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SpaceLauncher for macOS

macOS Secure Input and Keyboard Shortcuts

Secure Input protects sensitive keyboard input, such as passwords, from other applications. While it is active, macOS can prevent SpaceLauncher from receiving the keyboard events needed to trigger actions. This affects keyboard triggers, not just the Space key: other configured leader keys and key combinations use the same event-tap engine.

Settings and key-binding editing remain available. Other keyboard mechanisms may behave differently; a working shortcut in another app does not establish that Secure Input is off.

When this is normal

Shortcuts pausing while you enter a password is expected. SpaceLauncher detects Secure Input and resumes keyboard shortcuts automatically when it ends, provided SpaceLauncher is enabled. Sometimes an app or system component keeps Secure Input active after sensitive input has finished, including from a background window.

Steps to try

Try one step at a time and check the Secure Input status in SpaceLauncher:

  1. Finish or dismiss authentication prompts. Check your browser, password manager, terminal, and other open apps. Close the relevant window or move focus away from the password field when you are done.
  2. Check Terminal’s Secure Keyboard Entry setting. If you enabled it and no longer need it, turn it off in the Terminal menu. Other terminal apps may have a similar setting. Keep it enabled when you need its protection.
  3. Save your work and quit a relevant app normally. Reopen it afterwards if needed. If the source is unclear, try other running apps individually. The app named by macOS is a clue, not a confirmed cause.
  4. Try locking and unlocking your Mac. This helps in some cases, but does not reliably clear every stuck episode.
  5. If it persists, save your work and log out of macOS, then log back in. Restarting is another option. If the problem returns immediately, consider whether reopening an app or its previous windows triggers it again.

Do not force-quit loginwindow, WindowServer, or unfamiliar system processes. Use the normal macOS logout or restart commands instead.

Why the named process may be wrong

SpaceLauncher can show a process clue supplied by macOS. A background app can enable Secure Input while macOS names the foreground app instead. The clue may also name a process that has already exited. Neither observation proves which process currently holds Secure Input. Seeing loginwindow alone does not identify the actual source.

What SpaceLauncher can do

SpaceLauncher detects the state, pauses keyboard triggers, and resumes them when it clears. It cannot reliably identify every holder or release another process’s Secure Input through the supported APIs it uses. Reinstalling SpaceLauncher or granting its permissions again does not release another app’s Secure Input.

Older versions offered Ignore Secure Input This Time. That option only lifted SpaceLauncher’s own pause; it did not turn off macOS Secure Input. Our tests did not restore keyboard events through it, so it is not a recovery method.

For support, open Settings → Support → Open Secure Input…, use Copy Report, and describe what you were doing when the problem began and which steps helped. Contact support.

Text expansion and keyboard automation tools encounter the same underlying restriction:

These references provide context and possible steps to try; they do not establish the cause on your Mac or guarantee a particular recovery step.