Release notes — Cats Lock

v1.2.1

June 11, 2026

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.

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.

June 8, 2026

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 for the request.

Prevent sleep while locked can now be toggled straight from the menu bar dropdown, no need to open Settings.

June 2, 2026

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.

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.

May 20, 2026

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 for the detailed report.

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.

May 19, 2026

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.

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.

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.

May 15, 2026

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.