Support

Everything lives in the menu bar item — the small skateboard near the clock. Pointer Break has no Dock icon and no window, because it is a background app; the menu bar is the whole interface.

Getting in touch

Bugs, questions and requests all go to the issue tracker. It is public, so please leave out anything you would not want read by others. Saying which version of macOS you are on, and how many displays, answers most of the first questions.

Common questions

I can’t see the board

Check Enabled and Skateboard are ticked in the menu. If the board is somewhere off on another display, use Fetch Board to bring it back to your cursor. With Board Stays Put on, which is the default, a landed board waits where it lands until your cursor passes over it.

The ramps disappear when I stop moving the mouse

That is deliberate. The ramps, rails and halfpipes fade with how fast you are moving, so they clear out of the way within a moment of you stopping — you are reading or typing, and a skatepark over your work would be in the way. Move again and they fade straight back.

The board itself never fades, on purpose: it stays wherever it landed so you can see where to take your pointer to collect it.

It doesn’t draw on my second display

Check Play on All Displays in the menu. With it off, the game covers the main display only, and the board waits at the edge when your cursor leaves it.

Clicks are being swallowed

Only while the layout editor is open, which is deliberate — it has to own every click to let you drag things. Press Escape, click Done in the panel, or switch to another app with command-tab, and all three exit editing.

Nothing draws on the login screen

Expected. The login window, Fast User Switching and secure input fields are off limits to every app, and there is no way around it.

The board sits under my mouse pointer

Also expected. macOS composites the real cursor above every window. Hiding the system cursor would require the Accessibility permission, and Pointer Break deliberately asks for no permissions at all.

Start at Login shows a dash instead of a tick

macOS is waiting for your approval. Click the item and it opens the right pane of System Settings, where you can allow it.

I bought the Full Unlock but the editor is still locked

Choose Restore Purchases from the menu. That is also what to use on a second Mac, or after reinstalling — the unlock follows your Apple Account, and you never pay twice.

How do I quit it?

Quit Pointer Break at the bottom of the menu. Command-H and Hide Others deliberately do not affect the overlay, or they would switch the effect off with no explanation.

What it deliberately does not do

It requests no Accessibility permission, no Screen Recording permission and no network access, and it injects nothing into other applications. That is a design constraint rather than an omission, and it is why the app cannot hide your cursor or draw inside other apps’ full-screen windows in every case. See Privacy for what that means for your data, which is: nothing leaves your Mac.

Requirements

SYSTEM

macOS 14 or later

PERMISSIONS

none of any kind

NETWORK

not used