QuitGuard
Press ⌘Q and nothing happens. Hold it, and your app closes. Fumble the shortcut reaching for ⌘W or ⌘Tab and your work stays open.
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
Set how long you must hold Command-Q to quit.
0:26 · silent, with on-screen explanations
read the walkthrough
- Check the guard. QuitGuard is enabled. These settings control the hold required before an app quits.
- Adjust the delay. Drag the delay to two seconds. The number updates as you move the slider.
- Keep the overlay on. The overlay setting controls the progress indicator shown while holding the shortcut.
- Exclude an app. Add Safari to the exclusions. Excluded apps keep their usual quit shortcut.
what it does
Set your own delay
Choose a hold from a third of a second up to five. A small overlay shows which app is about to quit and how long is left. Let go early and it stays open.
It won’t chain through your apps
After one quit fires, QuitGuard stays off until you lift the keys, so holding ⌘Q through one app closing will not walk down and take the next one with it.
Leaves Chrome alone
Chromium browsers already have their own hold-to-quit, so QuitGuard seeds them into the exclusion list on first run and passes them straight through. Add any other app from Settings.
how it works
QuitGuard watches the keyboard through a session event tap and posts the quit straight to the app you meant, with no Apple Events, so macOS never shows a per-app automation prompt. It talks to nothing on the network and stores only your settings, in a local file. The one permission it needs is Accessibility, which macOS requires of any tool that reads the keyboard.
good to know
Why does it need Accessibility access?
Reading keyboard events on macOS requires the Accessibility permission. QuitGuard uses it only to catch ⌘Q for the apps you are guarding, and it can be revoked any time.
Does it send my data anywhere?
No. There is no telemetry, no analytics, and no network connection. Your settings live in a local file on your Mac.
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 QuitGuard_0.1.0_aarch64.dmg should print 6c5925c40169e84d4c860c21c06a6a39e73ce95b36748a26a2b5d3de805dfaa0.