Fenn and Rewind Desktop both help you find things you have seen before on your Mac. But they work in fundamentally different ways and solve different problems. Fenn searches inside files you already have. Rewind Desktop records your screen so you can find anything you saw, whether or not it was saved to a file.
Here is how they compare and when each one makes sense.
What Each Tool Does
Fenn
Fenn is a local AI file search agent for macOS. It indexes your existing files — PDFs, documents, presentations, audio, video, and images — and uses on-device AI to let you search across all of them semantically.
When you search for something, Fenn does not just find the file. It finds the exact moment inside the file: the specific page in a PDF, the slide in a presentation, the timestamp in a video, or the sentence in a document. It uses Apple's MLX framework for local AI processing, so nothing leaves your Mac.
Rewind Desktop
Rewind Desktop is a macOS menu bar app that continuously records your screen 24/7 using H.264 video compression. Everything is stored locally on your Mac. Press Cmd+Shift+R to open a full-screen visual timeline where you can scrub through your day and search for any text that appeared on screen using OCR.
The Core Difference
Fenn finds things in files you have saved. If a PDF exists on your Mac, Fenn can search inside it and find the exact page you need.
Rewind Desktop captures things you saw on screen, whether or not you saved them. It records everything — websites you visited, messages you read, code you scrolled past, designs someone shared in a meeting, notifications that popped up — regardless of whether any of that became a saved file.
This distinction matters because most of the information that crosses your screen is ephemeral. You did not download it. You did not screenshot it. You just looked at it. That is exactly the gap Rewind Desktop fills.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Fenn | Rewind Desktop | |---|---|---| | What it captures | Existing files on your Mac | Everything on your screen | | Recording method | Indexes saved files | Continuous H.264 video | | Search type | AI semantic search | OCR text search | | Finds content in PDFs | Yes (exact page) | Yes (if it appeared on screen) | | Finds content in videos | Yes (exact timestamp) | Yes (if you watched it) | | Finds web pages you visited | No (unless saved) | Yes | | Finds Slack messages | No (unless exported) | Yes (if they were on screen) | | Finds things you didn't save | No | Yes | | Visual timeline | No | Yes (Cmd+Shift+R) | | On-device processing | Yes (Apple MLX) | Yes (macOS ScreenCaptureKit) | | Local storage | Yes | 100% local | | Privacy | Strong (no cloud) | Strong (no cloud) | | Setup | Install, index files | Install, grant permissions | | Pricing | Paid | $30/month | | Hardware | Best on higher-memory Macs | Any Mac running macOS 13+ |
When Fenn Is the Better Choice
Fenn makes sense when your problem is finding content inside files you already have:
- You know you have a PDF somewhere with specific information, but you cannot remember which one.
- You need to find a specific timestamp in a long video recording.
- You work with large document libraries and need semantic search across all of them.
- You want AI-powered search that understands meaning, not just exact text matches.
If your files are well-organized but hard to search through, Fenn excels.
When Rewind Desktop Is the Better Choice
Rewind Desktop makes sense when your problem is finding things you saw but did not save:
- You visited a website last Tuesday and need the URL, but you did not bookmark it.
- Someone shared a price or a phone number in a Slack message and you scrolled past it.
- You were looking at a code snippet in a tutorial but did not copy it.
- You need to remember what you were working on at a specific time yesterday.
- You want a complete visual record of your workday, not just files.
If information crosses your screen faster than you can save it — which is true for most knowledge workers — Rewind Desktop ensures nothing is lost.
Can You Use Both?
Yes, and they complement each other well.
Fenn gives you deep search into your file library. Rewind Desktop gives you a searchable record of everything that crossed your screen. Together, they cover both saved and ephemeral information.
There is no overlap or conflict between them. Fenn indexes files. Rewind Desktop records the screen. They are different tools solving different problems, and using both gives you the most complete coverage.
The Privacy Angle
Both tools take privacy seriously:
- Fenn processes everything on-device using Apple's MLX framework. No cloud processing, no data leaves your Mac.
- Rewind Desktop stores all recordings locally with no cloud component whatsoever. Automatic incognito detection pauses recording in private browsing windows.
If privacy is your primary concern, both tools meet a high bar for local-only processing.
Bottom Line
Fenn and Rewind Desktop are not competitors. They solve different problems:
- Use Fenn if you need to search deep into files you already have on your Mac.
- Use Rewind Desktop if you need to capture and search through everything that crosses your screen, including things you did not save.
- Use both for the most complete digital memory on Mac.
If you are looking for a Rewind AI or Limitless replacement — a tool that records your screen 24/7 and makes it searchable — that is what Rewind Desktop does. Fenn is a great complementary tool, but it is not a screen recorder.
Rewind Desktop records your screen 24/7 so you never lose track of anything you saw. Download it here and press Cmd+Shift+R to search your screen history. See pricing for details.