---
title: "Frequently asked questions"
description: "Answers to the questions that come up most: fan safety, Mac support, what gets sent, notarization, the license and support."
canonical: "https://www.snejda.cz/en/helios/faq"
language: "en"
---

# 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.

---

HTML version: https://www.snejda.cz/en/helios/faq  
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