Applies to: macOS 26.5 / same app as iOS 26
Elsinore on Mac
On this page
The Mac app is the same app, built from the same code, with the chrome a Mac expects.
Elsinore ships as a Universal Purchase: the Mac app shares its bundle identifier with the iPhone and iPad app, so one purchase covers both.
What is shared
Live, Scrub, Search and Review, Explore and Follow, and the whole alert routing model are the same views and the same logic on both platforms. Everything on iPhone and iPad is here; the Mac adds a server console in the sidebar, separate camera windows, and a menu bar companion.
What differs
No Live Activities. Live Activities and the Dynamic Island are an iPhone and iPad feature. On Mac, Elsinore delivers ordinary notifications plus a menu bar companion. The Alerts settings say so on Mac rather than showing a switch that would do nothing. Quiet and Urgent notifications, quiet hours, sounds, and the attention ladder all work (Glance is a Live Activity, so it has no Mac equivalent).
Separate camera windows. A camera can be opened in its own window, which is the thing a Mac can do that a phone cannot.
A menu bar companion, for status at a glance without bringing the app forward.
A transport bar under the reel, instead of the controls shade the phone uses. Trackpad and mouse drive the reel alongside the keyboard.
A sidebar instead of a tab bar: Live, Scrub, Search, Review, then one row per camera, then Server (Status, Connection Doctor, Alert History, Frigate Config) and Help (Guide). Settings opens its own window (Command-comma).
Help › Guide. Choose Guide in the sidebar's Help section, or Help ›
Elsinore Guide. The Mac app embeds the sidecar's own /guide
documentation directly, with your session already attached so it does not
land you on a login page. See
the operator manual.
Settings tabs rather than a list: General, Server, Appearance & Display, Alerts, Alert History, Storage, Scrub Feel, and About. General carries Launch at login; Scrub Feel is the reel tuning that lives in the controls shade on iOS. See the settings reference.
Handoff
Viewing a camera publishes a Handoff activity carrying the camera name and the playback time, so the camera and moment you are looking at on one Apple device can be picked up on another.
Keyboard
Four menus.
Reel
| Command | Key |
|---|---|
| Step back / forward | Left / Right |
| Step back / forward 10 rows | Shift-Left / Shift-Right |
| Step back / forward one frame | Option-Left / Option-Right |
| Back / forward 60 seconds | Option-Shift-Left / Option-Shift-Right |
| Previous / next event | [ / ] |
| Coarser / finer rung | Command-] / Command-[ |
| Explore at Cursor | Command-Shift-I |
Playback
| Command | Key |
|---|---|
| Play / pause | Space |
| Faster / slower | Command-Up / Command-Down |
| Mute | Command-Shift-M |
| Export clip | Command-E |
| Jump to live | L |
Explore
| Command | Key |
|---|---|
| Show / hide Explore | Command-Shift-E |
| Follow | Command-Shift-F |
| Same / Not same | Option-Command-Y / Option-Command-N |
| Previous / next stop | Option-Up / Option-Down |
| Focus camera 1 to 9 | Option-1 to Option-9 |
| Clear the subject | Command-Delete |
| Show camera at cursor | Return |
| Show / hide contact sheet | Command-Shift-A |
| Zoom in / out | Command-= / Command-- |
| Save still | Command-S |
| Copy still | Option-Command-C |
| Save all stills | Command-Shift-S |
| Export case | Option-Command-E |
| Export Follow clips | Command-Shift-C |
Camera
| Command | Key |
|---|---|
| Select Live | Command-0 |
| Select camera 1 to 9 | Command-1 to Command-9 |