Kinara 1.0.2

Kinara 1.0.2

Back after sleep, every time

• Finds the trackpad again after waking. On some Macs, a MacBook Air M1 among them, macOS brings the trackpad back from sleep as a new device. Kinara kept trying the old one, so gestures stayed off until it was reopened, and Retry didn't help. Now Kinara looks for the trackpad again whenever the old one doesn't answer. (#3)
• Waits for a slow trackpad. If the trackpad takes a moment to come back, Kinara keeps trying for about half a minute, showing "Waiting for the trackpad…", instead of giving up at once.
• Haptics reconnect too. The strongest haptic ticks come back if they stop answering after sleep.

Nothing changes on Macs that already woke up fine.

Kinara is signed but not yet notarized by Apple, so the first launch of a fresh download needs System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

Kinara 1.0.1

Kinara 1.0.1

The edges of your trackpad, as controls

Swipe along the side of your trackpad to change volume or brightness. Tap a corner to paste. Kinara turns the edges you never use into the controls you reach for all day, with haptics, a native indicator, and almost no battery. It's free and open source, under the MIT License.

It feels built in

• 53 actions for any edge or tap: volume, brightness, keyboard backlight, microphone, media, seeking, tabs, windows, desktops, editing, clipboard history, Shortcuts, Night Shift, True Tone, extra dim, the ambient light, and more.
• Fine control. While swiping, slide inward from the edge to adjust in small steps, like scrubbing a video.
• Speed-sensitive levels. Slow swipes are precise; a quick flick covers more range.
• Notches. Levels rest briefly at 50% and at your favorite volume or brightness, with a crisp tap.
• Haptics up to Strongest, a tick for every 1% at the finest setting, driving the trackpad's actuator directly.
• An indicator that comes up as you start a slide, even at the top or bottom of the range, and can follow your finger along the screen's edge.

Your screen answers

• One piece of glass. A tap draws a bead out of the matching corner of your screen; the second tap stretches it into a pill naming the action, and results such as "Safari muted" land in the same pill.
• Rest a finger to preview what a corner does, without doing it. The same tap again within two seconds puts things back.
• Edge light. Slide along an edge and a light runs beside your finger, readable over any page and over full-screen apps, in Accent, Aurora, Sunset, Ember, Mint, Mono or a colour for each action.
• Ambient light. A tap sets a soft light lapping your screen's border; any key or click stops it.

More from every edge

• Taps and corners. Double-tap or tap-and-hold any edge or corner. Corners can use one finger even when swipes use two. A resting palm never triggers a tap.
• Layers. Hold ⌥ while you swipe, or use the other finger count, for a second action on each side.
• Top and bottom edges for one-finger swipes.
• Tile window. A tap moves the front window to that side's half, or fills the screen if it's already there.

A mixer for every app

Every app that plays sound gets its own fader, right in the menu bar: turn a browser down, music up, and mute a chat app before its next ping. Solo one app, send one to different speakers (music on the MacBook, everything else on your AirPods), boost quiet apps to 150%, and let calls lower everything else automatically. Kinara reroutes an app only while you've changed it; everything else plays untouched. Double-tap a corner for every app making sound, slide to one and lift to mute it.

Clipboard history you play like an instrument

Double-tap a corner and a glass picker blooms open. Slide one finger through your recent copies, pictures included, then lift to paste; slide to Cancel at the top to paste nothing. Type to search, or press ⌘1 to ⌘9 for the first nine. Each item shows where it came from and when. History lives in memory only, never on disk, and skips anything a password manager marks.

Knows what you're doing

• App profiles change only the edges you pick while an app is in front; a docked profile applies when an external display is connected.
• Per-device volume limits keep headphones quieter than speakers.
• Brightness follows the pointer to Apple displays and to monitors that accept DDC/CI on Apple silicon, and works with the lid closed.
• Palm protection checks every touch for intent, with a safe test that changes nothing while you practise.

Thoughtful details

A calm welcome, an Overview with a live trackpad map, an edge map you can summon with a shortcut, Now Playing with artwork, scroll-to-adjust on the menu bar icon, the volume click, kinara:// links for Shortcuts, settings export and import, signed updates you install when you choose, and smooth, Apple-style motion throughout, with Reduce Motion respected everywhere. No analytics, no account.

Permissions and requirements

Kinara asks only when a feature needs it: Accessibility for gestures, System Audio Recording for per-app volume and the mixer (Kinara never records, saves, or sends audio), and Automation for Music or Spotify in Now Playing (Kinara never launches a player). Requires macOS 13 or later; per-app volume and the mixer need macOS 14.2. Universal for Apple silicon and Intel.

Kinara is signed but not yet notarized by Apple, so the first launch needs System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. The disk image's "First Launch" note explains each step.

DDC monitor control isn't available on Intel Macs or through many docks, DisplayLink adapters and TVs. Night Shift, True Tone and multitouch use private macOS interfaces, checked before every use.