Support
Getting started
Deskami lives in the menu bar. On first launch it walks you through six screens: what it does, the day summary, choosing a character, the camera and privacy — macOS asks for camera access here — the reference, and done. Which signals warn you and where the character stands are set later, in Settings › Warnings and Settings › Character.
Taking a reference matters more than anything else in setup. Deskami has no idea what good posture is in general — it compares you with your own earlier self, so it needs one honest reading of you sitting the way you normally do.
Common questions
The character isn't moving.
Check the menu bar icon first: if the camera is off or paused, that's why. If the camera is running, the reading may not be getting through — a dark room, a head turned away, glasses catching a reflection. Deskami says which one on the day summary when it can tell, and otherwise names the possibilities rather than guessing. A setup with no reference also has nothing to compare you against; Settings › Camera lists your setups.
A signal says "not measured" instead of a number.
That's deliberate. "Measured zero" and "not measured" are different facts and Deskami keeps them apart. The day summary explains which one you are looking at and usually why.
Deskami warns me too often.
The quickest route is Settings › Warnings › Sensitivity: three steps — Relaxed, Balanced, Strict — and Relaxed reacts only to deviations that last a long time. Each signal has its own switch there too; turn off the ones you don't want. These settings decide only when you are warned, not what is measured: a signal switched off there still appears on the day summary.
For right now: Quiet this for now, in the panel that opens when you hover over the character, stops that warning for two hours while measuring continues.
Deskami also learns over time. Answer no twice to the question in the bubble beside the character and that warning loosens a step on this setup. Quiet the same warning on three separate days within thirty days and it offers to loosen a step. Thresholds never tighten on their own; under Settings › Camera you can move the steps either way.
I use more than one desk.
A setup is a camera plus a display arrangement, and each keeps its own reference. Moving to a different display creates a new one; Settings › Camera lists them.
I'm on a call and the character is in the way.
Deskami hides the character during calls and screen sharing; for that, Settings › Warnings › Hide during calls and screen sharing has to be on. It is on by default, so unless you turned it off it still is. It recognises a call from the app in front, or from the microphone and the speaker being in use at the same time. If the switch is on and it still didn't notice, either the app you're calling from is not one it recognises, or your microphone is off and you are only listening. Write in and say which app it was, and we'll add it.
I want to take the reference again.
Settings › Camera › Take a reference… replaces the previous one; if it can't be taken, the old one stays. If the lid moved or you changed spot, the quicker route is the panel that opens when you hover over the character: I'm sitting upright now refreshes the posture reference in five seconds.
The reference says there is another face in the picture.
Deskami takes the reference from the face closest to the camera, and it refuses when another face of about the same size stays in view — someone beside you, but also a face in a photo or poster, on a screen or in a mirror. A reference taken from the wrong face would be compared with you for days. Try again when only you are in view. If the other face is a picture, a screen or a mirror, choose It is only me, continue in the reference window.
While you work, Deskami follows the face that sits where your reference was taken; someone who leans in or walks behind you is not measured. When you leave, it keeps your place for three minutes. There is no face recognition, so if someone your size then stays in view, it measures them until you sit back down.
The camera is off to the side.
That works. Deskami compares you with your own reference, taken from wherever the camera is, and it allows for your head being turned towards the camera. Take the reference sitting the way you work, facing your screen; where the screen is, Deskami learns from where you look. If the camera sits far to the side and the character often says it cannot see you, move the camera closer to the front.
Camera permission was refused.
Deskami says "Camera access is off." and offers an Open System Settings button. It leads to System Settings › Privacy & Security › Camera; turn Deskami on there. Without the camera nothing is measured.
No notification came.
System notifications are off by default; a warning starts with the character and the menu bar icon, both silent, and a notification follows only if it continues. Turn them on under Settings › Warnings › System notifications — macOS asks once for permission. If macOS is blocking them, Deskami says so there and offers Open Notification Settings.
It started by itself after a restart.
The Launch at login switch is on by default. It sits on the last setup screen and under Settings › General; turn it off in either place.
Some readings stopped while Center Stage or Portrait is on.
Those effects change the picture — Center Stage crops and zooms it, Portrait blurs the background so the shoulders can no longer be picked out — so Deskami says "Your camera effects are on, so I've stopped measuring some things." and marks the affected signals as not measured rather than guessing. Turn the effects off from the camera icon in the menu bar and measuring resumes.
The camera slows on battery.
Settings › Camera shows "On battery or low power: camera slowed." while it lasts. The camera runs slower; nothing else changes.
The camera light stays on all day.
The camera is open the whole time Deskami measures, and the light is on whenever the camera is open. To turn it off, use the menu bar: Camera off for 1 hour or Camera off for today. While it is off, Deskami records that it was off instead of guessing what you were doing.
What does Deskami Plus add, and what stays free?
Everything about this week and last week is free: every signal, every warning, the day summaries, the week view, the patterns, the reference and its learning, today's apps breakdown, and the characters Leaf and Stone. Deskami Plus is a single one-time purchase made through the App Store; it adds history older than two weeks, the month view, export as PDF, CSV and JSON, the apps breakdown of earlier days and of the week and the month, and Furry. It is offered only where you reach for it: in Settings › General, and in the places where a Plus feature would show. The character never mentions it. The columns of the CSV and JSON files are described on the export page.
I bought Deskami Plus, but this Mac does not show it.
Settings › General › Restore purchases asks the App Store again; the Deskami Plus page has the same button. The purchase belongs to the Apple Account that made it, so that account has to be signed in to the App Store on this Mac. Each Mac keeps its own history; the purchase does not move days between Macs.
I got a refund.
The window goes back to this week and last week and the character to Leaf. Nothing is deleted: every day is still on this Mac, and buying again shows all of it again.
Where is my data?
On this Mac, in Deskami's own container, and nowhere else: ~/. The folder is hidden in the Finder; paste the path into Go › Go to Folder…. What is kept there is listed on the privacy page.
If you delete history.sqlite while Deskami is running, it notices within a few seconds and starts a new, empty record, as after Delete all data; your settings stay. A file moved to the Trash stays there until you empty it.
I want to clear my history but keep my setup.
Settings › General › Data › Delete history removes every recorded minute, warning and day summary. Your setups, references, learned thresholds and settings stay, so Deskami keeps measuring without a new reference. It cannot be undone.
How do I delete everything?
Settings › General › Data › Delete all data removes every minute, event, and reference; it cannot be undone. To remove the app as well:
- Quit Deskami from the menu bar.
- Move the app to the Trash.
- Delete the folder
~/yourself; moving the app to the Trash does not remove it.Library/ Containers/ com.vecihi.deskami - If Deskami is still listed under System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions, remove it there.
Requirements
macOS 26 or later, on a Mac with Apple silicon, and a camera — built-in or an external webcam.
Contact
hello@deskami.com — questions, problems, or a reading that didn't match what you were doing. Telling us what you were actually doing at that moment is the most useful thing you can send. We read every message and answer within a few days.