Keycap

Real mechanical switch sounds for every key you press, on macOS.

The three questions we get most

I granted the permission and there is still no sound

macOS only hands a new permission to an app that starts after it was granted, so Keycap has to be restarted once. The setup banner inside the app has a Quit and Reopen button that does it for you.

There is no icon in my menu bar

A menu bar manager — Bartender, Ice, Hidden Bar and similar — hides new icons by default. Look in its hidden section and make Keycap visible. On a Mac with a notch, a crowded menu bar can also push icons out of sight.

Either way nothing is lost: Keycap has a normal window with everything in it, and it opens from the Dock icon or by launching the app again.

It used to work and then went quiet

After an app update the entry in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring can stop matching the new version. Select Keycap in that list, remove it with the – button, then switch it on again.

Using Keycap

Changing the switch

Click the keyboard icon in the menu bar, or open the window and go to Sounds. Clicking a switch selects it and plays it straight away, so you can hear the difference as you go.

The typing test

The Sounds tab has a typing test. Click it, type the words, and you will hear the switch in real use while your words per minute and accuracy update live. It is the fastest way to tell two switches apart.

Downloading more switches

Open Library. Everything there is free and included — Keycap has no in-app purchases and no subscription. New packs appear over time without an app update.

Volume, launch at login and the menu bar

Volume is in the menu bar panel and in General, along with launch at login, release sounds, and an option to hide the Dock icon and live in the menu bar only.

Why Keycap asks for Input Monitoring

Keycap needs to know the moment a key is pressed, and macOS puts that behind the Input Monitoring permission. It is worth being precise about what that does and does not allow:

• It only listens. macOS hands Keycap a read-only copy of the event. It cannot modify, block or inject a keystroke.
• It reads a position, not a letter. The only thing taken from an event is which physical key moved, so Keycap can pick one of twelve sounds. Characters are never assembled, so it cannot tell the letters of your password from anything else you type.
• Nothing is written down. No keystroke is stored, logged or sent anywhere.
• You can take it back. Turn the switch off whenever you like. Keycap keeps running — it just goes quiet.

The full explanation is in our privacy policy.

Requirements

macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon or Intel. Works with any keyboard — built in, Bluetooth or wired.

Refunds

Purchases are handled by Apple, so refunds go through them: reportaproblem.apple.com. If something is broken, email us first — we would rather fix it.