Tap twice to mute your mic. Tap three times to play music. Tap four times to pick from a menu.
Your MacBook can already feel a tap. Knucklebop turns light taps on the palm rest or the desk beside it into buttons: two to mute your meeting, three to play music, four for anything else.
7-day free trial · no account · Apple Silicon MacBook, macOS 14 or later
Knucklebop is a Mac app. Send yourself the link and open it on your MacBook.
- Open Knucklebop.dmg from Downloads.
- Drag Knucklebop to Applications, then open it.
- It lives in your menu bar. A short setup learns how you tap.
Didn't start? Download again. Notarized by Apple.
- Notarized by Apple
- Sensor data never leaves your Mac
- Pay once, $12.99
- 14-day refund
Try it right here.
Pick an app, then click the palm rest (or focus it and press Space) two, three or four times. This is exactly how the app decides what to do. Ready-made rules switch on by themselves for Zoom, Meet, Teams, Slack, Spotify, Music, VS Code and Xcode.
Rules in Zoom
Website rules beat app rules, and app rules beat "anywhere" rules. One pattern per tap count.
What can a tap do? Almost anything.
Pick from ready-made actions, or point a tap at any shortcut, automation or script.
🎙️ Meetings
- Mute in Zoom, Teams, Slack huddles and Google Meet, using each app's own shortcut so its button stays in sync
- Mute your mic everywhere, with an on-screen "Mic muted" pill
🎵 Music
- Play / pause
- Next and previous track
- Volume up, down, mute
🪟 Windows & desktops
- Mission Control
- Next / previous desktop
- Switch to last app
- Show desktop, Spotlight, lock screen
- Dark mode, screen saver
✂️ Editing & tabs
- Copy, paste, undo, screenshot
- Emoji picker, full screen
- New, close, next and previous tab
🕶️ Boss mode
- Hide every app and pause media in one move
- Optionally lock the screen too
🛠️ Power users
- Any keyboard shortcut
- Run a Shortcuts automation
- AppleScript or a shell command
Need more than five buttons? Open the tap menu.
Four taps opens a list of as many actions as you like. Each extra tap moves down the list; stop tapping and the highlighted one runs. Arrow keys and Return work too, and Esc cancels.
- Comes with switch app, desktops, play/pause, screenshot and confetti
- Add, remove and reorder items under Rules
Built to not misfire.
A tap has a sharp signature. Typing, trackpad clicks, picking up the laptop and the train ride home don't.
Never a single bump
Every pattern is at least two taps in quick succession. A dropped pen does nothing.
Ignores your typing
Taps during and just after keyboard or trackpad use are ignored.
Knows when you move
The gyroscope tells a tap from a lift or a tilt, and detection pauses in a moving car until things settle.
Test mode
See what would fire and why, without running anything.
Locked means locked
Nothing runs while your screen is locked, and the same rule can't fire twice from one burst.
Off in one click
Switch it off from the menu bar, or pause for 15 minutes or an hour.
And a little bit fun.
Fun mode is one switch. It goes quiet by itself whenever your mic or camera is on.
Tap sounds
Four packs: Woodblock, Bubbles, 8-bit and Drum kit. Try them in the demo above.
A drum kit on your palm rest
Soft taps hit the hi-hat, harder ones the snare and kick. Record a 10-second loop and export it. (Tap patterns take a break while you play.)
Click to play. Bigger dot, harder tap.
Ripples and confetti
Every tap sends a ripple across the bottom of your screen. Five taps throws confetti (try it above), and other taps can play a rimshot, a round of applause or have Bop wave hello.
This weekA weekly stats card worth a screenshot. And two secret tap patterns we won't tell you about.
Private by design.
Sensor data is processed on your Mac and never leaves it. The app has no analytics, no telemetry and no account. Its only network calls check your licence and look for updates. Website rules read the current tab's domain only when a tap pattern finishes, and never store it. It doesn't use your microphone to hear taps.
Pay once. Keep it.
Try every feature free for 7 days first. No account, no subscription.
- Every feature included
- Licence key by email
- Move it to a new Mac any time
- 14-day refund
Not sure yet? Start the free trial, no card needed.
Prices in US dollars; local taxes may be added at checkout. Payments by Dodo Payments.
Questions
Will it work on my Mac?
You need an Apple Silicon MacBook Air or MacBook Pro on macOS 14 or later. Desktop Macs (iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio) and Intel Macs can't use it. The free trial starts with a sensor check, so you'll know in seconds.
How does it hear my taps?
MacBooks have a motion sensor (an accelerometer and gyroscope) in the base. A tap on the palm rest, or on the desk right next to the laptop, makes a tiny, sharp jolt that Knucklebop can recognise. It doesn't use the microphone.
Do I need to tap in a rhythm?
No. Only the number of taps matters, from two to six. Keep them reasonably close together (under about 0.7 seconds apart by default; you can make it longer).
Why isn't it on the Mac App Store?
macOS has no public API for this sensor, so Knucklebop uses an undocumented system interface. That's fine for apps you download directly (Knucklebop is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple), but not allowed on the App Store. We don't hide this. If a macOS update changes the interface, Knucklebop shows a clear message instead of failing silently.
Do I need an account?
No. Buy, and your licence key arrives by email. Paste it into Settings › General in the app and you're done.
What happens when the trial ends?
Knucklebop keeps your patterns and rules but stops running actions until you enter a licence key. Nothing is deleted.
How do I move my licence to a new Mac?
On the old Mac, choose Settings › General › Deactivate this Mac, then enter your key on the new one. If the old Mac is gone, email us and we'll sort it out.
How do updates work?
Knucklebop checks for updates once a day and asks before installing. Rarely, an update is required (for example, when a macOS change breaks tap detection); then actions pause until you install it, and the menu bar says so.
What permissions does it need?
None for the system-wide mic mute. Accessibility lets it press your meeting app's own mute shortcut and other shortcuts. Automation (asked per browser) lets website rules see which site is open. No microphone access.
Will typing or bumping the laptop set it off?
It ignores taps while you type or use the trackpad, rejects lifts and tilts, pauses when everything is shaking, and every pattern needs at least two quick taps, so a single bump never counts. Test mode shows exactly what it would do.
Does it work with the lid closed?
No. With the lid closed the Mac sleeps (or, in clamshell mode, the laptop usually isn't where your hands are). Taps on the top edge of the lid aren't supported either.
Give your palm rest a job.
7 days free, every feature. No account, no card.
