About Optic

Optic is a menu bar app for Mac that copies the text in any area you drag across the screen and reads QR codes shown on screen, on your Mac without uploading anything, for $4.99 once on the Mac App Store.

I am Eduard Bruch, an independent developer in Hamburg, Germany. I build and sell Optic myself, and I write every guide on this site. My other work is listed at eduardbruch.com.

How the guides are written

• Every statement about Optic comes from its code and its App Store listing, collected on the facts page. What Optic does not do is listed there too.
• Facts about other apps come from each vendor's own page or App Store listing, with the date I read it (last full check: 2026-10-10). Where a vendor does not say something, the guides say "not stated".
• I did not run accuracy or speed tests on other apps, so the guides do not rank them on accuracy or speed.
• Where a guide names Optic as the pick, that is my opinion as its developer, and each guide says so at the top.
• Built-in macOS options such as Live Text are described first when they do the job for free.

More Mac apps by the developer

• SoundDial: SoundDial is a volume mixer for Mac that sits in the menu bar and sets the volume, equalizer, balance and output device of each app separately. (facts)
• Jetty: Jetty is a Mac app that adds up to four extra docks to the edges of your screen, or floating anywhere, each with tabs of one-click tiles for apps, files, folders, websites and Shortcuts; it is a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store. (facts)

Contact

Questions, corrections to a guide, or a fact that changed on a vendor page: support@eduardbruch.com. Legal details are in the imprint.