v1.5.0
July 20, 2026
New
- On-screen lock badge. When you use Stealth Lock or lock just your built-in keyboard, there is no full-screen overlay, so it was easy to forget the keyboard was locked. A small dismissible badge now appears in the corner with the unlock shortcut and a one-tap Unlock button, so you always know it is locked and how to get out. Handy when Smart Detect locks for you. Requested by Richard.
- Lock or free the trackpad from the badge. During a built-in keyboard lock, the badge has a one-tap button to lock or free the built-in trackpad when an external mouse is connected.
Improvements
- Simpler Stealth Lock. The first-run confirmation dialog is gone. The always-present badge now shows what is happening and how to unlock while stealth is active.
v1.4.4
July 16, 2026
Improvements
- Smart Detect now catches cats that rest or gently walk on the keyboard. When a cat settles in and rests a paw on the keys, or gently pads across them, it holds keys down in a way earlier versions could let slip. Smart Detect now recognizes that resting, gentle-walk pattern and locks for it, while still leaving your own fast typing alone.
- Clearer "That wasn't my cat" button. The button shown on each Smart Detect auto-lock, for the rare times it guesses wrong, is now easier to spot and tap.
v1.4.3
July 10, 2026
New
- Five Smart Detect sensitivity levels. The sensitivity slider now has five stops instead of three, including a gentler low setting, so you can dial in how eager Smart Detect is more precisely.
- Ignore single-key holds. A new Smart Detect option that stops auto-locking when you hold or repeat a single key, like drawing a divider of dashes or dots. Thanks to Saahir for the suggestion.
Improvements
- Far fewer false locks while typing. Smart Detect no longer mistakes fast typing for a cat, and holding a single key (erasing a paragraph, or making a line of dashes) no longer trips it as easily. Thanks to Saahir and Juan for the reports.
v1.4.2
July 8, 2026
Bug fixes
- The lock now fully blocks app switching, even when hidden from the Dock. If you ran Cats Lock as a pure menu bar app (Hide from Dock on), Cmd-Tab could still slip through while locked. It is now reliably blocked in every mode.
- The main window opens reliably, and in front. Opening Cats Lock from the menu bar, at launch, or with Hide from Dock on could leave the window hidden behind other apps or unfocused. It now comes to the front and takes focus every time.
Improvements
- Smart Detect got a little sharper. Keys people hold for emphasis (like ! and ?) now keep their longer grace period only when held on their own, so a paw mashing them alongside other keys is caught sooner.
v1.4.1
July 1, 2026
New
- Smart Detect is one click from the menu bar. The menu bar dropdown now has a Smart Detect row that opens straight to it in Settings, so you can find and reach it without opening the main window.
Bug fixes
- Locking now clears Mission Control first. Locking while Mission Control was open used to leave the lock screen stranded behind it. Cats Lock now dismisses Mission Control before it locks, so the lock screen appears and your unlock shortcut works as expected.
v1.4.0
June 26, 2026
New
- Smart Detect (beta). Cats Lock can now lock itself the moment it senses cat-style typing, like several keys held down at once or rapid scattered bursts, so you do not have to reach for the shortcut when a paw lands on the keys. It is opt-in and off by default, runs entirely on your Mac, and never sends your keystrokes anywhere. Choose how sensitive it is, and if it ever guesses wrong, one tap on "That wasn't my cat" unlocks and helps it improve. Thanks to Danielle for pointing us to the research behind it.
Bug fixes
- The lock now covers full-screen apps. Locking while another app was in full screen could leave you without the visible overlay until you pressed the unlock shortcut. The overlay now appears correctly over full-screen apps.
v1.3.1
June 22, 2026
New
- Lock the built-in trackpad too. The built-in keyboard lock now has an Also lock trackpad option. When an external mouse is connected, locking the built-in keyboard also blocks the laptop's trackpad, so a cat on the MacBook cannot move the cursor, click, or scroll while you keep working on your external keyboard and mouse. It frees the trackpad the moment the external pointer is unplugged, and uses the same opt-in Accessibility permission as the keyboard lock.
- Caps Lock protection. A stray Caps Lock press during a lock can no longer leave you stuck typing in capitals.
Improvements
- Hide from Dock is reliable across launch and reopen. With it on, Cats Lock now stays out of the Dock when launched or reopened, not just on the first toggle.
v1.3.0
June 17, 2026
New
- Lock just the built-in keyboard. For people who work on an external keyboard: turn on Lock built-in keyboard only, then lock with your shortcut and only the laptop's built-in keys are blocked while your external keyboard keeps working, with no overlay and no sound. The built-in unlocks the moment you disconnect the external, so you are never stranded. The mode appears only when an external keyboard is connected, and it uses Accessibility permission (the same opt-in as Lock Function Row). Thanks to Steffen for the request.
Improvements
- New app icon. A cleaner orange cat on a warm soft-sand background, with proper Dark and Tinted variants.
v1.2.1
June 11, 2026
Improvements
- Cmd+Tab no longer escapes the lock. While locked, Cats Lock now blocks the app switcher so a determined cat can't jump into another app. No extra permissions needed.
- Always a way out of Stealth Lock. Press Esc anytime while locked and Cats Lock shows you the unlock shortcut right on screen, even in Stealth Lock where there's no overlay.
- Smoother, quieter sound. The audio engine was rebuilt so warning sounds play more reliably and cleanly.
Bug fixes
- Hide from Dock works reliably again. Toggling Hide from Dock no longer leaves a lingering Dock icon behind or sends the main window behind other windows.
- Function-key locking prompts for permission correctly. Turning on Lock function keys now reliably brings up the Accessibility permission prompt so you can enable the feature.
v1.2.0
June 8, 2026
New
- Lock the function row (optional). A new opt-in toggle in Settings blocks the entire function row while locked (F1 through F12), including Mission Control, Spotlight, brightness, keyboard backlight, and the media keys. Because macOS treats these as system keys, this feature asks for Accessibility permission once, and it stays off until you turn it on. Everything else in Cats Lock still works with no permissions at all.
- Menu bar icon picker. Choose how Cats Lock looks in your menu bar from three brand-matching styles: Paw, Cat, and Cat Head. Each has a locked variant so the lock state reads clearly at menu bar size. Thanks to Agnes (and Felix) for the request.
Improvements
- Prevent sleep while locked can now be toggled straight from the menu bar dropdown, no need to open Settings.
Bug fixes
- Caps Lock no longer triggers the warning sound at the moment you lock in.
v1.1.2
June 2, 2026
Improvements
- Refreshed app icon. Bigger, cleaner cat silhouette filling more of the canvas, with proper Dark and Tinted appearance variants for users on the latest macOS.
Bug fixes
- Siri voice command compatibility. Saying "Hey Siri, Toggle Cats Lock" (or "Enable" / "Disable") now matches our registered actions correctly. The previous issue was a name mismatch between how Siri canonicalizes spoken app names and how our shortcut phrases were registered. If you've added Cats Lock actions to Shortcuts.app, voice commands should work right after updating. If you haven't, adding them once in Shortcuts.app gets voice working.
v1.1.1
May 20, 2026
Bug fixes
- Shortcut label now shows the correct key on non-US keyboard layouts. German, French, Dvorak, and other layouts were showing "Key 30" or "Key 44" instead of the actual character. The lock itself always worked; only the displayed label was wrong. Thanks to Agnes (and Felix) for the detailed report.
Improvements
- macOS Sequoia icon variants. Added dark and tinted appearance variants so Cats Lock fits in cleanly when Sequoia users set Icon and widget style to Dark or Tinted. Light variant unchanged. Thanks to Stephen for flagging this.
v1.1.0
May 19, 2026
New
- Global lock shortcut. The unlock shortcut now fires from any app on the system. No need to bring Cats Lock to the foreground first. Thanks to Richard for the request.
- Customizable shortcut. Record your own combo in Settings. The same shortcut drives both the global hotkey and the in-process unlock.
- Hide from Dock. Optional menu-bar-only mode. No Dock icon, no Cmd+Tab presence. The menu bar icon and the main window stay accessible. Thanks to Bruce for the request.
- Prevent sleep while locked. Holds the display awake while the keyboard is locked so the overlay stays visible if you step away.
Improvements
- First-time Stealth Lock now shows a quick confirmation so you know what to expect. Subsequent toggles apply silently.
- Caps Lock no longer blocks unlock.
- The warning sound stays quiet while you hold the unlock combo's modifier keys.
- Launch at Login now boots quietly into the menu bar instead of opening the main window on every login.
- Onboarding updated to introduce Stealth Lock, the unified unlock shortcut, and sleep prevention.
Under the hood
- Main window rebuilt on AppKit so it can pull cleanly to the foreground in menu-bar-only mode.
- Hardened Runtime enabled.
- No new entitlements. Still fully sandboxed. Still no Accessibility prompt.
v1.0.0
May 15, 2026
New
- Initial public release on the Mac App Store.
- Lock the keyboard with ⌘L from the main window or the menu bar.
- Friendly overlay while locked, with customizable warning sound on each blocked keypress.
- Stealth Lock mode for silent, invisible locking during meetings or recordings.
- Launch at Login support.
- Fully sandboxed. No Accessibility prompt. No account. No analytics.