A little help with Chii.

The interactive feature previews show a sample conversation, reminder review, a short focus countdown and silent music controls. They run in this page only, without an AI connection or access to your Mac. Saving a sample does not create a task in macOS Reminders; the music preview does not play a song.

The homepage is a sample desktop using actual Chii renders. Move a mouse pointer just below idle Chii to see the matching hand reach toward it. Open Chii’s menu or use the sidebar and dock to explore each feature in the main window.

The actual Chii app provides the connected features after installation and any required setup. ChiiNotch is still being prepared for the Mac App Store.

The current development build targets Apple silicon Macs with macOS 14 or later. Final release compatibility is still being tested.

Apple AI text conversation needs macOS 26 or later, a compatible Mac, a supported language and Apple Intelligence enabled with its model ready. Image understanding additionally needs macOS 27 or later and a model with image support. Activities and the focus timer do not require Apple AI.

Move your pointer directly over Chii at the top of the screen. The body opens into the hover menu, with Talk, Reminders, Focus and Play.

Click outside to close it. Escape goes back through menu pages and dismisses the menu; it does not quit Chii. Chii’s menu-bar icon also gives you access to settings and Quit.

No. Start with the activities and focus timer, then connect the features you want. Chii asks for relevant system access when you choose an optional feature.

Settings includes setup and permission guidance. You can change system permissions later in System Settings → Privacy & Security; Safari extension website access is managed in Safari.

Open Appearance for eye styles and the optional tail. Open Play to try activities and expressions. You can keep up to three favorite actions close by using shortcuts.

Calm motion and your Mac’s Reduce Motion setting reduce decorative movement.

Open Reminders and choose a new reminder, or describe the task in Talk. Check the exact task and date/time in the review, connect Reminders if needed, choose a writable list, and select Save reminder.

Chii asks for clarification when a time is unclear. Saying “OK” in ordinary chat does not save a personal reminder. Once saved, the task also appears in macOS Reminders and follows that app’s account and notification settings.

A reminder is a task saved in macOS Reminders. Chii’s own timers and alarms create local macOS notifications.

Try “Set a timer for one minute” in Talk. Review the duration, then choose Start timer or type “OK” for that currently reviewed timer. You can see and cancel Chii’s alerts from the task controls.

Notification and Focus settings affect alerts. They do not wake a sleeping or powered-off Mac, so use a suitable alarm device for anything you must not miss.

Open Focus, choose focus and break durations, then start. The countdown appears near Chii. Return to Focus to pause, resume or end the session.

When a session finishes, Chii offers a break. The break starts only when you choose to start it. Completion sound is optional.

Calendar awareness lets Chii use the minutes until a nearby timed event for an occasional reaction. It is not a dedicated meeting-reminder scheduler.

For a meeting you must not miss, set its alert in macOS Calendar or your calendar service. Calendars already synced into macOS Calendar can be available to the optional awareness connection.

Check that your Mac, macOS and selected language support Apple Intelligence. Turn it on in your Mac’s Apple Intelligence settings and allow its system models to finish preparing.

Chii’s Apple AI controls explain availability on the current Mac. Activities, the focus timer and manual reminder entry can still work without AI. The model may make mistakes or misunderstand wording; review tasks and times before saving.

Choose the microphone in Talk, then grant microphone and speech-recognition access if requested. Dictation requires an available on-device recognizer for the chosen language.

Review the text before sending. Stop ends capture; Discard restores the previous draft. Chii does not automatically send what you say or save a microphone recording.

Open Chii’s Safari extension settings, enable the bundled extension in Safari, and choose the website access you want. Allow YouTube access to use video playback controls.

Page sharing and automatic page awareness are separate choices in the extension popup. Page excerpts may contain private information. Enable awareness only for pages you want Chii to use.

No search API key is required. Chii can use its Safari extension to open a Google search and read up to five result excerpts. Enable browser search in the extension popup and allow Google website access.

The question goes to Google through Safari, with Safari’s normal account, cookie and history settings. Ask public-information questions. Consent pages and CAPTCHAs need your attention in Safari, and search excerpts can be incomplete or out of date.

Use Chii’s Music connection controls to set up the access requested by your chosen playback route. Controlling Music on the Mac may need Automation permission. Apple Music catalog playback has separate Apple Music authorization and subscription requirements.

Play-along is a visual activity that reacts to audio. Chii’s piano, drums and guitar do not add instrument sounds or reproduce a song’s exact notes. System audio access is requested when listening begins; stop listening through the music controls.

Check the menu-bar icon for Show Chii. If you are presenting full-screen content, leave the presentation and check again. You can quit and reopen Chii using its menu-bar menu.

If the issue continues, note your macOS version, display arrangement and the steps immediately before it happened.

Open settings to choose Calm motion, reduce the companionship frequency, or pause spontaneous comments. Stop audio play-along if it is not needed. Your Mac’s Reduce Motion setting also reduces decorative animation.

If the whole Mac feels slow, use Activity Monitor to see which process is busy rather than assuming Chii is the cause.

Check the relevant permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security. Calendar, Reminders, microphone, speech recognition, notifications, Music and Automation can have separate access decisions.

For browser features, check Safari’s extension and website access too. Grant only the access you need. Reopen Chii after changing a permission if macOS requests it.