How to lock your Mac keyboard to clean it

Wipe the keyboard without opening twenty windows and typing a paragraph of nonsense.

Short answer

macOS has no keyboard lock. MacFixes locks the keyboard for a set time so you can clean it, then unlocks on its own.

What macOS gives you

The usual advice is to shut the Mac down first, or to log out. There’s no built-in way to ignore the keyboard for a minute while it’s running.

1
Add the fix
Open MacFixes Settings → Everyday and add “Cleaning mode”. Fixes are off until you add them.
2
Allow Accessibility
macOS asks for Accessibility permission so MacFixes can ignore key presses.
3
Start it
The keyboard is locked and the screen dims or goes dark so smudges show. It unlocks by itself when the time is up.

This is one of 28 fixes in MacFixes.

Something else your Mac won’t do? Request it — we build it.

Click Done on the screen. Otherwise it unlocks by itself when the time is up — 60 seconds by default.