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Quiet Keys

Quiet Keys

Your keyboard, but better.

A native macOS menu bar app that plays realistic mechanical keyboard switch sounds on every keystroke and mouse click — ultra-low latency, spatial audio, 22 switch profiles, fully offline. Part of the Quiet Apps family.

macOS Swift SwiftUI License: MIT Release Downloads Stars

Install · Features · Usage · Build from source · FAQ

Why

You love the sound of a good mechanical keyboard — but you're on a MacBook, in an office, or your partner is asleep next door.

Quiet Keys lives in your menu bar and plays a realistic switch sound for every key you press, through your speakers or headphones. Pick from 22 switch profiles across 13 brands, watch keys light up on a floating visualizer, and hear keys on the left of your keyboard from the left speaker. Everything runs on-device. No cloud. No account. No telemetry.

Features

Current release: version 1.0.2, build 3 — see CHANGELOG for per-build notes

Sound

  • 22 switch profiles across IQUNIX, Lofree, Akko, Keychron, Aflion, Durock, Gateron, NovelKeys, Drop, Kailh, IBM, Topre, Alps — plus a quirky Lizard
  • Ultra-low latency — lock-free audio engine, 128-frame CoreAudio buffer, all samples preloaded; nothing allocates on the audio thread
  • Spatial audio — keys on the left half of your keyboard play from the left speaker; keys on the right play from the right
  • Distinct press and release sounds — per-key-class samples (space, return, and backspace sound deeper), round-robin variants so no two keystrokes sound identical
  • Mouse click sounds for left, right, and middle buttons; toggleable
  • Original samples — every shipped sample is synthesized from parametric switch models in this repo; no recordings from other apps

Visualizer & typing test

  • Reactive visualizer — a floating mini keyboard that lights up keys as you press them; follow-cursor or fixed screen positions, optional key labels
  • Move, resize, close in place — hover the visualizer to drag it anywhere, scale it up to 2.5× from the corner handle, or dismiss it with the ⨯; stays fully click-through otherwise
  • Typing test — built-in demo window with WPM, accuracy, and timer, plus a rendered keyboard that highlights every key

Native macOS feel

  • Menu bar agent — no Dock icon
  • 100% Swift — SwiftUI menu + settings, AppKit visualizer overlay
  • No external dependencies — Apple frameworks only
  • Completely private — no data collected, no accounts, no network access, no telemetry

Install

Note: Quiet Keys is not code-signed with an Apple Developer ID. macOS Gatekeeper will warn on first launch. The steps below work around it automatically.

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap quietapps/quietkeys
brew install --cask quietkeys

The cask strips the macOS quarantine attribute on install so Gatekeeper does not block launch. The tap is at quietapps/homebrew-quietkeys.

Direct download

  1. Grab the latest QuietKeys-*.zip from Releases
  2. Unzip → drag Quiet Keys.app into /Applications
  3. Strip the quarantine attribute (or right-click → Open once):
xattr -cr "/Applications/Quiet Keys.app"
  1. Launch Quiet Keys — the keyboard icon appears in your menu bar
  2. Follow the onboarding window to grant Accessibility access (see Permissions)

If the app doesn't open (Gatekeeper blocked it)

macOS silently blocks unsigned binaries on first launch. Fix it once with any of these:

Option A — Right-click open (no Terminal needed)

  1. Open Finder → /Applications
  2. Right-click Quiet Keys.app → Open
  3. Click Open in the warning dialog
  4. macOS remembers your choice for every future launch

Option B — Terminal

xattr -cr "/Applications/Quiet Keys.app"

Option C — System Settings

  1. Try to launch the app — macOS shows a blocked notification
  2. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security
  3. Scroll to the message about Quiet Keys
  4. Click Open Anyway

Updating

Homebrew

brew update
brew upgrade --cask quietkeys

Direct download

Download the newer zip from Releases, drag the new Quiet Keys.app over the old one in /Applications, then run:

xattr -cr "/Applications/Quiet Keys.app"

Your settings and custom switch profiles are stored separately and are unaffected by app updates.

Uninstalling

Homebrew

# Remove the app and its preferences (via the cask's zap stanza)
brew uninstall --cask --zap quietkeys

# Drop the tap
brew untap quietapps/quietkeys

# Purge Homebrew's download cache
brew cleanup --prune=all -s

Optional manual cleanup if you skipped --zap:

defaults delete app.quiet.QuietKeys 2>/dev/null
rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/app.quiet.QuietKeys.plist \
       ~/Library/Application\ Support/Quiet\ Keys \
       ~/Library/Caches/app.quiet.QuietKeys \
       ~/Library/Saved\ Application\ State/app.quiet.QuietKeys.savedState

Also remove Quiet Keys from System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.

Direct download

# Move the app to Trash
rm -rf "/Applications/Quiet Keys.app"

# Remove settings + custom profiles
defaults delete app.quiet.QuietKeys 2>/dev/null
rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/app.quiet.QuietKeys.plist \
       ~/Library/Application\ Support/Quiet\ Keys \
       ~/Library/Caches/app.quiet.QuietKeys \
       ~/Library/Saved\ Application\ State/app.quiet.QuietKeys.savedState

Usage

Action How
Enable / disable sounds Click the keyboard icon → Enable / Disable Quiet Keys
Grant Accessibility access Menu bar → Grant Accessibility access… (shows ✓ when granted)
Switch profile Menu bar → Switches → pick a brand and switch
Adjust volume / tone / mouse clicks Menu bar → Sound, or Settings…
Toggle the visualizer Menu bar → Enable / Disable Visualizer
Move the visualizer Menu bar → Position → follow cursor or a fixed corner
Try the typing test Menu bar → Typing Test
Open Settings Menu bar → Settings… (⌘,)
Quit Menu bar → Quit Quiet Keys (⌘Q)

Once enabled, every keystroke and mouse click plays a sound system-wide. No further interaction needed.

Permissions

Quiet Keys needs Accessibility access to hear your keystrokes system-wide through a listen-only CGEvent tap.

  1. Launch Quiet Keys — the onboarding window opens automatically
  2. Click Grant Accessibility access — macOS shows its standard privacy prompt
  3. In System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, enable Quiet Keys
  4. The onboarding window detects the grant automatically and you're done

Keystrokes are matched to a sound and immediately forgotten. Nothing is logged, stored, or transmitted — audit the entire input path in InputMonitor.swift and AppState.swift.

No network access at all — the app makes zero network calls.

Adding a switch profile

Profiles are drop-in sample folders — no code changes needed.

MyProfile/
├── manifest.json
├── default_down_1.wav   ← round-robin press variants
├── default_down_2.wav
├── default_up_1.wav     ← release variants
├── space_down_1.wav     ← optional per-key-class samples
├── return_down_1.wav
└── delete_down_1.wav

manifest.json:

{
  "id": "mybrand-myswitch",
  "name": "My Switch",
  "brand": "MyBrand",
  "type": "tactile",
  "gain": 1.0,
  "keys": {
    "default": { "down": ["default_down_1.wav", "default_down_2.wav"],
                 "up":   ["default_up_1.wav"] },
    "space":   { "down": ["space_down_1.wav"], "up": [] }
  }
}

Drop the folder into ~/Library/Application Support/Quiet Keys/Profiles/ and relaunch — it appears in the switches picker grouped under its brand. Key classes fall back to default when omitted. Samples can be any sample rate/bit depth AVFoundation reads; they're converted to 48 kHz float internally.

To contribute a profile to the app itself, add the folder under QuietKeys/Resources/Profiles/ (or add a parametric definition to Tools/generate_samples.py) and open a PR.

How it works

Requirement Implementation
Audio engine AVAudioSourceNode + 64-voice pool; SPSC lock-free trigger ring (C11 atomics in Support/qk_atomics.h); equal-power pan; shelving-EQ tone control
Sample loading WAVs preloaded to contiguous float buffers at 48 kHz — nothing allocates on the audio thread
Keystroke capture Listen-only CGEvent tap on a dedicated user-interactive thread
Spatial pan ANSI key geometry maps each key's physical position to a stereo pan value
Profiles Discovered from the app bundle and ~/Library/Application Support/Quiet Keys/Profiles/, decoded from manifest.json
Sample synthesis Tools/generate_samples.py — parametric physical switch models; every shipped sample is original
No Dock icon Menu bar agent (.accessory activation policy)

Build from source

Requirements

  • macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later
  • Xcode 15.0 or later
  • XcodeGen
  • Python 3 with numpy (sample generation only)

No paid Apple Developer account required — local builds use ad-hoc signing (CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=-).

Steps

git clone https://github.com/quietapps/QuietKeys.git
cd QuietKeys
python3 Tools/generate_samples.py   # optional; samples are committed
xcodegen generate
open QuietKeys.xcodeproj

Press ⌘R in Xcode. The keyboard icon appears in your menu bar.

Or from the command line:

xcodebuild -project QuietKeys.xcodeproj -scheme QuietKeys -configuration Release build

Signing & notarization

For distribution:

xcodebuild -project QuietKeys.xcodeproj -scheme QuietKeys -configuration Release \
  CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)" build
xcrun notarytool submit QuietKeys.dmg --keychain-profile notary --wait
xcrun stapler staple QuietKeys.dmg

Project layout

QuietKeys/
├── App/
│   ├── QuietKeysApp.swift        # @main, MenuBarExtra, onboarding window
│   └── AppState.swift            # Published settings, permission polling
├── Audio/
│   ├── AudioEngine.swift         # Lock-free engine, voice pool, pan, EQ
│   └── SampleBuffer.swift        # WAV → 48 kHz float preload
├── Input/
│   ├── InputMonitor.swift        # Listen-only CGEvent tap
│   └── KeyLayout.swift           # ANSI layout → pan + rendering
├── Profiles/
│   └── ProfileManager.swift      # Bundle + Application Support discovery
├── UI/
│   ├── MenuContent.swift         # Menu bar dropdown
│   ├── SettingsView.swift        # Settings window
│   ├── VisualizerController.swift# Floating key visualizer
│   ├── TypingTestView.swift      # WPM / accuracy demo
│   └── OnboardingView.swift      # First-run permission flow
├── Support/
│   ├── qk_atomics.h              # C11 atomics for the trigger ring
│   └── QuietKeys-Bridging-Header.h
└── Resources/
    └── Profiles/                 # 22 bundled switch profiles
Tools/
└── generate_samples.py           # Parametric sample synthesis

No external dependencies — Apple frameworks only (SwiftUI, AppKit, AVFoundation, CoreAudio).

Configuration

All settings are in Settings (menu bar icon → Settings…). Reset to defaults:

defaults delete app.quiet.QuietKeys

This resets preferences only. Custom profiles in ~/Library/Application Support/Quiet Keys/Profiles/ are unaffected.

FAQ

Does Quiet Keys send my keystrokes anywhere? No. Zero network calls. Keystrokes are matched to a sound and immediately forgotten — nothing is logged, stored, or transmitted. The input path is small and auditable: InputMonitor.swift.

Is this a keylogger? No. The event tap is listen-only and the key code is used once to pick a sample and a pan position, then discarded. The app has no storage for keystrokes and no network stack to send them over.

Why does it need Accessibility permission? macOS requires it for any app that observes keystrokes system-wide via a CGEvent tap. Quiet Keys uses a listen-only tap — it cannot modify or block your input.

Sounds stopped after a macOS update. macOS occasionally invalidates event taps on major updates. Re-toggle Quiet Keys off and on in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.

Is there any typing latency? No added typing latency — the tap is listen-only, so your keystrokes pass through untouched. Audio latency is minimal: a 128-frame CoreAudio buffer with all samples preloaded, and nothing allocates on the audio thread.

Can I add my own switch sounds? Yes — drop a profile folder with a manifest.json and WAV samples into ~/Library/Application Support/Quiet Keys/Profiles/ and relaunch. See Adding a switch profile.

Where do the shipped samples come from? Every sample is synthesized from parametric physical switch models in Tools/generate_samples.py. No recordings from other apps are used.

Why don't the left and right speakers match some keys? Panning follows the physical ANSI layout — keys on the left half of the keyboard pan left, right half pan right, proportional to position.

How do I quit? Click the menu bar icon → Quit Quiet Keys (⌘Q).

Feedback

Bug reports and ideas: GitHub Issues. Contributions: see CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT © Quiet Apps

If Quiet Keys makes your keyboard sing, drop a ⭐ on the repo.

About

Your keyboard, but better. A native macOS menu-bar app that plays realistic mechanical keyboard switch sounds on every keystroke and mouse click. Free, open source, and fully offline.

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