CheatIME 1.5.0

What's new

• Snap the badge to screen edges. When you drag the badge in Fixed position, it snaps flush against an edge of the screen once it comes within 12 points of it. The edges are those of the visible area, so the badge lines up just below the menu bar and above the Dock. To place the badge freely, turn off Settings → Badge → Fixed → Position → Snap to screen edges when dragging.
• Safer settings import. Settings → General → Settings file → Import… now converts files exported by older versions right away instead of after the next launch, refuses files made by a newer version of CheatIME with a message asking you to update, and skips values it doesn't recognize. Languages that are missing from the file appear in the per-input-mode list without pressing Refresh Input Sources. Exported files contain only settings.

Install

1. Download CheatIME-<version>.dmg below, open it, and drag CheatIME to Applications.
2. CheatIME is not notarized by Apple, so macOS blocks the first launch. Open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Or run:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CheatIME.app

Requires macOS 15 or later (Apple silicon and Intel). SHA256SUMS.txt lists the checksums of the files below.

See the README for details. 한국어 · 日本語 · 简体中文 instructions are linked from there.

CheatIME 1.4.0

What's new

• Badges per input mode. Each input mode now gets its own badge instead of one per language, labeled the way macOS labels it in the menu bar (for example あ and ア for Japanese kana, 注音 and 拼音 for Chinese). Settings → Badge → Defaults → Per-input-mode look groups modes under their language. Colors are set per language by default. To color each mode separately, open the language's ⋯ menu and turn on Use Different Colors per Input Mode. Languages with several modes have a Hide switch for the whole language.
• Show a flag instead of text. In Badge style, set Content to Flag. Flat flag images fill the badge and follow its shape, size, border and opacity. Each mode starts with its language's flag; pick another one from the flag menu in the mode list. Flag images come from flag-icons (MIT).
• Custom badge shape. Shape → Custom lets you set the height, the width (fit to the text, or a fixed value) and the corner radius.
• Place the badge around the pointer and the text cursor. Next to Pointer and Next to Text Cursor have a Position section: pick one of eight directions, set the horizontal and vertical distance, and choose what happens At Screen Edge. A preview shows the badge at its real distance from the arrow or the cursor. The defaults keep the previous positions.
• Export and import settings. Settings → General → Settings file saves all settings to a JSON file and loads them on another Mac.
• Labels are centered on the visible glyphs, so 한, あ, ABC and 注音 sit exactly in the middle of the badge. Solid borders no longer show a thin line of the badge color around their outer edge.

Install

1. Download CheatIME-<version>.dmg below, open it, and drag CheatIME to Applications.
2. CheatIME is not notarized by Apple, so macOS blocks the first launch. Open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Or run:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CheatIME.app

Requires macOS 15 or later (Apple silicon and Intel). SHA256SUMS.txt lists the checksums of the files below.

See the README for details. 한국어 · 日本語 · 简体中文 instructions are linked from there.

CheatIME 1.3.0

What's new

• Badge size is now its own setting, separate from Font size (Settings → Badge → Badge style). Badge corners and padding follow the badge size. If you changed the font size before, your badge keeps its current size.
• Clicking the badge no longer hides it. To show or hide the badge from anywhere, set a shortcut in Settings → General → Show/Hide Badge Shortcut. It needs ⌘, ⌥ or ⌃. You can still drag the badge and right-click it for the menu.
• New defaults: the badge starts at the bottom-left of the screen with 16 pt text. If you never moved your badge, it moves from the bottom-right to the bottom-left after this update. Drag it back, or set the position in Settings → Badge → Position.

Install

1. Download CheatIME-<version>.dmg below, open it, and drag CheatIME to Applications.
2. CheatIME is not notarized by Apple, so macOS blocks the first launch. Open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Or run:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CheatIME.app

Requires macOS 15 or later (Apple silicon and Intel). SHA256SUMS.txt lists the checksums of the files below.

See the README for details. 한국어 · 日本語 · 简体中文 instructions are linked from there.

CheatIME 1.2.2

What's new

• The DMG now opens a styled install window: drag CheatIME onto Applications.
• On first launch, CheatIME opens Settings, so you can tell it started. After that it starts quietly in the menu bar; open CheatIME again to bring up Settings.

Install

1. Download CheatIME-<version>.dmg below, open it, and drag CheatIME to Applications.
2. CheatIME is not notarized by Apple, so macOS blocks the first launch. Open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Or run:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CheatIME.app

Requires macOS 15 or later (Apple silicon and Intel). SHA256SUMS.txt lists the checksums of the files below.

See the README for details. 한국어 · 日本語 · 简体中文 instructions are linked from there.

CheatIME 1.2.1

What's new

• Releases are now signed with a stable certificate, so future updates keep the Accessibility permission. If you're updating from 1.2.0, remove CheatIME from System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and allow it again once.
• Settings → Text cursor: a note that showing the badge next to the pointer as a fallback moves less smoothly than Next to Pointer.

Install

1. Download CheatIME-<version>.dmg below, open it, and drag CheatIME to Applications.
2. CheatIME is not notarized by Apple, so macOS blocks the first launch. Open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Or run:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CheatIME.app

Requires macOS 15 or later (Apple silicon and Intel). SHA256SUMS.txt lists the checksums of the files below.

See the README for details. 한국어 · 日本語 · 简体中文 instructions are linked from there.

CheatIME 1.2.0

What's new

• In-app updates. CheatIME now updates itself with Sparkle. Use Check for Updates… in the menu bar menu or in Settings → General. On the second launch CheatIME asks whether to check automatically; you can change this later in General. When a scheduled check finds an update while you are working in another app, the menu bar icon shows a dot instead of interrupting you.
• Fixes
  • No more crash when an auto-switch rule points to an input source you removed.
  • No more crash when all displays disconnect for a moment.
  • CheatIME no longer freezes when the app in front stops responding while the badge follows the text cursor.
  • The sound and brief display now also react to switches between input sources of the same language, such as two Korean layouts.
  • Fixed-position margins can no longer push the badge off screen, and the display list updates when you connect or disconnect a display.
  • The Apps pane opens faster and picks up newly installed apps.
  • Smaller fixes to the Open at login status, the restart hint after changing the language, and a failed restart.

Updating from 1.1.0: 1.1.0 cannot update itself, so install this version by hand once. Later versions arrive through the app. If you use Next to Text Cursor, allow CheatIME again in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility (Device Control and Data Access in macOS 27) after updating.

Install

1. Download CheatIME-<version>.dmg below, open it, and drag CheatIME to Applications.
2. CheatIME is not notarized by Apple, so macOS blocks the first launch. Open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Or run:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CheatIME.app

Requires macOS 15 or later (Apple silicon and Intel). SHA256SUMS.txt lists the checksums of the files below.

See the README for details. 한국어 · 日本語 · 简体中文 instructions are linked from there.

CheatIME 1.1.0

What's new

• Several badge positions at once. Show the badge fixed on screen, next to the pointer, and next to the text cursor at the same time. Each position can follow the default style or use its own shape, size, opacity, Liquid Glass, border, and timing.
• Show only on change. Optionally show the badge for a moment after the input source changes, then fade it out.
• New styles. A dot shape with its own size, and solid, dashed, or dotted borders when Liquid Glass is off.
• Per-language list. Drag rows to reorder them, remove languages you no longer use, and newly added input sources appear automatically.
• Show only in selected apps. Display the badge only while one of the apps you check is in front.
• Auto-switch rules. Switch to a chosen input source when an app comes to the front, and optionally switch back when you leave it.
• Settings window redesign. Panes for Badge, Apps, Auto Switch, and General in the toolbar, with a tab view for default and per-position settings.
• General. Open at login, an input-change sound, and an interface language setting (follows the system by default).
• Smoother pointer following, and a fix for clipped badge edges with Liquid Glass at small sizes.

"Next to Text Cursor" needs the Accessibility permission, which macOS 27 calls Device Control and Data Access.

Install

1. Download CheatIME-<version>.dmg below, open it, and drag CheatIME to Applications.
2. CheatIME is not notarized by Apple, so macOS blocks the first launch. Open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Or run:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CheatIME.app

Requires macOS 15 or later (Apple silicon and Intel). SHA256SUMS.txt lists the checksums of the files below.

See the README for details. 한국어 · 日本語 · 简体中文 instructions are linked from there.

CheatIME 1.0.0

First public release.

• Always-on-top badge that shows your current input language, for input sources in any language
• Per-language label and colors, display selection, shape, size, opacity, optional Liquid Glass (macOS 26+)
• Drag to move, click to hide, right-click for the menu
• Interface localized in English, Korean, and Japanese
• Universal binary (Apple silicon and Intel), macOS 15 or later

This app is not notarized. After the first launch is blocked, allow it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway, or run:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CheatIME.app

See the README for details.