Frequently asked questions
Answers to the questions that come up most: fan safety, Mac support, what gets sent, notarization, the license and support.
Is it safe for the fans?
Helios never cools less than macOS: it only adds cooling, within a limit you set. On an error, sleep, quit or helper restart it hands the fans back to macOS, and the helper has its own 95 °C guard. Physically tested on one M4 MacBook Pro. On other Macs fan control is experimental and off, and a 20-second test runs first.
Does it work on my Mac?
Monitoring does, on every Apple Silicon Mac. Unavailable sensors are marked unavailable, never zero. Temperatures outside the M4 come from a public sensor catalogue, and Helios checks them on your Mac while it runs. The chip-by-chip overview is on the Chip support page.
What gets sent?
Nothing, until you turn diagnostics on yourself. Even then it is only coarse categories, you read exactly what before it is sent, and a manual report needs its own Send. The update check goes to GitHub and carries nothing about your Mac.
Why is it not notarized?
It is a non-commercial personal project without a paid Apple Developer ID. You confirm the first launch in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Open Anyway. The steps are in the installation guide on GitHub.
Is it open source?
The source code is public under the PolyForm Noncommercial license. That is source available, not OSI open source; commercial use requires permission.
How is it different from Stats, iStat Menus or TG Pro?
Helios focuses on explaining why, on how a Mac ages (Longevity) and on estimates that are honestly marked as estimates. A detailed feature comparison with specific products is not published yet, until their current features and prices are checked against primary sources.
Why is Longevity empty?
It needs time: a battery trend after about a month, the cooling comparison after four weeks of use. Until then Helios says so instead of guessing.
Who makes it, and how is support?
One developer, Jakub Šnejda. Report bugs through GitHub Issues and send sensitive matters to helios@snejda.cz. Replies are not instant.