User’s manual

Every button explained, for kids and for the grown-ups helping them. First time? The practice run teaches the same in five minutes, by doing.

Install and first launch

Download the app, open the file and drag Cheetah 101 into Applications. On the first launch macOS asks whether to open an app downloaded from the internet: press Open. It needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple Silicon and Intel.

To see the task, the app needs permission to take screenshots. The panel walks through it: press Allow screen access, switch on Cheetah 101 in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording, then choose Quit & Reopen. On the first hint macOS may ask once more whether Cheetah 101 may “bypass the system private window picker”: press Allow.

The app asks for an email: a parent’s is best. We send a six-digit code; type it into the app and you are in. No password. The same email works on this website, where your account shows how many hints were used and which Macs are signed in. To sign out, open the Cheetah 101 menu in the menu bar.

The panel

A small window on the right edge of the screen: the name and a ✕ (quit) on top, three buttons, a card that says what is going on, and cheetah101.com with Help at the bottom. Drag it by the top to move it. When a new version is out, Update x.y.z appears at the bottom; click it to download.

The first card has an underlined Try a practice task: it opens the practice page.

The three buttons

Whole screen: Cheetah takes one screenshot of the screen the panel is on and looks for the task. Good when the task fills the screen.
Select area: The screen dims. Drag a box around one problem and let go; press Esc to cancel. Cheetah sees only what is inside the box, so the hints get sharper. This is the best way to use it.
Hide hints / Show hints: Clears the arrows from the screen, and brings the same arrows back. Nothing is sent anywhere. It also follows you: when you click away the last sign, it turns into Show hints by itself.

While Cheetah looks at the task, the button you pressed runs diagonal stripes. It usually takes 10 to 20 seconds: Cheetah writes the hints, then checks them before you see them (below).

Arrows and signs

1. Start with all the pencils Steps come numbered, in the order to do them, at most three at a time.
2. Split into this many groups Each arrow lands on the exact number, word or box it is about. Small targets get a ring around them.
Check this bottom number Red means something already on the screen looks wrong. It says which rule to check, never the right value.
3. Write your answer here The last step usually points at where the answer goes.

Signs, arrows and rings are a little see-through, so the task under them still shows. A sign is short; the panel says the same step again in up to 20 simple words, and adds a word of praise when something is already right.

Click a sign when its step is done. The arrow goes away and the step gets a ✓ in the panel. Then press Select area again: Cheetah compares the new screen with its last hints, praises what changed and moves on. Clear in the panel removes the hints and the card; the counter next to it shows today’s hints.

Every hint is checked first

Before you see the hints, Cheetah takes a second look with the arrows drawn on your screenshot and grades them 1 to 10: how easily could someone who never learned this topic finish the task with only these hints? Under 7, it rewrites them with what was missing. Hints that give away the answer get the lowest grade, so they are rewritten too.

Tips for parents

Select one task at a time. A box around a single problem gives better hints than a busy screen.
Any subject, any language. Hints come in the language of the task: a Russian worksheet gets Russian hints.
It will not give answers. Not even if asked nicely. If your kid needs the answer, that is a conversation for you or the teacher.
Tests switch it off. If the screen looks like an exam or a proctored test, Cheetah says hints are off.
80 hints a day. That is the fair-use limit while Cheetah is free. It resets at midnight UTC.

What is sent, what is kept

A screenshot leaves the Mac only when a button is pressed. It goes to our server and on to the AI that writes and checks the hints, and it is not saved anywhere. We keep your email, the devices you signed in on, and counters (when a hint was made, how long it took, how many steps, its grade). The full list is in the privacy policy.

If something goes wrong

No arrows, or the screenshot is empty: macOS has not allowed screen recording yet. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording, switch on Cheetah 101, then quit and reopen the app.
macOS asks if Cheetah 101 may “bypass the system private window picker”: That is macOS double-checking an app that takes screenshots by itself. Press Allow; it asks only once. Cheetah still looks at the screen only when a button is pressed.
The code email does not arrive: Look in Spam and Promotions, then ask for a new code. If the sign-in page shows a red banner about mail, our mail server is having trouble; try again in a few minutes.
The arrows point a bit off, or stay behind when you scroll: Arrows are pinned to the screen, not to the page. Use Select area around the task, keep the window still until the arrows appear, and ask again after scrolling.
“That's 80 hints today”: The daily limit is reached. Hints come back tomorrow.

Anything else: hello@cheetah101.com. We read every email.