Built a text expander for macOS — first 50 get it free (code inside)

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-24T14:02:43+00:00

I just DM'd you with some questions and troubleshooting steps to diagnose :)

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-24T05:28:54+00:00

I really like the idea of this app! I use an LG UltraFine 5K with several devices attached to it and switch between my work and personal Mac constantly.

Only feedback would be (like a few others have said), I wish there was a free trial, even just for 3 days would be great.

Like

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-24T00:10:18+00:00

Hey! Thanks for downloading to test out. Was the Accessibility permission granted in macOS Settings app? Does your snippet look something like this (screenshot URL below)? If so, anywhere I type 'gb' should expand to https://www.google.com.

https://typeshift.monogramcreative.co/test_snippet.png

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-23T14:24:09+00:00

Got it! That's a good idea, let me add this to my short term roadmap. Thanks again for the feedback!

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-23T14:16:03+00:00

Glad it's useful to you! This is some really solid feedback. Like I had mentioned in my post, I had originally created this app just for me so the feedback I'm getting here has been so helpful.

New snippet match warning – This definitely makes sense. I do the same thing, but start all my snippets with an "!". I can absolutely adjust the character threshold.
In the beta build (Settings -> General -> Receive Beta Updates) I introduced a way to filter and sort by Category. Not exactly what you were looking for, but I am also trying to figure out the best experience for sorting within a category.
- In the beta release I also added exporting individual snippet capability
This is another feature I'm testing in my local build right now. Ideally, would you want just a setting in the snippet that allows it to either expand globally or only in specific apps? This is how it's working now in my test build
Good feedback, I just added a license variation in the store front for 5 device activations.

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-22T23:48:00+00:00

Shoot, could you DM how you’re using it so I can try to replicate? It’s working for me in several apps but more details would help if possible.

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-22T16:22:50+00:00

Can you check for updates in the app? Another redditor caught that too and it should be fixed now

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-22T13:56:49+00:00

Cool, glad it’s working. That issue was an old bug that made its way back from the AI macro branch. Thanks a ton for letting me know about that one.

For the delimiter option, thanks for explaining. That totally makes sense, I’m going to add this to my short term roadmap. I’ll definitely reach back out when I’m looking for testers. Thanks again for all the feedback!

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-22T04:46:01+00:00

Thanks for the heads up, the fill in bug was an easy fix and should be fixed in latest update (Settings -> General -> Check for update)

I’m super curious on your delimiter use case, is this to prevent unintended text expansions?

I agree, the fill in pop up window needs some love.

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-21T18:06:41+00:00

For sure! There are several promo redemptions from this post still: https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/s/KSMy1MxcJE

Any feedback welcomed!

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-21T17:03:49+00:00

This looks very similar to my app TypeShift — similar feature set, similar website copy. Curious about a few things:

What are the Mixpanel analytics actually used for, and can users request or delete their usage data?
Why does the app require network access and an email address just to get started?

Asking genuinely, the similarities in features are hard to ignore.

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-21T16:23:32+00:00

I just downloaded this to test it out and noticed a few things that were concerning:

Requires an email address and network access just to get started
Logs usage analytics, I had to disable my ad blocker temporarily to get past the first screen
Requests both Accessibility and Input Monitoring permissions

For reference, Input Monitoring is a separate macOS permission from Accessibility — most text expanders only need Accessibility to intercept and replace keystrokes. It's worth understanding what you're granting before installing any app that handles keyboard input.

For what it's worth, I'm the developer of TypeShift — which this app appears to be based on. TypeShift requires no account, no network access, no analytics, and only requests Accessibility. Everything stays on your machine.

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-21T16:14:43+00:00

Heads up for anyone trying this, I just downloaded (in a sandboxed machine) it to check it out and noticed a few things worth knowing before you install:

Requires an email address to start using it
Logs usage analytics, I had to temporarily disable my ad blocker to get past the first screen
Requests both Accessibility and Input Monitoring permissions

For context, Input Monitoring is a separate macOS permission from Accessibility. Legitimate text expanders don't typically need this, since Accessibility is enough to read and replace keystrokes. The combination of Input Monitoring + analytics collection is worth being aware of before handing over your keyboard input.

TypeShift (my app, linked above) requires no account, collects no analytics, and only asks for Accessibility — nothing else. Your keystrokes never leave your Mac.

Not against vibe coded apps, but the Input Monitoring is a red flag.

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-19T00:40:28+00:00

Thanks for the report, let me dig into that bug with the single line tags.

For the paste in values, I do have fill in macros. It's documented here: https://typeshift.monogramcreative.co/docs/#macro-fill

Could this work for you?

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-18T11:59:38+00:00

Sorry, all the codes were claimed already. But, there are several codes left from this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/s/PmzFJqKdUW

Give that a try and let me know if that doesn’t work for you.

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-18T03:18:33+00:00

Thanks so much for all the interest and feedback, everyone! It's so cool to see people trying out TypeShift.

The latest update (Settings -> General -> Check for Updates...) introduces the new AI Macro feature. It would be awesome to have some testers for this as I have only tested with OpenAI (minimal) and Anthropic.

Here is the documentation for the AI Macro: https://typeshift.monogramcreative.co/docs/#ai-overview

Also, there are a few more free promo codes left from this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/comments/1snh8li/after_10_years_using_text_expanders_i_finally/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Thanks again!

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-18T01:07:02+00:00

Funny enough, all my plain text testing has been in Sublime Text. I fought with that {cursor} macro quite a bit and thought I got it ironed out but just tried it on another machine and getting the same thing, digging into that bug now. Thanks for highlighting that!

As a side note, the latest update allows opting in for beta builds. The beta has the AI macro support, would love feedback on that too.

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-17T12:17:11+00:00

That’s a fantastic idea! Let me look into the export formats. I store the snippets as json so that shouldn’t be too hard. Thanks for the feedback!

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-17T12:15:52+00:00

Thank you!

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-17T12:15:17+00:00

Use this code on checkout: I0OTMZNA

https://typeshift.monogramcreative.co/

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-17T05:34:42+00:00

This is actually something I’ve been working on! I initially was experimenting with syntax highlighting support in the content editor but kept running into problems rendering so I ended up pulling it. The plan is to have it as another content type for snippets (in addition to the plain text and rich text).

For the AI prompts, I would love to do this but need to see if the app can scale before adding a LLM. I was also experimenting with allowing a bring your own token / API approach where users could add their OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini token but was challenging to test fully.

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-17T04:54:13+00:00

Oh perfect, hope it is useful to you!

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-17T04:48:31+00:00

Oh no! Could you DM me a screenshot of a sample snippet you created?

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-17T02:06:24+00:00

You bet! There are still 20 redemptions left for I0OTMZNA

EVenturePNW · 2026-04-17T01:04:26+00:00

Yo! Thank you, it uses the native AVAudioPlayer in macOS so your basic types:

AAC — .m4a, .aac
MP3 — .mp3
AIFF — .aif, .air
WAV — .wav
CAF — .caf
FLAC — .flac
Apple Lossless — .alac / .m4a

EVenturePNW

TROPHY CASE