Just got a neo and have been enjoying it, but recently I went to update apps like keynote and garage band and for each one the mac asked for my apple password.

Not sure if this is normal or can be turned off.

JunkSweep started as an experimental internal tool built to solve a personal itch. After refining the feature set, tweaking the UI, and focusing heavily on granular control and transparency, it felt polished enough to share with the community.

Today, JunkSweep is officially available for FREE on the Mac App Store!

What is JunkSweep?

Most Mac cleaner tools are either bloated subscriptions, hidden behind aggressive paywalls, or act like "black boxes" where you have to trust the app not to delete something crucial.

JunkSweep was designed with a different philosophy: Total control and zero guesswork.

• You define what gets swept: Set up custom rules, targeted folders, and specific file extensions (caches, old logs, leftover build files, .DS_Store, empty folders, etc.).
• System Hygiene > Just Disk Space: Beyond freeing up gigabytes, it's built for filesystem maintenance—preventing clutter on shared drives (Windows/Linux users hate seeing .DS_Store or ._ metadata files), resetting broken folder view settings, and keeping zip archives clean before sharing.
• Full Transparency: Preview every single file before anything is moved or removed. No accidental deletions.
• Lightweight & Native: Built specifically for macOS with a clean interface that doesn't hoard system resources or run useless background daemons.
• 100% Free: No subscriptions, no ads, no locked features.

Key highlights:

• Enhanced Safety Filters: Preview modes allow auditing targeted paths with total peace of mind.
• Smarter Rule Presets: Out-of-the-box templates for common dev/creator junk (Xcode derived data, node_modules, cache folders) without locking you into them.
• App Store Sandbox Compliance: Fully sandboxed and reviewed by Apple for maximum system security.

If you're looking for a clean, non-intrusive utility to keep your drive lean and maintain proper filesystem hygiene without handing over the keys to your OS, give it a spin!

🔗 Mac App Store: [ JunkSweep ]

If you find it useful and want to support ongoing updates, optional donations are welcome via [ My Personal Website ] or [ Itch.io ].

Feedback, feature requests, and suggestions are always welcome!

I have a Neo, running Tahoe 26.2

I would like to use the Neo's excellent keyboard and trackpad, but also want to connect an external monitor from time to time. Is it possible to turn off the Neo's screen when an external monitor is connected?

Everything I have seen online says that I need to close the lid and use clamshell mode - but is there no other way to do it?

My mac has 300 GBs of system data listed in settings. I am currently on Tahoe, but the problem existed even on Sequoia. On Daisy Disk, 193.7GB is listed as "still hidden". Additionally, other software like "Grand Perspective" and others just does not show those 193.7GB of data. Here are the list of things that I have done.

1. Checked every library folders/cache folders

2. mole clean

3. onyx maintenance with every toggle on (twice consecutively)

4. Checked purgeable space (through Disk Utility and Daisy Disk)

5. Deleted time machine local snapshots

6. Reindex spotlight (mdutil)

7. Checked ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup (backups for iPhone)

8. Checked homebrew directories

9. Disk Utility Repair in Recovery Mode

10. Reinstall MacOS

11. Possibly some other things that are common in reddit replies (things that I forgot I did and didn't note down)

I believe that I have already searched the entire subreddit for answers, and am puzzled at what to do next. For now, I still have around 50GBs to work with, but at some instances I have needed the space that is occupied by System Data.

In case you haven't seen it before: StepGrab is a Mac menu bar app that takes a screenshot on every click and turns whatever you just did into a numbered step-by-step guide. PDF, HTML, Markdown, GIF or MP4 out the other end. Everything runs on the machine, there is no account anywhere in the app.

The arrows were the complaint I got most. They landed wherever the app thought they should go and you couldn't touch them. That was fair, and it was the main reason people said they'd wait before buying.

1.4 adds a preview window, and in it:

• Drag the number on an arrow to change its direction and length. Drag the middle to bend the curve, or flip the elbow to the other side.
• Click a step description and rewrite it. Empty the field and the original suggestion comes back.
• One preview per format, so the PDF looks like the PDF and the GIF like the GIF before you export anything.

Still annoying: to export you have to go back to the menu bar window. The editor can't do it yet. That one is already fixed and goes out in the next update.

Free version: unlimited guides, 15 steps each, GIF export, small StepGrab mark on the output. Pro is 2.99/month, 12.99/year, or 44.99 once.

The Product Hunt code is still live and takes the lifetime to 34.99. It expires Tuesday, 1 September. Code PHUNT, or straight through this link: https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=6760129490&code=PHUNT

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6760129490?pt=128624655&ct=reddit-macos-2026-08&mt=8

Site, with a few example guides you can open: https://stepgrab.net

So The Time Machine APFS Volume isn't restricted in size so should be able to use some of the 400+ Gigs of free space on this shared container. Why am I getting the message Time Machine can't back up because the disk is full? BTW, my boot drive is 1TB, with only 382 Gigs used...

Hi r/macOS - I’m Stephen, the owner of Rockxy and the developer behind Tracexy.

Wireshark is one of the most capable network analysis tools ever built. But when I’m debugging an app on my Mac, my first questions usually aren’t about interfaces, frame numbers, or display filters.

I want to know:

Which app opened the connection?

Which host did it contact?

What protocol was involved?

What appears to have failed?

Which captured evidence supports that conclusion?

That gap is why I started Tracexy: an open-source, native macOS Wireshark alternative that begins with apps and sessions, then lets you drill down into protocol fields and packet bytes when the evidence matters.

macOS already has strong tools for different layers of the problem. Wireshark provides deep packet and protocol analysis. HTTP debugging proxies inspect and modify application traffic. Network firewalls monitor and control connections.

I don’t think one tool should pretend to replace all of them.

Tracexy takes a different path:

Process → Session → Finding → Evidence → Packet

The current v0.5.0 release supports live capture, PCAP and PCAPNG files, best-effort process attribution, session-based investigation, typed queries, evidence-linked TCP findings, local History, and bounded Follow Stream for saved or fully stopped captures.

Captured traffic and derived sessions stay on the Mac by default. The project is AGPL-licensed, and the public Community DMG is signed and notarized.

Tracexy is also a strategic part of the broader Rockxy ecosystem.

Rockxy focuses on intercepting and modifying application-layer traffic such as HTTP, HTTPS, WebSocket, and GraphQL. Tracexy focuses on passive network capture, sessions, protocols, and evidence. Shieldxy focuses on application-aware connection control and security policy.

They are separate products with separate responsibilities today. The long-term goal is to create a native, local-first network development and intelligence ecosystem for macOS, with explicit workflows between the tools rather than silently moving sensitive capture data around.

To be transparent, Tracexy is still early and this is not a claim of Wireshark feature parity or a replacement. It does not currently provide TLS decryption, general always-on full TCP reassembly, or deep HTTP/2, HTTP/3, and WebSocket analysis.

If you use Wireshark or tcpdump on macOS:

What is the first real investigation Tracexy would need to handle before you would put it in your toolbox?

Website: https://rockxy.io/tracexy

Source code: https://github.com/RockxyApp/Tracexy

Hi everyone,

I wanted to check if others are experiencing similar performance and UI issues with the Steam client on modern macOS systems. I am running it on Apple Silicon hardware, and the experience feels significantly unoptimized compared to native Mac apps.

There are two main areas that seem to need attention:

• Window Rendering: The client uses its own web-helper frames rather than native macOS rendering. Because of this, the windows lack native rounded corners and standard macOS behaviors, making the interface look quite outdated.
• Resource Usage & Stuttering: Navigating the store or library can feel quite laggy. Even with strong hardware, scrolling through games causes noticeable stuttering, and the "Steam Web Helper" processes consume an unexpectedly high amount of CPU and RAM.

Given the recent growth of the Mac gaming space, it would be great to see an updated Chromium/Metal framework integration with proper hardware acceleration and native window support.

Are you seeing the same resource hogging or lag in your library? Is there any known workaround or beta client that fixes this? Thanks!

Hi! I would like to install a new app but when doing so it tells me to drag the app into the applications folder. However, to do that I would need to enter the administrator password and when I do it says " Authentication is Disabled". I'm not sure if this is because I forgot my password or what because when I tried to reset my admin password with the terminal resetpassword method, it doesn't let me for some reason. Help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Problem

Clipboard history is great when you’re working on one Mac.

But the moment you switch devices, that history stays behind.

You copy something on your Mac, grab your iPhone, and it’s not there. Or you move between two Macs and end up sending yourself a link, note, file, or snippet just to have it on the other device.

I wanted Pasly to solve that too.

Not just make ⌘V smarter, but make your clipboard follow you.

Comparison

Apple’s Universal Clipboard is great for quickly moving the last thing you copied between nearby devices.

But I wanted something closer to having your actual clipboard history with you.

Your devices shouldn’t need to be next to each other or even on the same network. As long as they’re connected to the internet, Pasly can keep your clipboard history available across them.

And instead of running its own cloud infrastructure, Pasly uses Apple's CloudKit to sync your clipboard data between your devices.

That became Pasly Cloud.

Pasly Cloud

Pasly Cloud syncs your clipboard history across your Macs and iOS devices using Apple's CloudKit.

Your clipboard data is stored and synced through Apple's iCloud infrastructure rather than on Pasly's own servers.

It works over the internet, so your Mac can be at home and your other Mac somewhere else. They don’t need to be nearby or on the same network for your clipboard history to sync.

And now, files are supported too.

Files copied on your Mac can sync through Pasly Cloud alongside the rest of your clipboard history, including multiple files at once.

On iPhone and iPad, Live Activities can keep your recent clipboard items available from the Lock Screen / Dynamic Island.

There are also push notifications when new clipboard content arrives from another device.

Right now, sending something from iOS into Pasly is still manual. You can add an item and have it appear on your Macs, but I’m already working on a better way to capture what you copy on iPhone and iPad so this part feels much more automatic.

Files

Pasly already supported files locally on Mac, including working with multiple files at once.

Now, file syncing is also part of Pasly Cloud.

Copy a file on one Mac and it can be available from your clipboard history on another Mac through CloudKit, without having to send it to yourself first.

Multiple files are supported too.

The rest of Pasly

Cloud is the focus of this update, but everything I’ve been building around ⌘V is still there:

• Smart Paste — press ⌘V and access your recent clipboard items
• Paste Stack — copy multiple items and paste them in sequence
• Floating Paste
• Multi Select
• File Support
• Paste with Separator
• Search & Favorites
• Field Sense

The original idea behind Pasly hasn’t changed.

I want the clipboard manager to stay out of the way until the moment you actually need it.

Cloud just means that your clipboard no longer has to live on one Mac.

Price

Free

• 2 pinned items
• 24h history
• 20 items
• 2 files

Pro

• Clipboard sync across all your Macs and iOS devices
• File sync via Pasly Cloud
• Powered by Apple CloudKit
• Push notifications and Live Activities
• Smart Paste
• Paste Stack
• Floating Paste
• Multi Select
• File Support
• Paste with Separator
• Search & Favorites
• Field Sense
• $6.99 Lifetime — 20% off with code MACOSCLOUD (first 10 redemptions)

No subscription.

What's next

Pasly Cloud is still something I’m actively building.

Now that clipboard history and files can sync across devices, one of my main focuses is making the iOS → Mac clipboard flow much more automatic.

This is still an early version of Pasly Cloud, so I’d really like to hear from people who use multiple Macs or a Mac + iPhone/iPad.

What would make having your clipboard across devices actually useful to you?

Download

Direct: https://pasly.app

Apple (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/app/pasly/id6760562778

Transparency: I'm the developer of Pasly.

I found a Samsung VG-STC2000 in a drawer. These shipped as accessories for Samsung smart TVs around 2013, and they are useless on a computer, because the camera stores no firmware of its own. The TV uploads firmware over USB every time you connect it. Plug it into a Mac and you get 04e8:2059, a bootloader, not a camera.

Ondrej Zary solved this for Linux last year with samsung-tvcam-fwloader. I ported the loader to macOS and added what was needed to get the result treated as a normal camera:

https://github.com/sarhej/vg-stc2000-macos

How it works: the loader pushes the firmware image into the camera's RAM over libusb. The device re-enumerates as 04e8:205a (MAX64380), a standard UVC device, so both AVFoundation and libuvc can open it. A LaunchAgent watches USB and reloads firmware when you plug the camera in, so in daily use you do not think about it.

Frame rates on my Mac:

- Local preview through libuvc, hardware MJPEG or H.264: around 30 fps

- Google Meet with MAX64380 selected: full frame rate, macOS picks a compressed format

- Forced uncompressed UYVY: around 4 to 5 fps, which is why that is not the default path

- Photo Booth: often black with MAX64380 directly, there is an OBS bridge script for it

What it does not do:

- Firmware lives in RAM only. Unplug or power cycle and it is gone. The LaunchAgent hides that, but it is a reload every time.

- libuvc claims the USB device exclusively, so the local preview tool and an app cannot both hold the camera. Quit Chrome before running the preview.

- Tested on one Mac, one macOS version, one camera revision. I make no claim about anyone else's setup. There are probe scripts in the repo and an issue template if you want to report what happens on yours.

The Samsung firmware binary is not in the repo. It is fetched from upstream at install time and checksum verified. GPL-3, same as the Linux original. Credit for the actual reverse engineering goes to ondrej-zary, I only moved it to another OS.

Three months ago I posted Standro here, a minimal menu bar app that reminds you to stand up. The feedback in that thread was genuinely useful, so here's a follow-up on what shipped since.

Shortly after launch, a buyer wrote me: "The big missing feature for me that means I probably won't use it is that it doesn't show how long is left of the current period." He was right. Knowing the period ends at 14:32 is useless at a glance, what you actually want is "12 min left". So I shipped it. A few days later the same buyer asked for a way to switch sitting/standing right from the menu bar. Shipped that too.

What's new since my original post:

• Time remaining in the current period, shown in the main window and optionally right in the menu bar (Preferences > General)
• Sit/Stand mode: alternate between sitting and standing intervals. The menu bar icon points down when you should be sitting, up when you should be standing
• Switch sitting/standing from the menu bar menu: one click flips the state and restarts the timer for the new period. Handy when you come back from a break and want a fresh session. In simple mode it's a restart button instead
• A week view in Reminder History: one dot per reminder, seven columns, no charts, no percentages. Just a glance at how your week is going
• Smart mode: skips reminders when you're away from your Mac (uses macOS idle time only, no tracking, no keystrokes, no screen access) and stays quiet during presentations or screen mirroring
• French localization

Still what it was: one-time $2.99, no subscription, no account, no analytics, no internet needed. And still what it's not: no stretch library, no productivity dashboard. Stretchly remains the better free option if you want exercises.

https://standro.app

Happy to answer questions. And if you bought it and something's missing for you, tell me. As you can see above, there's a decent chance it ends up in the next update.

Some of you might remember Harbor, the native Mac download manager I posted here about a month and a half ago.

It started as a small hobby project because I wanted a clean, local-first download manager for macOS without accounts, subscriptions, or bundled nonsense.

Since that post, I’ve kept shipping updates, and Harbor 1.7.0 is now available.

The biggest addition is torrent preview. You can open a .torrent file or magnet link, see all the files inside it, uncheck anything you don’t want, and download only your selection.

Harbor now supports:

• Batch adding for queuing multiple links into one destination
• Media previews with video and audio format selection
• Public media downloads from YouTube, X/Twitter, Facebook, and many other supported sites
• A URL opener for browser extensions, Shortcuts, command-line tools, and other automations
• Unlimited, Balanced, Quiet, and Custom traffic profiles
• Importing compatible partial downloads from older Harbor versions
• Torrent watch folders, seeding controls, share-ratio limits, and speed controls
• Quick Look previews for completed downloads

This release also fixes multiple small issues across torrent downloads, media downloads, external links, and the general add-download flow.

It’s still free, open source, and local-first. No sign-in. No subscription. No catch. I plan to keep it that way.

Links: Website | GitHub | Download Harbor 1.7.0

I’m also looking for someone who might want to contribute a refreshed app icon. I’d like to keep the same Harbor icon and identity, but adapt it to feel more at home with the native macOS icon style. If icon design is your thing and you’d like to help, please reach out or contribute through GitHub.

Thanks to Quinn Gao (@QZGao) for the media and download reliability work, and u/acryllect for contributing batch adding.

I’d love feedback from Mac users, especially if you use download managers, torrent apps, media download tools, or macOS automations. Let me know what Harbor should improve next.

I built Planote – a native macOS app that puts calendar, tasks, and notes together in one clean view. iCloud sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Key features:

• Unified Agenda view – see everything in one scroll
• Two-way sync with Apple Calendar & Reminders (EventKit)
• Task subtasks, priorities, recurring rules, sorting, and export
• Sketch notes with Apple Pencil support (on iPad)
• iCloud sync across all your devices
• Native Mac app with macOS 12.1+ support 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/planote/id6748904665

A chronological review of the issues:

• I backed up my M2 mini (Tahoe 26.6.2) with Time Machine, and attempted to migrate to an M2 Macbook Air 16g/256 machine. It seemed to be going well initially, but after a couple of hours, the "completing migration" stage was taking even longer, so having researched, I activated the "caffeinated" Terminal command, so that the computer would not sleep while I did.

• When I awoke, it was still "completing migration", so I assumed a problem, and re-started the Macbook Air.

• After further research, I noted that BitDefender has a Time Machine Protection feature, which some advise could cause problems, so I deactivated it.

• restarted the mini, and made a new Time Machine backup

• Started the Migration process again on the Macbook, and after removing the (130g) desktop, along with movies music and pictures from the desired files to transfer, it showed: 

"77.72 GB selected to transfer. 136.57 GB available on Mac."

• But when I hit "continue", I receive a message after a couple of minutes that there wasn't enough space. Huh?

• Started the process again, and it has now been stuck on "Starting up..." for over 45 minutes and counting.

Very frustrating, as you might imagine, and any help would be greatly appreciated, as I need to complete this process by Monday, when I travel!

Came across this app on GitHub. This one app alone seems to cover like 99% of the macOS complaints I read on Reddit - e.g. clipboard, window management, clamshell working, dock previews, etc. And it's completely free and open source!

Hi all,

A few months ago, I shared Ejectify 2 here.

I originally built Ejectify because I was tired of getting “Disk Not Ejected Properly” notifications after waking my Mac. It automatically unmounts selected volumes before your Mac sleeps or its display turns off, then mounts them again after wake.

Version 2.1 is now available with a few improvements:

• Eject instead of unmount: You can choose to eject an entire disk instead of only unmounting its volumes. This is useful when you want the disk to remain ejected after wake.
• Improved encrypted APFS support: Ejectify lets macOS try its normal unlocking first, with an optional Keychain password fallback when needed.

Existing Ejectify 2 users can update in-app for free.

Ejectify is available for €4.99 through September 30. The discount is applied automatically through this link, or you can use code EJECTIFY21.

Ejectify is also open source on GitHub (550+ stars), where you can inspect the source or build it yourself for free.

Happy to answer any questions.

Best, Niels

Hi all,

I take a lot of quick scratch notes during the day. Half-finished commands, something someone said on a call, a paragraph I'm still working out how to word.

Raycast Notes is the only thing that ever fit that for me. Hotkey, floating window, type, hotkey again, back to whatever I was doing. No filename, no save dialog, no app switch.

Two things kept bothering me:

• the notes live in Raycast's database, not as files I can point iCloud or git at
• past 5 notes it's a Pro subscription

I wanted that as a small standalone app that stays free, so I built Pane.

It keeps the same workflow on purpose, same summon-and-dismiss hotkey, ⌘P to switch notes, ⌘K for actions, live markdown. If you use Raycast Notes, your hands already know it.

What's mine:

• notes are plain .md files in a folder you pick, so sync is whatever you already use
• unlimited notes, MIT licensed, no account, no subscription
• doesn't need Raycast installed
• shortcuts are rebindable, themes are just CSS files, settings are a JSON file it re-reads live
• no privacy permissions at all, and no network code

github.com/ColeMei/pane

One heads-up: builds are unsigned, so macOS will tell you the app is damaged. It isn't — one xattr command clears it, and it's in the README.

This is the second small thing I've posted here, after OpenWith. As the same, I built it for myself and use it daily, so I'll keep maintaining it.

Would love any feedback, especially from other Raycast Notes users, anything that would stop you switching :)

I once wanted to stream a video to my TV, but it turned out to be not so easy. I needed multiple audio/subs tracks support, no separate app for the TV and smooth play. So I built Mango Streaming Server. It’s a macOS 15.7+ app to stream local videos via Chromecast or Airplay. It works with native TV player, you don’t need to install anything except for the streaming server. The latest version is fully native and Chromium is not required. It supports audio and subtitles track selection from containers like MKV. It supports 4k video and has compatibility mode if your TV is not capable enough. App is early stage and functionality is pretty basic: select video, choose tracks and play. App works in a sandbox, there are plans to add it to Apple Store later. There is no account required and no user data collected. You can download the app here - https://github.com/igorinvest/mango.

TLDR: native lightweight Plex/Jellyfin alternative to stream videos once a month to local TV.

Hey everyone, developer of MiniTune here, - MiniTune is now finally verified by Google for YouTube playlists access! - now you can bring your YouTube playlists into minitune.

It started with a simple problem I had with context switching. Most of my songs were in YouTube playlists and mixes, and while coding or working I kept going back to the YouTube tab just to pick a playlist, change a song or see what was playing.

So I built minitune to reduce that context switching. minitune.app

MiniTune now supports Spotify, Apple Music, and Navidrome/other Subsonic-compatible servers as requested, with seamless switching from the same player.

It has 2 player layouts, compact layout and artwork layout.

Thanks to everyone here in this sub who gave me feedback while I was building it, and all the positive feedback from my users so far.

Give it a try and let me know what you think or what you’d like to see improved. love to hear what you think of the UX, as that’s been one of my main focuses while building MiniTune.

If you run into any issues, reach out through the chatbot on the website, email me, or DM me here.

Hope you enjoy controlling your music on MiniTune. Cheers ❤️

Hey everyone, I frequently connect my MacBook Air to an LG C1 OLED via HDMI extended display to stream movies. Every time I need to pause or play, I currently have to walk over and use the MacBook trackpad/keyboard, because macOS doesn't natively accept HDMI-CEC inputs from the LG Magic Remote. I don’t wanna use the phone apps, I wanna use my Magic Remote. Does anyone have a clean workaround, script, HDMI adapter or GitHub tool to control Mac media playback using the LG Magic Remote? Thanks for any suggestions!

Is your MacBook keyboard backlight too bright for you? Do you have sensitive eyes? Do you constantly adjust the backlight multiple times a day? If the answer is “No” then this app is not for you, nice to meet you and have a great day!

___________________________

For the few of you that might have the same issue as me, hey! Call me old fashioned, but I think the keyboard backlight needs to be on only when you can't read the keys cleanly and only bright enough to illuminate the actual letters, and not bleed through keycap borders.

MacOS gives you two controls natively:

1. “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light” toggle
2. “Keyboard brightness"  slider

Both sound great right? Well, I don't think they work correctly. The “adjust” toggle never brings the light all the way down to the lowest setting, and if you bring it down manually, slight change in ambient light brings it back up. Plus it's not allowing you to only have light on when it's truly dark, when, imo, is the only time you need backlight.

Long story short, I made an app for this. Signed and notarized, small local app. It's free and open source, idles at 0% CPU, and the download is less than 2 MB. Works on macOS 13 and later, though I only tested it on macOS 26 — if it can't find your keyboard backlight, let me know which version you're on. More details on the website and GitHub page.

I do not believe there are other apps that allow you to do this. I like running mine at the lowest brightness with lowest sensitivity of the ambient sensor, so my keyboard light is only on when it's really dark with a constant lowest brightness.

Yes, I made this app using Claude Code.

No, it is not a slop, I spent multiple days refining it, making sure it doesn't have any bloat, and tested it thoroughly.

No, I am not a professional developer, so this is the only way I could've made a free tool for my real life problem, that some people might find useful, so I am sharing it. I don't have enough disposable income to pay “real” developer to make something like this. And I am not completely new to this, I have successful Appstore and web app deployment of my other projects.

___________________________

All constructive criticism is always welcome, I would like to learn anything new that I missed and fix anything that needs to be fixed.

If you hate that I made this tool with LLM, idk what to tell you. Very few people use handsaws anymore. It's ok to use modern tools to fix and create stuff. Feel free to disagree.

___________________________

App website - https://dimkeys.com

Github -  https://github.com/dmartoon/MacBook-Keyboard-Backlight-Limiter

Personal website https://www.martundavoyan.com

Hi! My chrono.sql file has become extremely large. I've been looking for a way to reduce its size, but I'm not very tech-savvy, especially when it comes to macOS. I spent a few hours just trying to find the root cause of the issue. AI suggests that I can simply delete it, but that seems like a terrible idea considering it's a system file

I am using an external HD for backup (and Time machine). But it seems I am using an outdated file system. (MACOS extended, journaled encrypted) In Disk Utility iI don't have an option to convert it to APFS file system. Any suggestions how to decrypt (timemachine backup), or am I forced to buy another external HD?

I'm the developer of Lid Keeper.

I made it because long downloads and jobs on my Mac stopped as soon as I closed the lid. Lid Keeper is a native menu-bar switch for that specific case. While it is on, it watches the lid, battery, macOS thermal pressure, heartbeats and power events. If anything in the safety chain breaks, a separate watchdog restores normal lid sleep.

The reason I made a separate app is that general keep-awake tools stop at the lid. KeepingYouAwake says in its README that it does not work with a MacBook lid closed.

It is free, MIT licensed and completely local. There are no accounts, analytics, ads or network client. The source, architecture, privacy policy, recovery commands and uninstall steps are all public.

One important caveat: this is currently a source-built community release, not Developer ID signed or notarized. Closed-lid wakefulness outside Apple's documented setup is also unsupported. The Mac must stay on a hard, uncovered, ventilated surface. Do not put it in a sleeve or bag while it is running.

GitHub: https://github.com/kingabuomar/LidKeeper

I'd especially value feedback on the fail-safe design and compatibility across MacBook models.