Install Roma on your Mac
Download the DMG, open it, sign in, and Roma keeps itself up to date.
The Mac app is Roma on your Mac: a download from roma.app/download, built for Apple Silicon, signed and notarized, and it updates itself. It is the same Roma you get in the browser, with the things only an app on your Mac can do: a quick chat you open from any app with one key, hold to talk, links from Mail or Messages that open inside it, and a copy of your lists that works with no network. You sign in with Google or Apple, with the account you use everywhere else.
Download and install
Open roma.app/download. The page shows one button for the Mac and one for the iPhone, with the Mac version under its button.
Click Download the Mac app. The download is a DMG for Apple Silicon.
Open the DMG and move Roma into Applications, the way you install any Mac app.
Open Roma. The first launch takes you to sign in.
The app is signed and notarized, so macOS opens it without a warning. If the page says the Mac download is temporarily unavailable, refresh in a moment: a new version is on its way up.
Sign in on the first launch
Roma signs you in through your browser. Click Sign in with Google or Sign in with Apple, pick the account in the browser, and the browser hands you back to the app. It is the same account you use at roma.app and on your iPhone, so the lists you already have are there on the first screen. Creating the account takes the same two buttons.
A brand-new account sees "Building your account" for a moment while Roma sets up your Tasks list, your Notes list, your experts and the automations you start with. Then the app opens on Tasks, with the operator open beside it and its first cards waiting in the conversation.
What the Mac app adds
Quick chat and hold to talk. Press ⌃⌥N in any app and a small panel opens for a message to your operator. Hold a key, speak, let go, and your words go the same way. Quick chat and hold to talk has the details.
Keyboard shortcuts and ⌘K. Every chord, and a palette that reaches every page, task, list and action by name: Keyboard shortcuts and the command palette.
Tabs with their own history, pins, and a restore when you open the app again: Tabs.
Links open in the app. A share link, an invitation, or a task's or list's own link opened from Mail, Messages, Slack or Notes opens in Roma instead of the browser.
Your lists, offline. The app keeps your lists on the Mac. Start it with no network and the whole workspace is there. What you add waits behind the sidebar's sync pill (Offline, then N pending, then Syncing) and goes out when the network is back.
Banners and the Dock. A reminder or a reply from your operator arrives as a macOS notification, and macOS asks for permission on the first one. The Dock icon wears one mark when a reply waits in your conversation or something unread sits in Updates, never a count.
Imports from your Mac. Settings → Import reads your open Apple Reminders (one permission prompt on first use) and your tasks from Things: Import your tasks.
Updates install themselves
The app checks for a new version when it starts and every four hours after that. When there is one, it downloads in the background. A row appears at the bottom of the sidebar, above your name: the download's progress, then Relaunch to update with the version. Click it and Roma comes back on the new version. Leave it, and the update installs the next time you quit.
If a version falls too far behind what the service expects, Roma shows Update required, relaunches onto the update as soon as it is downloaded, or sends you to the download page. Settings → General shows the version you are on, and ⌘K has a Check for updates row.
Open at login, and quitting
Settings → General → Startup has Open at login, off until you turn it on, and it applies to this Mac only. It matters for reminders: a notification on the Mac is shown by the app itself, so Roma has to be running to show one. If it is off, anything that came due while Roma was closed is there the next time you open it.
⌘Q asks "Quit Roma?" before the app closes, with Quit as the default and Cancel on Escape.
Nothing asks for a system permission at launch. Accessibility is asked for only when you turn on hold to talk, notifications on the first banner, and Reminders when you press the Import page's own button.
Questions people ask
Is there a Roma app for Intel Macs?
The download page offers one Mac build, and it is for Apple Silicon. On an Intel Mac, Roma runs in the browser at roma.app with the same account and the same lists. Where Roma runs compares the three.
Do I need the Mac app, or is the browser enough?
Everything about your tasks, lists, the operator, automations and connections is the same in both. The app adds what a browser tab cannot do: the quick chat hotkey, hold to talk, links that open straight in Roma, your lists available with no network, and notifications from the app itself.
Does the Mac app work offline?
Yes. Your lists live on the Mac, so the app opens to the full workspace with no network, and the sync pill in the sidebar shows what is waiting to go out. Anything you add or change goes up as soon as the network is back.
How do I know which version I have?
Settings → General shows the version. When a newer one is downloaded, the sidebar's Relaunch to update row says which version it is about to install, and ⌘K's Check for updates asks the feed on the spot.