Put your Mac to work while you sleep.
Acorn pays your Mac to run AI jobs — transcribing audio, generating images, and more — during the hours you're away from it.
Apple Silicon earns money in idle time.
Acorn connects your Mac with the highest-paying jobs it can do. Today that's speech transcription and image generation. More model categories roll out as we expand the fleet.
Jobs that fit your chip.
Your Mac runs the models it does well — Whisper and SDXL today, more as we expand. Opt in or out of each category. You get paid per completed job; developers pay a fraction of what the big clouds charge them.
You decide when it runs.
Run Acorn overnight, or anytime you're not using full compute. Touch the keyboard and it pauses. Unplug the laptop and it stops.
Cash, not points.
Every job credits your balance. Autopay to your bank, PayPal, or USDC wallet when you clear $10. No tokens, no points, no platform credit.
What your Mac could earn.
Estimated from your hardware and idle hours. Actual earnings vary with demand and your local power rate.
Your Mac
Pick your model and chip, how many hours it sits idle, and your local power rate. The estimate updates live.
- Apple Silicon — M1 or newer
- macOS 14+ Sonoma or later
- Plugged in
Why Activity Monitor can show more than 100% CPU.
Activity Monitor counts CPU per core: 100% is about one fully busy core, so 300% is about three cores of work.
Mac CPU Allowed is a ceiling.
Acorn's CPU percentage is a safety limit, not a promise that Activity Monitor will show the same number. The app converts your percentage into a logical-CPU thread cap for inference, clamped to your Mac's available logical CPUs.
Actual use depends on the job.
The model backend, batch depth, and thermal step-down can all keep real CPU below the ceiling. Acorn may also pause or back off when your Mac needs headroom.
Memory is separate.
Max RAM Allowed is its own limit. Raising or lowering memory does not mean the same thing as changing Mac CPU Allowed.
Safe by default, not by config.
Acorn is built to keep your machine and your data protected without you having to tune anything.
Scoped to the work Acorn receives.
Jobs can't touch your files, mic, camera, or keychain. Inputs are encrypted in transit; local scratch files are wiped after every job.
Paused when you need the machine.
Pauses on keystroke, on unplugged power, and above 75°C. Other Macs in the network pick up the work.
You pick what runs on your Mac.
Opt out of any model or category — image generation, specific weights, anything you'd rather not serve. Uploads are checked for safety before they reach you.
A short clip lives on your Mac only while it is being transcribed.
For transcription jobs, the Mac app downloads one small audio clip into your Mac's temporary directory. Developer CLI workers use Acorn's local audio cache instead.
What hosts ask first.
Will this slow my Mac down?
By default, no. Acorn waits until your Mac is idle, then pauses when you come back. You choose how long the Mac should be inactive before work starts, and you can keep video calls and similar apps treated as active time. If you decide to run jobs while you work, you still control how much capacity Acorn can use.
What about my electricity bill?
The estimate above already subtracts power cost using the kWh rate you enter. Apple Silicon is efficient under AI load, but electricity still matters, so the number we show is net of estimated power instead of a gross payout number.
Can Acorn see my files?
No. A job contains only the input a developer sends to Acorn for that job. It cannot browse your disk, open your documents, use your microphone or camera, or access your keychain. Job data is encrypted in transit, and local scratch files are wiped after the job finishes.
What kinds of jobs run on my machine?
Today, Acorn focuses on speech transcription and image generation. As the network grows, more model categories will become available. You choose which categories your Mac can serve, and Acorn matches it with the best-paying eligible job for its hardware.
How do I get paid?
Your completed jobs add to your Acorn balance. Once the balance reaches $10, you can cash out by bank transfer through Stripe Connect, PayPal, or USDC. If your balance is below the threshold, it carries forward. If you cross the IRS reporting threshold in a year, we'll issue a 1099-NEC.
Is there a minimum commitment?
No. You can pause Acorn, stop hosting, or uninstall whenever you want. Any unpaid balance that has reached the $10 cash-out minimum is still yours to withdraw.
What about Intel Macs, iPads, or battery mode?
Acorn is focused on plugged-in Apple Silicon Macs, meaning M1 or newer. Intel Macs, iPads, and battery-powered hosting are not on the near-term roadmap because the performance, reliability, and economics are best on plugged-in M-series hardware.
What does "alpha" mean for me?
Acorn is still early. Demand may be uneven, so real earnings can be lower than the calculator suggests, and the app will change as we learn from hosts and developers. The upside is direct access to the team: if something feels confusing or broken, you can reach a human quickly.
Get paid for the cycles your Mac isn't using.
Three minutes to install. Acorn picks up the first job the moment the machine goes idle.