For Macs with two or more screens
Keyboard focus follows your head.
Turn to your other screen and start typing. HeadFocus gives keyboard focus to the window you’re looking at, so what you type lands where you look. The camera image never leaves your Mac.
macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple Silicon · 14 days of use free
The first launch needs one extra click in System Settings. How to open it
Turn to the other screen and stay for 0.3 s: the window you see there gets the keyboard.
It switches when you mean it
On a MacBook with an external monitor it happens all day: you look at the other screen, start typing, and the text lands in the window behind you. A tool that moved focus every time you glanced away would be worse, so HeadFocus waits until your head settles and never interrupts what you’re doing.
- A quick glance at the other screen < 0.3 s
- Nothing happens.
- You turn to the other screen and stay
- Its front window gets keyboard focus, and flashes briefly with the app’s name.
- You turn and start typing right away
- It switches at once, without waiting out the 0.3 s.
- You glance away while typing keys < 2 s apart
- Focus stays with your typing. It switches once you’ve paused for 2 s and are still looking at the other screen. After 6 s of typing it treats the glance as reading a reference and drops the switch.
- You look down at the keyboard
- Never switches. The keyboard has its own region just below the laptop screen, and sweeping past the screen on the way down doesn’t count.
- Spotlight, Raycast, Alfred, ⌘-Tab or Mission Control is open
- It waits until you close it. If what you open there takes focus, that was your choice, and the switch is dropped.
- A shortcut key is held, a menu is open, or you’re using the mouse
- It waits.
- A password field has focus
- It never switches away.
- You click a window on the other screen without turning
- Your click wins. HeadFocus only acts when your head moves.
- You look at your phone, or away
- That counts as looking elsewhere and never moves focus.
- The screen is locked, the display sleeps, or only one display is connected
- The camera turns off.
Both timings can be changed from the menu bar. Choose Never for the typing pause if you often type while reading from the other screen.
The camera image never leaves your Mac
HeadFocus only needs to know which way your head points. Apple’s Vision framework works that out on your Mac from a small, low-frame-rate video feed, and each frame is thrown away as soon as it has been measured.
It needs Accessibility access to switch windows and to notice that you’re typing. It never looks at what you type.
- 640 × 480 · 15 fpsAnalysed on-device, then discarded. Nothing is recorded, stored or uploaded.
- Camera offWhen the screen is locked, the display is asleep, or only one display is connected.
- Key pressesCounted to tell when you’re typing. Which keys you press is never read.
- No accountNo sign-up, no analytics, no tracking.
- NetworkA daily check of our website for updates, which you can turn off, and once you’ve bought HeadFocus, a weekly license check with our payment provider.
Set up in about a minute
HeadFocus lives in the menu bar. Opening it the first time takes one extra step, then a setup window walks you through the rest.
Open it the first time
macOS blocks the first launch. Click Done, then open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway next to HeadFocus.
Allow the camera
Use the built-in FaceTime camera or any webcam. Each camera keeps its own calibration.
Turn on Accessibility
So HeadFocus can switch windows and see that you’re typing.
Calibrate for 15 seconds
A dot visits the centre and corners of each screen. Turn your head the way you normally would.
macOS shows this warning for every app that Apple hasn’t notarized, and HeadFocus isn’t notarized yet. You only do this once: updates install from the HeadFocus menu without it, and your permissions, calibration and license carry over.
Small things that make it reliable
Learns from your clicks
You almost always look at what you click, so each click quietly refines the calibration when you shift posture or move the laptop.
Live View
See the camera, where HeadFocus thinks you’re looking, and why it’s waiting, plotted against each screen’s region.
Flash on switch
A short outline and the app’s name show where your typing goes now.
Pause with ⌃⌥⌘H
Turn auto-focus off and on from anywhere, or from the eye icon in the menu bar.
Undo with ⌃⌥⌘Z
Wrong window? One shortcut puts focus straight back, and HeadFocus notes the mistake.
Knows how it’s doing
See how many of this week’s switches you kept. That history is personal: it stays on your Mac and never leaves it.
Move pointer with focus
Optional: the pointer returns to where it last was on that screen, so scrolling follows you too.
Dim screens without focus
Optional: always see where typing goes, even with the camera off.
Your choice of camera
Built-in or external. Your iPhone’s Continuity Camera is never picked automatically.
Native and light
Written in Swift for Apple Silicon. Updates itself from the menu bar, and launches at login if you want it to.
Pay once. Keep it.
No subscription and no account. Try it first: the trial only counts days on which HeadFocus actually moves focus for you.
HeadFocus license
$19one-time
- Use it on up to 3 of your Macs
- Free updates for HeadFocus 1.x
- 14 days of use free before you decide
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Payment by Polar, our merchant of record, who also handles sales tax and VAT. Your license key arrives by email.
Requirements
- Mac
- Apple Silicon (M1 or later)
- macOS
- 14 Sonoma or later
- Camera
- Built-in FaceTime camera or a webcam
- Displays
- Two or more
How the trial works
Every feature works during the trial. Setting up, or a week on one screen, doesn’t use it up. After 14 days of use, auto-focus pauses until you enter a license key from the menu bar. Your calibration and settings stay.
Questions
Does HeadFocus record or upload video?
No. Frames are analysed on your Mac by Apple’s Vision framework at 640 × 480 and 15 frames per second, and each one is discarded right after. Nothing is recorded, stored or sent anywhere.
Why does macOS say it can’t verify HeadFocus?
macOS shows that warning for every app that Apple hasn’t notarized, and HeadFocus isn’t notarized yet. To open it, click Done, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway next to HeadFocus. You only do this once: updates install from inside HeadFocus and open without it.
Why does it need Accessibility access?
macOS requires it for switching another app’s window and for noticing key presses. HeadFocus uses key presses only to tell that you’re typing, so it doesn’t pull focus away mid-sentence. It never reads what you type.
I often type while reading from the other screen. Will it get in the way?
Keys less than 2 s apart count as one typing session, and focus stays with it. In the menu, set “While Typing, Switch After” to Never and it will wait until you look back.
What if the room is dark?
HeadFocus needs to see your face. When it can’t, it never switches, so the worst case is that it does nothing. Open the Live View from the menu bar to see what the camera sees.
Does it work in Terminal?
Yes, unless Secure Keyboard Entry is on (Terminal or iTerm menu). That setting hides key presses from other apps, so HeadFocus can’t tell you’re typing. The Live View tells you when this happens.
What happens when the trial ends?
Auto-focus pauses until you enter a license key from the menu bar. Your calibration and settings are kept.
Can I move my license to a new Mac?
Yes. A license works on up to 3 Macs at once. To free one up, open License… in the menu bar on the old Mac and choose Deactivate This Mac, or remove it from the customer portal linked in your receipt.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Activation needs the internet once. After that, HeadFocus checks the license about once a week when it can, and never locks you out for being offline.
Why isn’t it in the Mac App Store?
App Store apps must run in a sandbox that doesn’t allow switching other apps’ windows, so HeadFocus is sold directly from this site.
Can I get a refund?
Yes, within 30 days of purchase, no questions asked. Reply to your receipt email or email us.