Circle2Search, a macOS app for translating on screen text

Name: Circle2Search, a macOS app for translating on screen text
Availability: InStock
Author: yashD18

by yashD18·Apr 13, 2026·2 points·1 comment

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AI Analysis

●MidNiche GemShip It

Yet another screen OCR translator when macOS Live Text already exists.

Strengths

•Vision framework OCR runs locally without sending screenshots to third parties.
•Frozen screen overlay preserves viewing context during translation lookup.
•Self-hosted backend option avoids vendor lock-in for translation API.

Weaknesses

•Requires Google Translate API key and manual backend setup for open-source version.
•TextSniper, CleanShot X, and macOS Live Text already solve screen text capture.

Post Description

Hi HN,

I built Circle2Search because I’ve been learning Swedish by watching shows with Swedish audio and subtitles, and I kept running into the same problem: whenever I missed a word or phrase, I had to pause, type it into Google Translate manually, and completely break the flow of watching.

So I made a macOS app to make that much faster.

Right now, Circle2Search helps translate text directly from the screen. The longer-term goal is to make it feel more like a true desktop “circle to search” experience, where interacting with text on screen is much more direct and seamless.

It’s open source, but the current setup is still early: you need to run the backend yourself and provide your own Google Translate API key.

I’d especially love feedback on:

- whether this is a problem other people run into - whether the current UX feels useful enough in practice - what would make this worth keeping installed on macOS

a quick demo: https://vimeo.com/1182792629?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci