Photon

Photon takes screenshots and screen recordings from the menu bar. Its capture shortcut freezes the screen while you pick an area, then lets you mark it up with pen, arrow, shapes, text, numbered steps and pixelate, and copy the result. A separate shortcut records a region, a window or the full screen. It suits people who write how-to guides, bug reports or support replies. The project says it has no analytics or crash reporting.

Requires macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon. The Mac build is signed and notarized, so it opens without an Open Anyway step, but macOS asks for Screen & System Audio Recording permission before capture or recording works. Photon checks GitHub once a day for updates unless you turn that off.