KeepingYouAwake Review: macOS 27 and Alternatives

Short answer: KeepingYouAwake is a free, open-source menu bar app that stops your Mac going to sleep with one click. Install it with brew install --cask keepingyouawake, or download the notarized zip from its GitHub releases page. The current version is 1.6.8. It runs Apple’s own caffeinate command, so it can’t keep a MacBook awake with the lid closed, and it won’t stop Slack or Teams from marking you Away.

Checked on 26 September 2026 against KeepingYouAwake 1.6.8, its source code and changelog, and macOS 27 Golden Gate.

How do you install KeepingYouAwake on a Mac?

There are two official ways. Neither involves the Mac App Store, because KeepingYouAwake isn’t sold there.

With Homebrew (easiest if you already use it):

brew install --cask keepingyouawake

From GitHub:

1. Open the latest release and download KeepingYouAwake-1.6.8.zip.
2. Unzip it and drag KeepingYouAwake into Applications.
3. Open it. A coffee cup appears in the menu bar.

The 1.6.8 app is signed with the developer’s Developer ID and notarized by Apple (we checked the download with spctl), so it opens with a normal double-click. You don’t need the right-click → Open workaround. It updates itself through the built-in updater, and Settings → General → Start at Login makes it launch when you log in.

Only download it from the official places: the GitHub repository, keepingyouawake.app or Homebrew. In September 2026 an unofficial fork published a “1.6.9” build labelled as macOS 27 support. That build is signed ad hoc and not notarized, and the official changelog still lists 1.6.9 as unreleased.

How does KeepingYouAwake work?

Click the cup to stop sleep. Click it again to allow sleep. Right-click it for the menu: Activate for Duration offers 5, 10, 15 and 30 minutes, 1, 2 and 5 hours, or Indefinitely. You can add your own durations and choose which one a plain click uses.

Under the hood, each activation starts Apple’s built-in command-line tool:

/usr/bin/caffeinate -di -t <seconds> -w <KeepingYouAwake's process ID>

• -d keeps the display on and -i stops idle sleep. With Allow the display to sleep switched on, the app drops -d.
• -t is only added for timed sessions.
• -w ties the command to the app, so sleep is allowed again if KeepingYouAwake quits or crashes.

That’s why KeepingYouAwake is so light (the app is about 8 MB on disk) and why it behaves exactly like the Terminal command. Our caffeinate command guide explains each flag if you’d rather skip the app.

To confirm it’s working, run this while the cup is active:

pmset -g assertions | grep caffeinate

You should see a line from caffeinate. If nothing comes back, KeepingYouAwake isn’t active.

What settings does KeepingYouAwake have?

Where	Setting	What it does
General	Start at Login	Launches the app when you log in
General	Activate on Launch	Starts preventing sleep as soon as the app opens
Battery	Deactivate when battery capacity is below…	Stops at a battery level you pick
Battery	Deactivate when Low Power Mode is enabled	Stops when you switch on Low Power Mode
Advanced	Allow the display to sleep	Keeps the Mac running but lets the screen turn off
Advanced	Activate when an external display is connected	Its one automatic trigger
Advanced	Deactivate when switched to another user account	Stops on fast user switching
Advanced	Quit when activation duration is over	Closes the app after a timed session

From Terminal or a script, use its URL scheme:

open -g "keepingyouawake:///activate?minutes=30"
open -g "keepingyouawake:///deactivate"
open -g "keepingyouawake:///toggle"

seconds, minutes and hours all work, but only one per command. Plain activate uses your default duration.

Does KeepingYouAwake work on macOS 27 Golden Gate?

It should, but there’s no macOS 27 release yet. Here’s what we know as of 26 September 2026:

• The latest official version is 1.6.8, released on 12 September 2025, a year before macOS 27 shipped on 14 September 2026. It supports macOS 10.13 High Sierra and later.
• The next version (1.6.9) is in progress but unreleased. So far its changelog lists one change: the minimum becomes macOS 12. The README already calls 1.6.8 the last release for macOS 11 Big Sur and older.
• The work is done by caffeinate, a command Apple has shipped with macOS for more than a decade.
• The macOS 27 menu bar change doesn’t apply to it. Golden Gate draws the whole menu bar as one window. That broke apps that hide or move other apps’ icons, such as Ice and Hidden Bar. KeepingYouAwake only adds its own icon through the standard API.
• No open bug report on the project’s GitHub mentioned macOS 27 when we checked.

We haven’t run it on a macOS 27 Mac ourselves, so treat this as “no known problems”, not a guarantee. If it misbehaves, caffeinate -di in Terminal does the same job until an update lands.

If the cup icon has disappeared, check two things:

1. System Settings → Menu Bar. Since macOS 26 Tahoe you can switch an app’s menu bar icon off there. Open KeepingYouAwake again from Applications and its settings window appears (added in 1.6.7), so you can quit it or turn the icon back on.
2. A crowded menu bar. On a MacBook with a notch, icons that don’t fit are hidden behind the notch. On macOS 27, extra icons fold behind a new » button instead. Click it to show them.

Why doesn’t KeepingYouAwake work with the lid closed?

KeepingYouAwake’s developer says so directly: because of macOS limitations and heat, it only prevents sleep on desktop Macs and on MacBooks with the lid open.

If you need a closed MacBook to keep working:

• Clamshell mode: connect power, an external display and a keyboard or mouse, then close the lid. macOS keeps running on the external display.
• Amphetamine’s Closed-Display Mode keeps a MacBook awake with the lid shut and no display attached. Watch the temperature if it’s in a bag.

Our guide to how to keep a Mac awake covers the lid-closed options and the System Settings switches in more detail.

What are the best KeepingYouAwake alternatives?

Most people who search for KeepingYouAwake just want the app. But if it doesn’t do something you need, these are the options worth knowing. Prices are from the US App Store or each developer, checked 26 September 2026.

Option	Price	Latest version	What it adds over KeepingYouAwake	Catch
caffeinate (built in)	Free	Ships with macOS	Nothing to install	Terminal only, no menu bar icon
Amphetamine	Free, no in-app purchases	5.3.2 (Nov 2023)	Triggers (Wi-Fi, running app, Cisco VPN, USB device, battery and more), Closed-Display Mode, optional cursor movement, sessions until a set time	Many settings; no update since 2023
Lungo	$4	2.8.3 (Sep 2026)	Keyboard shortcut, Shortcuts support, can turn off when you unplug	Needs macOS 26 or later; no lid-closed mode
FavTray Keep Alive	Free 3 h a day; $4.99 once (Lifetime) for unlimited	1.13.1	Simulated mouse input so Slack and Teams stay Active; pauses while you’re using the Mac or when Zoom, Teams or Webex is in front; optional office hours and battery pause	Daily limit on Free; needs Accessibility permission; macOS 14+

Choosing between KeepingYouAwake and Amphetamine? Our Amphetamine vs KeepingYouAwake comparison goes through them feature by feature.

When is KeepingYouAwake the right choice, and when isn’t it?

KeepingYouAwake is the right pick when you want the Mac to stay on through a download, a build, a presentation or a long read, with the lid open. It’s free, open source, notarized, tiny, and does one thing. For that job it’s a better choice than FavTray: you don’t need to pay for anything.

Pick something else when:

• The lid has to be closed. Use clamshell mode or Amphetamine’s Closed-Display Mode.
• You want it to switch on by itself based on Wi-Fi, a running app, a connected device or battery level. KeepingYouAwake’s only automatic trigger is an external display. Amphetamine’s Triggers cover the rest.
• Slack or Teams keeps showing you as Away. Preventing sleep doesn’t create any input, and those apps watch for idle time. You need something that simulates input: Amphetamine’s cursor movement, or FavTray’s Keep Alive, which pauses itself while you’re using the Mac and when a meeting app is in front. Check your employer’s policy before you use either; simulated input is not invisible to IT. Our post on mouse jigglers explains what can be detected.
• You’d rather not install anything. caffeinate -di in Terminal does the same job; Ctrl+C stops it.
• Your Mac is managed by your company. Ask IT before you use any keep-awake app. An app that simulates input also resets the idle timer, so it can stop a screen lock your company requires. (From FavTray 2.0.8, Keep Alive doesn’t start when the organisation sets the screen-lock idle time.)

FavTray is a Mac menu bar app with a set of developer and wellness tools, and Keep Alive is one of them. For a direct comparison, see FavTray vs Amphetamine.

Sources (checked 26 September 2026): KeepingYouAwake on GitHub (README, changelog, automation docs and 1.6.8 source), releases, Homebrew cask, Amphetamine and Lungo on the Mac App Store, MacRumors on the macOS 27 release date, Badgeify on the macOS 27 menu bar changes.