Download it. Drag it in.
Get Springle from getspringle.com, drag it into Applications and open it. It runs on any Mac with macOS 14.2 or later.
Springle is one small app. You download it once, put it in your Applications folder, and it keeps itself up to date from then on.
What you need
- A Mac with macOS 14.2 or later. Springle runs on Macs with Apple silicon and on Intel Macs.
- A Google account, to sign in during setup. Springle uses it for your plan and, if you want them, your connected apps.
- An internet connection while you use it.
A notch is not needed. On a Mac or display without one, Springle sits in the middle of the menu bar instead. See Macs without a notch.
A microphone helps, because talking is the quickest way to ask. If you’d rather not use one, you can type to Springle instead and skip the microphone during setup.
Download it
- On your Mac, go to getspringle.com and click Download for Mac.
- The download starts, and a short panel on the page lists the three steps that follow. Click Got it to close it.
The file is a disk image. It lands in your Downloads folder.
On your phone? The button there reads Send the link to my Mac, because a disk image is no use on a phone. Send yourself the link and open it on the Mac.
Move it to Applications
- Open the Springle disk image from your Downloads folder. A window opens with Springle on the left and your Applications folder on the right, and the words "Drop Springle onto Applications to install it."
- Drag Springle onto Applications.
- Once it has copied, you can eject the disk image. Click the eject button next to it in a Finder sidebar, or drag it to the Trash.
Springle needs to live in Applications. A copy opened from the disk image or from Downloads can’t keep itself up to date.
Opened it from the disk image by mistake? Springle notices and asks Move Springle to your Applications folder? Click Move to Applications and it moves itself and opens again from there. If a copy that’s just as new is already in Applications, that one opens instead.
Open it for the first time
- Open your Applications folder and double-click Springle.
- Your Mac asks once whether you’re sure you want to open an app downloaded from the internet. Click Open. Springle is signed by its makers and checked by Apple, so this is the only question macOS asks about it.
- The Set up Springle window opens. It walks you through signing in and the three permissions Springle needs, one screen at a time. It takes about two minutes. See Set up Springle.
Once Springle is running you’ll see a small face in the menu bar at the top right of your screen. That’s Springle’s menu, with Talk, Type, the notebook, Settings and Help. While Springle is helping you the face fills in, and if a permission is missing it turns dashed.
It opens when your Mac starts
Springle only hears your keys while it’s open, so it opens itself when you log in. At the end of setup it adds itself to your Mac’s login items, and macOS shows its own notice that a login item was added.
The last setup screen has a tick, Open Springle when my Mac starts, which is already on. Untick it if you’d rather open Springle yourself. You can change it later in Settings › General, under Starting up.
If the switch for Springle is off in System Settings › General › Login Items, Settings › General says Switched off in System Settings and offers Open Login Items, so you can switch it back on there.
Updates
Springle checks for updates every few hours. With Update automatically on (Settings › General), it installs them while you’re away, never in the middle of something. You don’t need to download it again. See Keeping Springle up to date.
Removing Springle
Quit Springle from its menu bar menu (Quit Springle), then drag Springle from Applications to the Trash. Your notebook is a folder of plain files and stays where it is. To find it first, open Settings › Notebook and click Show in Finder.
Questions about installing? Write to support@innoventuresai.com.
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