FocusGuard
An app jumps in front while you are typing and your next words land in the wrong window. FocusGuard catches it, sends you back, and holds the keys until you are safe.
This is a Mac app. Open this page on a Mac to download it.
Download for macOSThis early build is not notarized by Apple yet, so macOS will ask you to allow it once. The steps are below.
at a glance
- price
- Free
- runs on
- Apple Silicon, macOS 12 or later
- download
- 2.3 MB DMG, version 0.1.0
- privacy
- No account and no telemetry
Screens and a walkthrough
Choose how the app handles unwanted focus changes.
0:22 · silent, with on-screen explanations
read the walkthrough
- Review protection. Protection can return focus to your app and stop typing from leaking into another window.
- Adjust the reaction window. Use the slider to set how recently your own click must happen for a switch to count as intentional.
- Inspect the log. The sample log shows a focus change. Allow an app when it should be able to interrupt you.
what it does
Knows a steal from a switch
FocusGuard timestamps your clicks and shortcut keys. If an app takes focus and nothing you did explains it, that counts as a steal. Plain typing is ignored, so writing prose never holds a window open.
Bounces focus back
On a steal it returns you to the app you were using and swallows the next third of a second of keystrokes, so nothing leaks into the window that jumped in front.
Allow the ones you meant
Every blocked app lands in a log with an Allow button. There is a log-only mode and a Pause for 5 Minutes in the tray, plus a counter of how many steals were blocked today.
how it works
A launch from the Dock or Spotlight, an app coming forward because the last one quit, and system prompts like the password dialog are all recognised as legitimate and left alone. Only an activation with nothing behind it gets bounced. A circuit breaker stops any single app from triggering an endless focus war, and protection stays off until the keyboard tap is actually live.
good to know
Why does it need Accessibility access?
Watching which app has focus and catching the keystrokes meant for you requires the Accessibility permission. FocusGuard uses it for nothing else, and without it protection stays off.
Will it fight apps I want in front?
No. Anything you launch yourself, or an app you have allowed once from the log, comes forward normally. The classifier is built around what you did rather than a fixed blocklist.
Does it send my data anywhere?
No network, no telemetry. The log of blocked activations is stored locally and capped.
Which Macs does it run on?
Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and later) on macOS 12 or newer.
Opening it the first time
This early build is not notarized with Apple yet, so macOS blocks the first launch. Open the app once, then go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway. If macOS calls the app damaged instead, run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine on the app in Terminal once. Notarized builds are coming.
Check the download: shasum -a 256 FocusGuard_0.1.0_aarch64.dmg should print bea01258debf61013507095206180d7fcc6f14c0282dd461555878fc067e0834.