Say you’re done.
“Done cleaning” unlocks everything, in English, Italian, Spanish, French or German. On macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence, looser phrasing like “ok, I’m finished” works too. Say “Wait” to change your mind.
MacBook always on?
Keyboard now spotless.
Clean Keyboard pauses your Mac’s keyboard and trackpad while you wipe them, then hands them back when you say “Done cleaning”.
Try it. Type anything, or drag across the keys and trackpad.
0 of 77 keys
0% trackpad
Everything pauses.
Nothing beeps.
While you clean, every key and every touch stops at the door. Blocked input never reaches another app, so no stray characters, no volume clicks, no Dictation popping up.1
- Letters, numbers and symbols
- Command, Option, Control and Shift
- Volume, media and brightness
- Fn and Globe
- Pointer and clicks
- Scrolling and gestures2
Four ways back.
None need a key.
A paused keyboard can’t press Esc, so Clean Keyboard never relies on one. There is always a way out that needs no input at all.
Let the timer run.
It ends after a minute, but never mid-wipe. While you’re still cleaning it waits until you stop, up to ten minutes.
Close the lid.
Or press the power button, which is never paused. The Mac sleeps, and cleaning has ended when it wakes.3
And if anything goes wrong, macOS steps in.
If the app quits, crashes or hangs, the system removes the block on its own.
See where the grime was.
When you finish, a dirt map colours every key by how much you worked it. The keys you go over most usually hold the most dirt.4
Keyboard cleaned
An example clean
- Keys cleaned
- 77 of 77
- Trackpad
- 100%
- Time
- 0:58
LightHeavy
Not wiped
Most worked: Space, E and Delete
Drawn like the keyboard in front of you.
The cleaning map follows your Mac’s keyboard shape and the labels of your input language, and redraws itself if either changes.
ANSI, with the wide Return and long left Shift.
Your voice stays on your Mac.
Listening for “Done cleaning” uses Apple’s speech recognition with on-device processing required. If that isn’t possible, voice simply stays off.
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Microphone only while cleaning
It turns on when the keyboard pauses and off the moment it comes back.
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Nothing is recorded
No audio and no transcripts are saved or sent anywhere.
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No account, no analytics
Clean Keyboard doesn’t know who you are, and doesn’t want to.
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Completely silent
No sounds, no chimes, not even for its own reminders.
A cleaning guide that follows Apple’s advice.
Open it from Home or press ⌘? in the app. It separates what’s safe with the Mac on from what needs it shut down and unplugged.
Mac on
Quick wipe: keys and trackpad
A soft, lint-free cloth, barely damp with water. A 70% isopropyl wipe for greasy keys. Never spray the Mac.
Mac on
Crumbs under the keys
Hold the Mac at about 75° and sweep compressed air left to right, then turn it on each side and repeat.
Shut down first
Display
Water only on a soft cloth. Nano-texture displays need the Polishing Cloth that came with your Mac.
Shut down first
Case and ports
Unplug everything, wipe the outside lightly, and keep moisture away from every opening.
Never
What to keep away
Bleach, household and window cleaners, aerosol sprays, paper towels and anything abrasive.
A gentle nudge, every four weeks.
After each clean, Clean Keyboard schedules one local reminder. Choose every 2, 4 or 8 weeks, or turn it off. No background process, no login item.
Clean Keyboardnow
Time to clean your keyboard
It’s been 4 weeks since the last clean.
Clean Now
Remind Me Next Week
