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Apple Silicon & Intel · universal

Install Unwaver on a Mac

Two minutes. It's signed and notarised by Apple, so it opens like any other app. The one thing to do by hand is let it see window titles, in System Settings.

Unwaver for macOS

Unwaver_2.4.1_universal.dmg · 14.4 MB

Download for macOS

Version 2.4.1 · What's new

A short looping animation of installing Unwaver on a Mac. You drag Unwaver onto the Applications folder, open it and click Open when macOS asks if you're sure. In System Settings you click Privacy & Security, then Accessibility, which macOS 27 calls Device Control and Data Access. You click the plus button under the list, confirm with Touch ID, choose Unwaver in Applications and click Open. Unwaver appears in the list, switched on. The same steps are written out below.

Unwaver is in the list, switched on. That’s it.

The same steps, written out

  1. Drag Unwaver into Applications

    Open Unwaver_2.4.1_universal.dmg from your Downloads. In the window that opens, drag the Unwaver icon onto the Applications folder. You can eject the disk image afterwards.

  2. Open it and sign in

    Open Unwaver from your Applications folder. Because it came from the internet, macOS asks if you're sure you want to open it: click Open. Then sign in, or create an account to start your 7-day trial.

    When you first talk to it, click Allow for the microphone, and for notifications if it asks, since nudges can arrive as notifications.

  3. Open Privacy & Security, then Accessibility

    This step and the next only matter if you chose Turn on activity monitoring when Unwaver asked. They're how it sees which window you're in.

    Open System Settings from the Apple menu and click Privacy & Security in the sidebar. In the list on the right, click Accessibility; on macOS 27 it's called Device Control and Data Access. Not the Accessibility item higher up the sidebar: that one holds display and hearing settings.

    On macOS 11 or 12 it's System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Privacy → Accessibility; click the lock first to make changes.

  4. Add Unwaver and switch it on

    If Unwaver is in the list, switch it on. Usually it isn't, so click + under the list, choose Unwaver in Applications and click Open. macOS may ask for Touch ID or your password. Check that its switch is on.

    Unwaver notices within about half a minute. If it doesn't, quit it and open it again.

Unwaver doesn't ask macOS for this itself, so it's easy to miss. Without it, activity monitoring still runs, but Unwaver only knows which app is in front, not what you're doing in it.

Good to know

Why Accessibility?

It's how a Mac app reads the title of the window you're in, like the name of a document or a web page. Unwaver uses it for that and nothing else. Without it, it can tell you're in your browser, but not what you're reading. macOS 27 renamed it Device Control and Data Access; it's the same switch.

No Gatekeeper warning

Unwaver is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple, so the only message is the usual question about opening an app from the internet. If a Mac ever says Apple could not verify Unwaver is free of malware, that file didn't come from unwaver.ai: delete it and download it again.

Opening it each day

Unwaver doesn't start by itself when you log in. Open it when you start work; keeping it in the Dock makes that one click.

Updates

It installs updates as soon as they're ready and runs the new version from the next launch. Every version is signed the same way, so your Accessibility and microphone permissions carry over.

Uninstalling

Quit Unwaver and move it from Applications to the Bin. Then remove it from the Accessibility list (Device Control and Data Access on macOS 27): select it and click −.

What it runs on

macOS 11 Big Sur or later. One download runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. It needs an internet connection, and a microphone for talking to it.

Stuck on a step?

Email support@unwaver.ai and say which step you're on. A screenshot helps.

Installing on Windows instead Installing on Linux instead

Apple, Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions. The macOS screens in the walkthrough are simplified drawings for illustration. Unwaver is independent of Apple.