Coming soon · Menu bar app for macOS
A small menu bar app for work that happens away from the keyboard — reading a long doc, taking a call on your phone, waiting on a build. Your Mac won’t sleep, and your Slack and Microsoft Teams status won’t flip to away mid-task.
Launching soon. One email when it’s out, nothing else.
No dimmed screen halfway down the page.
Your status stays green while you talk.
Sketch it out. Your Mac won’t doze off.
No dimming or sleep in the middle of a demo.
Your Mac stays awake until the job is done.
How it works
Drag Greenkeeper to Applications and open it. It lives in your menu bar as a small dot, not in your Dock.
Choose 30 minutes, 1, 2, 4 or 8 hours, or leave it on until you turn it off. This part is free and needs no permissions.
Allow Accessibility once in System Settings, then press Test Now to check it works. Add your work hours and it switches itself on and off each day.
What the dot means
Features
Use the free part for as long as you like. Pro adds the invisible nudges, work hours and smart pauses — and you can try it free for 7 days.
One click to keep Mac awake and the display on. It uses the same macOS mechanism as the built-in caffeinate command.
Desktop chat apps that watch your Mac’s activity, like Slack and Microsoft Teams, keep showing you as active while you’re away from the keyboard.
After 1–3 minutes of idle time (varied, not on a fixed beat), Greenkeeper sends macOS a mouse event that moves zero pixels. Nothing on screen changes, but desktop chat apps see activity, so your status stays active. It’s an easy way to keep Teams status active, and Slack green, through a long read or a phone call.
Set your days and hours, say Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 5:30. Greenkeeper turns on when your day starts and off when it ends. Slack always active while you work, and away like normal in the evening.
It also steps aside on its own:
Compare
A USB mouse jiggler keeps you active by moving the pointer. Keep-awake tools stop sleep, but that usually doesn’t count as activity, so your status can still go idle. Greenkeeper does both in software, and stops when you’re done.
| Greenkeeper | USB mouse jiggler | Keep-awake tools | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keeps your Mac awake | Yes, Free | Yes | Yes |
| Keeps your Slack and Teams status active | Yes, With Pro | Yes | Usually not |
| Cursor stays still | Yes | No, It moves | Yes |
| Nothing to carry or plug in | Yes | No, Needs a USB port | Yes |
| Follows your work hours | Yes, With Pro | No | Some do |
Pricing
No subscription and no account. Pro comes with a 7-day free trial built into the app.
$0 forever
Keep your Mac awake.
$7.99 one-time
Everything in Free, plus:
Launching soon. Every Pro feature comes with a 7-day free trial built into the app, and refunds within 14 days.
Or download the app and try every Pro feature free for 7 days. Our payment provider handles checkout, tax and your license key. Refunds within 14 days.
FAQ
No. Greenkeeper’s nudge is a mouse event that moves zero pixels, so the pointer stays exactly where you left it. If an app ever ignores that, you can switch to a “tiny jiggle” in Settings, which moves the pointer one pixel and straight back.
Keep Awake needs none. Staying active in chat apps needs the macOS Accessibility permission, because macOS only lets apps with it send mouse events. It’s a one-time switch in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility, and Greenkeeper shows you where. On a company-managed Mac, an administrator may need to allow it.
Desktop apps that use your Mac’s system idle time to decide when you’re away. That includes the Slack and Microsoft Teams desktop apps, and likely others. Test Now in Settings confirms the nudges register on your Mac.
No. Browser versions of chat apps, like Microsoft Teams on the web or Google Chat, only count activity inside their own tab, so Greenkeeper doesn’t affect them. Use the desktop apps instead.
They might. Greenkeeper doesn’t hide: it’s a regular app in your Applications folder and menu bar, and employee-monitoring software can detect apps like it. Some workplaces don’t allow them, so check your workplace’s policies and follow them.
Greenkeeper is meant to keep your status accurate while you’re working away from the keyboard, not to make you look busy when you’re not.
No. Closing your MacBook’s lid still puts it to sleep. (If you use it closed with an external display, it isn’t asleep, so Greenkeeper works as usual.)
caffeinate command?Keep Awake uses the same macOS mechanism as caffeinate, with a menu and timers instead of Terminal. But keeping a Mac awake doesn’t count as activity, so chat apps can still mark you away. That’s the part Stay Active adds.
The trial starts the first time you open Greenkeeper, with no account, email or card. When it ends, the Pro features switch off and Keep Awake keeps working for free. Buy a license whenever you like to turn Pro back on; your settings will still be there.
One Pro license covers up to 3 of your Macs, say a work laptop, a home desktop and a spare. Licenses are personal, so each person on a team needs their own.
Yes. If Pro isn’t right for you, ask for a refund within 14 days of purchase. Reply to your receipt or email support@getgreenkeeper.com. Our payment provider processes it.
Nothing about how you use it. There are no accounts, no analytics and no tracking. The app only goes online to check your license key and to look for updates. The privacy policy has the details.
Changelog
First release.
Keep Awake is free. Pro comes with a 7-day trial built in, with no signup and no card.
macOS 13 Ventura or later · Apple silicon and Intel