xScope 4.2

xScope is a Mac utility created for graphic designers who wish to analyze and measure layouts and illustrations on your desktop. It might come in handy if you wish to check if your iOS app designs fit an iPhone or iPad screen, measure distances on your desktop, zoom in a certain area from an image, and so much more.

The program comes with status bar menu, a toolbar on your desktop, and icon on your Dock. You can also change the way it operates and get access to its built-in utilities by using shortcut keys. Personally, I prefer using the toolbar as it's pretty difficult to remember each and every global hotkey (they're too many).

I tested all of the integrated utilities. They all worked perfectly and offered me the info I needed. I especially liked the Loupe as it provided me with an easy way to zoom in on my screen, identify color codes, and check how a user with vision problems sees the elements from the desktop.

Sadly, the app comes with two flaws: it fails to take screenshots when using the global hotkeys and SmartTools will not work if you use the xScope toolbar (it works only if you're using hotkeys or the status bar menu).

Still, xScope comes with many useful features which prove to be of good use when measuring, inspecting, and testing graphics and layouts on your screen. This program might be the app for you if you need a quick way to complete the aforementioned tasks.

v4.2 [Mar 17, 2016]
- New Features: A new setting in General preferences makes tool windows stay in the Space where they were activated. If you do design or development in one space and email or chat in another, try it out.
- Improvement: The new eyedropper icon on the Loupe can quickly switch the working color space.
- Improvement: Added a Loupe preference to highlight colors that are out of gamut.
- Bug Fix: Fixed a problem where some colors in the palette would shift between launches.
- Bug Fix: Color values in the Loupe are no longer truncated.
- Bug Fix: Fixed issues which caused Rulers to not activate correctly.
- Bug Fix: Layout of controls in Dimensions preferences now look better on El Capitan.
- Bug Fix: Updates are now done over a secure connection.