# Kiiwi: mechanical keyboard sounds for Mac Canonical page: https://kiiwi.app/ Kiiwi is a macOS menu bar app that makes the keyboard you already own sound like a mechanical one. It plays real recordings of 30+ switches as you type, in your headphones or on your speakers. $4.99 one-time for the first 100 buyers, then $6.99 one-time. ## Who it is for People who type for hours and share the room while they do it: writers, developers, students, anyone on a laptop in an open-plan office, a library or a shared flat. With headphones in, the keyboard sounds mechanical to you and silent to everyone else. On speakers, the room hears it too. It suits someone who likes the sound of a mechanical keyboard but types on a MacBook, or who wants that sound without buying, carrying or annoying anyone with a physical mechanical board. ## What Kiiwi is - Mechanical switch sound layered under the keyboard you already own - Yours alone on headphones, or shared with the room on speakers - A menu bar utility: no window, no Dock icon, 0% CPU between keystrokes - 30+ real switches, each one named, so you can pick the one you actually like - Off in one keystroke from anywhere: Shift-Command-K - Every pack levelled to the same loudness, and trimmed to 2 ms before the hit, so there is no lag in front of a key - Typing stats on your Mac: today's keys, a 14-day chart, a streak (days with 50+ keys), sustained typing speed, top apps and fun facts, plus a share card you can post. New in 1.1 - Scroll ticks in six styles, and eight mouse click packs, both off by default ## What Kiiwi is not - A way to make a loud keyboard quiet. It adds sound, it cannot remove it - A change to how your keys feel. Travel and weight stay exactly as they are - A remapper, a macro tool or a text expander - Anything that reads what you type. It hears that a key moved, not which word it spelled ## The switches Every switch can be played in the browser before buying, at https://kiiwi.app/switches, with a page per switch to type with it and compare it with its closest rivals. - **Linear (18 packs):** smooth all the way down, no bump and no click. The quiet, consistent option: Cherry MX Red and Black, Gateron, Tealios, Alpacas, NovelKeys Cream. - **Tactile (11 packs):** a bump partway down that you can feel and just about hear. Cherry MX Brown, Holy Panda, Everglide, Topre. The middle ground most people land on. - **Clicky (9 packs):** a click bar or jacket that snaps on every press. Cherry MX Blue, Kailh BOX Navy, the IBM Model M buckling spring. Loud, deliberate, unmistakable. Also included: eight mouse click packs, key-up (release) sounds where the recording has them, and spatial placement that puts each key a little left or right, most noticeable on headphones. ## Price and licence - $4.99 once for the first 100 buyers, then $6.99 once. No subscription, no account, no tiers and no feature gates - One licence key works on two of your Macs - Refunds within 14 days, no reason needed, the full price paid: https://kiiwi.app/refunds ## Requirements - macOS Sonoma 14.0 or later - Apple silicon and Intel, as one 8.9 MB universal download - Accessibility permission, which macOS requires to observe key events system-wide ## Privacy A key event is read only to decide which sample to play, then it is discarded. For your stats (from 1.1), Kiiwi adds one to a few counters: per day and hour, per keyboard row, per sound pack, and typed characters per app (by app name, never window titles). It never records which key was pressed, and the counts stay in a file on your Mac that you can export or reset. Kiiwi sends two things: your licence key, to check the licence is still valid, and a daily request for the update list. There is no analytics or telemetry in the app. Full policy: https://kiiwi.app/privacy ## FAQ ### How do I get typing sounds on a Mac? Install a menu bar app that plays a mechanical keyboard sound for every key you press. Kiiwi is one: choose from 30+ real switch recordings, and it sounds in every app, on a MacBook's built-in keyboard or any external one, on macOS 14 or later. Hear every switch in the playground before you download. More: https://kiiwi.app/guides/typing-sounds-for-mac ### Does it work in every app? Yes. Kiiwi listens at the system level, so it sounds the same in your editor, your browser, Slack, Terminal and Spotlight. It never intercepts or alters your keystrokes. It only listens for them, so nothing you type is changed, delayed or swallowed. ### Why does it need Accessibility permission? macOS requires it to observe key events system-wide. It is the same permission text expanders and shortcut apps use. Kiiwi asks once, and the app detects the grant within about a second and a half, with no restart. If you would rather not grant it, Kiiwi still runs but can only sound for keys typed in its own window. ### Is anything I type recorded or sent anywhere? No. A key event is read only to decide which sample to play, then it is discarded. Your stats are counts only (how many keys, never which), kept on your Mac. Kiiwi sends your licence key to check the licence is still valid (when you activate, on launch, and once a day while it runs; offline it keeps working for 14 days on the last check) and checks once a day for updates. ### Can I see, export or delete my stats? Yes. Settings, Stats shows everything Kiiwi has counted. Export saves every day's counts as a JSON file, and Reset sets them back to zero, keeping one copy so a reset can be undone. Stats never leave your Mac unless you post a share card yourself. ### Will it slow my Mac down? No. Idle CPU is 0%, because nothing runs between keystrokes. A keypress costs one buffer schedule against already decoded audio. Memory sits around 58 MB because only the switch you are using is loaded. ### Does it work on Intel Macs? Yes. It is a universal binary: one 8.9 MB download that runs natively on both Apple silicon and Intel, no Rosetta. macOS Sonoma 14.0 or later. ### Can I use my own sounds? Not yet. Custom pack import is planned, and the format is deliberately simple (a folder of WAVs plus a small manifest). ### What's the difference between the switches? Broadly: linear switches are smooth and quiet, tactile ones have a bump you can hear faintly, and clicky ones snap on every press. Beyond that it is housing, keycap material and springs. The playground on the homepage and the switch pages are the fastest way to find out which you like, since they use the same audio as the app. ## Guides and comparisons - Typing sounds for Mac, how to make a Mac keyboard sound mechanical, the apps that do it and what to look for: https://kiiwi.app/guides/typing-sounds-for-mac - Kiiwi vs Klack, including Klack 2, MacBooks and the licence: https://kiiwi.app/compare/klack - Kiiwi vs Keeby: https://kiiwi.app/compare/keeby - Kiiwi vs Mechvibes: https://kiiwi.app/compare/mechvibes ## Made by Tamil Iniyan, one developer building Mac apps (Flownix Labs). Support: https://kiiwi.app/contact