Hark is on Mac now: what the new desktop app is and isn't

What you can do now: if you use Hark on a Mac, you can stop keeping it in a browser tab. Hark posted at 12:35 PM ET Thursday: "Hark is now available on Mac." Brett Adcock, who lists Hark among his companies in his X profile, wrote two minutes later: "The same Hark you know and love, right on your desktop". The installer is on hark.com/mac.

What changed#

Before Thursday, Hark ran on phones and the web; its Using Hark page still lists "iOS, Android, and web." On Oct 13, a day-one reviewer who posts as enrico put it first in his list of dislikes (user report): "Hark doesn’t have a macOS app." He said he "wasn’t receiving notifications on my MacBook and I had to go through my various tabs to find the Hark window." When the Mac app shipped, Hark replied to him at 12:54 PM ET: "You asked. We shipped. You downloaded. (Right?)"

Hark hasn't published release notes, docs or a feature list for the Mac app. Its launch post and the download page say only that it is the same Hark, and the page shows non-Mac visitors "Visit on Mac to download".

So we downloaded the installer at 6:07 AM ET Friday and read the app's own files. We did not sign in or run it. Here is what the files say:

macOS 14 or later. The app's settings file sets its minimum system version to 14.0 (macOS Sonoma).
Apple silicon and Intel. The program file contains builds for both chip types.
Version 0.1.18, in a 20.3 MB installer that Hark's server lists as last changed at 2:10 AM ET Thursday.
Four permission prompts are declared. In the app's words: "Hark uses the microphone for voice conversations." "Hark uses the camera when you share video in a conversation." "Hark saves the files you download to your Downloads folder." "Hark uses your location to answer questions about what is near you, such as the weather."
A web-based shell. The program includes code from Tauri, a framework that wraps a web view in a desktop app, plus its auto-updater. Our read: expect it to look and behave like Hark on the web, which matches Hark's "same Hark" wording.

Why it matters#

Our read: Hark's pitch is an assistant that works in the background and nudges you, and enrico's complaint was that on a Mac those nudges got lost in a browser tab. A desktop app is the fix he asked for. Nothing in Hark's posts says the Mac app can control your Mac or read your local files. Hark's computer use runs through Handoff, which Hark describes as its computer use agent and frames around the browser: "If you're going to automate computer work, the browser is where it happens."

How to use it#

Open hark.com/mac on your Mac and download from that page.
Check you're on macOS 14 or later (Apple menu, About This Mac).
Open the installer, drag Hark to Applications, and sign in with your Hark account.
Grant permissions as macOS asks for them. You can skip the camera and location if you don't need them.
Pick up where you left off. A starter prompt (ours, untested):

I'm on my Mac now. Look at what you're tracking for me today, then give me the three things I should handle before 5 PM, each with one button-sized next step.

Good to know#

Early bug report. A user posted a video at 2:55 AM ET Friday saying "the download on the hark macOS app doesn't seem to be working, even the pdf preview isnt working" (user report). We found no public reply from Hark or Adcock to it. If you hit the same thing, use Hark on the web for that task.
Don't download the wrong Hark. A separate meeting-recorder app, also named Hark, is sold through External Software's store with its own version history, including a 1.1.2 release dated Oct 29, the same day as Hark's launch. It isn't the app on hark.com/mac. A web search summary we ran at 6:13 AM ET Friday credited that 1.1.2 version to Hark's Mac app, so check the source of any version number you see.
Open questions. Users asked how the Mac app differs from the web, including "accessibility to my files on my Mac," and when Windows is coming (user reports). X searches at 6:12 and 6:14 AM ET Friday found no public reply to either from Hark or Adcock.
Not tested by us. We don't have a Hark account, so we haven't signed in, timed it, or checked notifications on the Mac.

What to watch#

Whether Hark posts release notes or a help page for the Mac app, and whether two-way voice arrives. The app's microphone text mentions "voice conversations", and a user asked for "voice mode in hark please" at 11:56 PM ET Thursday (user report). Hark hasn't announced a voice mode, so treat the permission text as a hint, not a feature.

Sources#

Last checked: Oct 30, 6:11 to 6:14 AM ET (X posts reopened via the X API, hark.com/mac with a Mac browser header, the installer downloaded and its app files read, Hark's Using Hark and Handoff pages, External Software's Hark page). What changed: first version.