after that they show locked until you buy Brink Pro ($9.99, one-time). Your notes and task lists are free and aren’t affected.

Terminal tabs say Brink Terminal Helper is missing.

Terminal tabs (part of Brink Pro) run their shells in Brink Terminal Helper, a separate free app, because Apple doesn’t let App Store apps run shells outside their sandbox. Download and install it: unzip it, move it to Applications and open it once. Then click Try Again in the terminal tab. Brink starts the helper whenever a terminal tab needs it.

If macOS asked you to allow the helper and you chose Later, turn on Brink Terminal Helper in System Settings › General › Login Items, under Allow in the Background.

How do I remove Brink Terminal Helper?

1. In System Settings › General › Login Items, under Allow in the Background, turn off Brink Terminal Helper.
2. Drag Brink Terminal Helper from Applications to the Trash.

Everything in Brink except terminal tabs keeps working without it.

What does Brink need?

• macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later, on a Mac with Apple Silicon or Intel.
• Calendar and reminders tabs (Brink Pro) show the calendars and Reminders lists your Mac already has, for example from accounts in System Settings › Internet Accounts, and ask for access the first time.
• Terminal tabs (Brink Pro) also need the free Brink Terminal Helper.

Still stuck?

Write to brinkbar@cynaptic.tech.