PixelRead turns any text on your Mac screen into something you can use. Select text directly or press ⌘⇧2 and draw a region over an image, video, PDF, website, or app. Then copy it, translate it on-device, listen with system voices, or use Apple Intelligence to summarize, rewrite, extract key details, and ask questions. OCR, translation, and AI processing stay on your Mac. Free for macOS 15.2+; Translate and AI features require macOS 26.
Hey Product Hunt 👋
I built PixelRead because text on screen is still too often trapped inside screenshots, videos, PDFs, and apps. Existing OCR utilities usually stop at copying. I wanted one fast Mac shortcut that could also translate, speak, summarize, rewrite, extract details, and answer questions—without sending captured text to a server.
Press ⌘⇧2, drag over any region, and PixelRead turns those pixels into actionable text.
What you can do:
• Capture text from any app, image, video, PDF, or webpage
• Copy selected text instantly
• Translate on-device with automatic source detection on macOS 26
• Listen using language-aware system voices
• Use Apple Intelligence to summarize, rewrite, extract key details, or ask focused questions
• Keep OCR, translation, and AI processing on your Mac
PixelRead is free and runs on macOS 15.2+. Translation and Apple Intelligence features require macOS 26 and supported hardware.
I’d especially love feedback on the capture workflow and which text actions you use most. Thanks for taking a look!
"OCR, translation, and AI processing stay on your Mac" is the line that sold me - half the reason I never bothered with the built-in screenshot-to-text tools is not wanting random screen content going to a server. the actual use case I'd reach for most: pulling text out of error screenshots and stack traces that get dropped into Slack as images instead of text, so I can actually search or paste them somewhere useful. curious if extract-key-details handles messy monospace/terminal output as cleanly as regular text, since that's usually where OCR tools fall apart.
Congrats on the launch! Looks great, and would save a lot of time. The translation feature looks super useful too. Mainly would use OCR for converting text in images to text etc.
About PixelRead AI OCR on Product Hunt
“Capture, translate, and understand any text on your Mac”
PixelRead AI OCR launched on Product Hunt on August 21st, 2026 and earned 76 upvotes and 4 comments, placing #18 on the daily leaderboard. PixelRead turns any text on your Mac screen into something you can use. Select text directly or press ⌘⇧2 and draw a region over an image, video, PDF, website, or app. Then copy it, translate it on-device, listen with system voices, or use Apple Intelligence to summarize, rewrite, extract key details, and ask questions. OCR, translation, and AI processing stay on your Mac. Free for macOS 15.2+; Translate and AI features require macOS 26.
PixelRead AI OCR was featured in Mac (103.7k followers), Productivity (658.9k followers) and Artificial Intelligence (476.7k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 279.7k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted PixelRead AI OCR?
PixelRead AI OCR was hunted by Dimi Tarasowski. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
Want to see how PixelRead AI OCR stacked up against nearby launches in real time? Check out the live launch dashboard for upvote speed charts, proximity comparisons, and more analytics.
Dimi Tarasowski