Mechvibes on a Mac: is it safe, and what's the alternative?

Is Mechvibes safe?

Mechvibes' code is public under the MIT license, so anyone can read what it does with your key presses. We didn't audit it. What's different on a Mac is how much of Apple's usual checking is missing, so here are three things to know before you give it access.

• Apple hasn't checked this build. It's ad-hoc signed and not notarized, so Gatekeeper can't vouch for the copy you download. Get it only from mechvibes.com/download or the GitHub releases page, never from a mirror.
• It asks for two permissions. Input Monitoring lets an app see your keyboard, mouse and trackpad even when you’re using other apps (Apple). Accessibility lets an app control your Mac through accessibility features (Apple), which reaches further. A keyboard sound app needs at least the first.
• It goes online. Its README describes one anonymous Aptabase ping per launch to track rough usage, which you can switch off in Settings, plus a daily update check on GitHub.

If those trade-offs are fine with you, Mechvibes is a reasonable free choice. To test any keyboard sound app yourself, with a firewall, in a few minutes, see is Input Monitoring safe on a Mac.

For comparison, Keyslam asks for Input Monitoring only. Its key tap is listen-only, so it can't change or block a keystroke. It makes no network connections; the license key is Ed25519-signed and checked on your Mac. Its download is Developer ID-signed and notarized by Apple.

Mechvibes or Klack: which one fits?

• Pick Mechvibes if you want it free, if you also type on Windows or Linux, or if you want a huge choice of community packs and an editor to make your own. You'll need an Apple silicon Mac for now, and a few minutes in System Settings after each update.
• Pick Klack if you're on macOS 15 or later and want to buy, install and update through the Mac App Store. It has 7 recorded switch sets and a shortcut to turn it on and off. Note that the App Store and tryklack.com versions are sold separately: buying one doesn't unlock the other.
• Pick Keyslam if you want the sound to change with how hard you type on a MacBook, if you're on an Intel Mac or on macOS 13 or 14, or if you want an app that makes no network connections at all, with no launch ping or update check.

How is Keyslam different from Mechvibes?

Fewer sounds, more done to each one. Keyslam has 15 packs to Mechvibes' 985. Each one's keystrikes come from a single real typing recording released as CC0 on Freesound (the typewriters add a second recording for the bell). Every strike is detected and paired with its key-up, then the strikes are sorted by natural loudness into four bands: soft, medium, hard and slam, the hardest ~8%. Each band is leveled, and every pack is set to the same loudness (−28 LUFS), so switching packs changes the tone, not the volume. 13 of the 15 packs have key-up sounds.

It feels how hard you type. On MacBook Pro with M1 Pro or M1 Max and later, and on MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with M2 and later, Keyslam reads the built-in motion sensor about 800 times a second and picks real strikes from the matching band. On other Macs you pick the strength.

It's made only for the Mac. It's written in Swift with a C audio core and a buffer of about 5 ms, and it needs macOS 13 Ventura or later on Apple silicon or Intel. After 3 idle minutes the audio and the motion sensor switch off.

Your own sounds work too, in a different format. Keyslam loads WAV, AIFF or FLAC files listed in a small pack.json. Mechvibes packs don't load directly; the pack format and how to convert one are on the sounds page.

Play MX BrownPlay ToprePlay SelectricPlay Laptop

When Mechvibes is the better choice

Mechvibes costs nothing, its code is open, and its library is many times bigger than Keyslam's. If you use Windows or Linux as well as a Mac, it's the same app on all three. If you love tinkering with packs, its editor is built for that. Keyslam can't match any of those. It's a paid app that runs on Macs alone, with a small, curated set of boards.

Already using Mechvibes and it's acting up? Fixes for Mechvibes not working on a Mac cover the Gatekeeper prompt, lost permissions, no sound and pack ZIPs.