diff --git a/src/plugins/osx/macdispatcher.cpp b/src/plugins/osx/macdispatcher.cpp
diff --git a/src/plugins/osx/macdispatcher.h b/src/plugins/osx/macdispatcher.h
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+/* This file is part of the KDE libraries
+   Copyright (C) 2009 Dario Freddi <drf at kde.org>
+   Copyright (C) 2015 René J.V. Bertin <rjvbertin at gmail.com>
+
+   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+   modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
+   License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
+
+   This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+   Library General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License
+   along with this library; see the file COPYING.LIB.  If not, write to
+   the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+   Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+*/
+
+#ifndef MACPOLLER_H
+#define MACPOLLER_H
+
+#include "abstractsystempoller.h"
+
+#include <QAbstractNativeEventFilter>
+
+#include <QTimer>
+
+// Use IOKIT instead of the deprecated Carbon interface
+#include <IOKit/IOKitLib.h>
+// Use GCD instead of a QTimer
+#include <dispatch/dispatch.h>
+
+class QWidget;
+class DispatchCallback;
+
+/**
+ * This is a modernised Macintosh backend (plugin) implementation for KIdleTime.
+ * It uses a Cocoa event filter to detect global and application user input events
+ * (which indicate absence/end of idling) and the HIDIdleTime property from IOKit
+ * to obtain the time since the last event.
+ * 
+ * Custom timeouts ("the system has not had input events for X milliseconds") are
+ * detected via a polling algorithm that uses an adaptive polling interval in the
+ * default configuration that limits its overhead as much as possible while maintaining
+ * good detection accuracy. The class does provide a mechanism to switch it to a
+ * fixed-frequency polling strategy of configurable resolution, but that mechanism
+ * isn't yet accessible via the KIdleTime class.
+ * 
+ * @note polling comes at a cost. This cost is minimised with the default, adaptive interval
+ * configuration, but applications should not let the KIdleTime instance active when it 
+ * is not needed. This OS X backend allows to deactivate KIdleTime by removing all timeouts;
+ * @see KIdleTime::removeAllIdleTimeouts.
+ */
+class OSXIdleDispatcher: public AbstractSystemPoller
+{
+    Q_OBJECT
+    Q_PLUGIN_METADATA(IID "org.kde.kidletime.AbstractSystemPoller" FILE "osx.json")
+    Q_INTERFACES(AbstractSystemPoller)
+
+public:
+    OSXIdleDispatcher(QObject *parent = 0);
+    virtual ~OSXIdleDispatcher();
+
+    bool isAvailable();
+    bool setUpPoller();
+    void unloadPoller();
+
+    /**
+     * switch the idle time polling engine to the specified interval in milliseconds
+     * or back to the default adaptive engine.
+     * @param msecs : the desired polling interval in milliseconds, or -1 for the default
+     * algoritm. @see QTimer for the meaning of msec=0 .
+     * @returns true if the change to a fixed interval was successful.
+     */
+    bool setPollerResolution(int msecs);
+    /**
+     * query the current polling interval, which will be -1 for the default adaptive interval
+     * @returns true (this class supports changing the interval)
+     */
+    bool getPollerResolution(int &msecs);
+
+public Q_SLOTS:
+    void addTimeout(int nextTimeout);
+    void removeTimeout(int nextTimeout);
+    QList<int> timeouts() const;
+    int forcePollRequest();
+    void catchIdleEvent();
+    void stopCatchingIdleEvents();
+    void simulateUserActivity();
+
+private Q_SLOTS:
+    void checkForIdle();
+    void detectedActivity();
+
+private:
+    /**
+     * Query IOKit for the current HIDIdleTime value, and return it. Also compares the current idle
+     * time to the registered list of timeouts, and emits a \c timeoutReached signal when
+     * a hit is found.
+     * @param allowEmits : should timeoutReached() signals be emitted?
+     * @param idle : returns the current true idle time (time without input events)
+     * @returns : the simulated idle time (time without input events and since the last
+     * call to simulateUserActivity).
+     */
+    int64_t poll(bool allowEmits, int64_t &idle);
+    /**
+     * Query IOKit for the current HIDIdleTime value, and return it. Also compares the current idle
+     * time to the registered list of timeouts, and emits a \c timeoutReached signal when
+     * a hit is found.
+     * @param allowEmits : should timeoutReached() signals be emitted?
+     * @returns : the simulated idle time (time without input events and since the last
+     * call to simulateUserActivity).
+     */
+    int64_t poll(bool allowEmits);
+    void resumedFromIdle();
+    /**
+     * when the adaptive interval is used, this function reconfigures the idle polling
+     * timer as a function of the current idle time. The timer is stopped when no timeouts
+     * are to be monitored.
+     */
+    void kickTimer(int64_t idle);
+    /**
+     * sets up the Cocoa global events filter.
+     * @returns true in case of success
+     */
+    bool additionalSetUp();
+    /**
+     * takes down the Cocoa global events filter.
+     */
+    void additionalUnload();
+    void checkForIdleFunction();
+    QList<int> m_timeouts;
+    mach_port_t ioPort;
+    io_iterator_t ioIterator;
+    io_object_t ioObject;
+    dispatch_source_t m_idleDispatch;
+    bool m_idleDispatchRunning;
+    dispatch_time_t timerSet;
+    int m_pollResolution;
+    int m_minTimeout,
+        m_maxTimeout,
+        m_NTimeouts;
+    int m_lastTimeout,
+        m_nextTimeout;
+    int64_t m_realIdle,
+        m_idleOffset;
+    bool m_catch;
+    bool m_available;
+    /**
+     * instance of a class that "contains" the Cocoa global event filter.
+     */
+    QAbstractNativeEventFilter *m_nativeGrabber;
+    friend class CocoaEventFilter;
+    friend class DispatchCallback;
+};
+
+#endif /* MACPOLLER_H */
diff --git a/src/plugins/osx/macdispatcher_helper.mm b/src/plugins/osx/macdispatcher_helper.mm
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/* This file is part of the KDE libraries
+   Copyright (C) 2009 Dario Freddi <drf at kde.org>
+   Copyright (C) 2003 Tarkvara Design Inc.  (from KVIrc source code)
+   Copyright (c) 2008 Roman Jarosz          <kedgedev at centrum.cz>
+   Copyright (c) 2008 the Kopete developers <kopete-devel at kde.org>
+   Copyright (C) 2015 René J.V. Bertin <rjvbertin at gmail.com>
+
+   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+   modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
+   License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
+
+   This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+   Library General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License
+   along with this library; see the file COPYING.LIB.  If not, write to
+   the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+   Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+*/
+
+#include "logging.h"
+#include "macdispatcher.h"
+#include <CoreServices/CoreServices.h>
+
+#include <QApplication>
+
+// See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19229777/how-to-detect-global-mouse-button-events for 
+// background relative to using this approach inspired by WidgetBasedPoller.
+
+#import <AppKit/AppKit.h>
+
+class CocoaEventFilter : public QAbstractNativeEventFilter
+{
+public:
+    const static int mask = NSLeftMouseDownMask | NSLeftMouseUpMask | NSRightMouseDownMask
+                    | NSRightMouseUpMask | NSOtherMouseDownMask | NSOtherMouseUpMask
+                    | NSLeftMouseDraggedMask | NSRightMouseDraggedMask | NSOtherMouseDraggedMask
+                    | NSMouseMovedMask | NSScrollWheelMask | NSTabletPointMask | NSKeyDownMask;
+
+    bool nativeEventFilter(const QByteArray &eventType, void *message, long *result)
+    {
+        Q_UNUSED(eventType)
+        Q_UNUSED(result)
+        Q_UNUSED(message)
+        if (poller->m_NTimeouts) {
+            poller->poll(true);
+        }
+        if (poller->m_catch) {
+            // don't call out of this function if unnecessary
+            poller->detectedActivity();
+        }
+        return false;
+    };
+
+    OSXIdleDispatcher *poller;
+    id m_monitorId;
+};
+
+bool OSXIdleDispatcher::additionalSetUp()
+{
+    CocoaEventFilter *nativeGrabber = new CocoaEventFilter;
+    bool ret = false;
+    if (nativeGrabber) {
+        // quick and dirty, no real point in going through a setter
+        nativeGrabber->poller = this;
+        nativeGrabber->m_monitorId = 0;
+        m_nativeGrabber = nativeGrabber;
+        QCoreApplication::processEvents();
+        @autoreleasepool {
+            nativeGrabber->m_monitorId = [NSEvent addGlobalMonitorForEventsMatchingMask:CocoaEventFilter::mask
+                handler:^(NSEvent* event) { m_nativeGrabber->nativeEventFilter("NSEventFromGlobalMonitor", event, 0); }];
+        }
+        if (nativeGrabber->m_monitorId) {
+            qApp->installNativeEventFilter(m_nativeGrabber);
+            QCoreApplication::processEvents();
+            ret = true;
+        } else {
+            qCWarning(KIDLETIME) << "Failure installing the global native event filter";
+            delete nativeGrabber;
+            m_nativeGrabber = 0;
+        }
+    }
+    return ret;
+}
+
+void OSXIdleDispatcher::additionalUnload()
+{
+    if (m_nativeGrabber) {
+        CocoaEventFilter *nativeGrabber = static_cast<CocoaEventFilter*>(m_nativeGrabber);
+        qApp->removeNativeEventFilter(m_nativeGrabber);
+        if (nativeGrabber->m_monitorId) {
+            @autoreleasepool {
+                 [NSEvent removeMonitor:nativeGrabber->m_monitorId];
+            }
+        }
+        delete nativeGrabber;
+        m_nativeGrabber = 0;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/plugins/osx/macpoller.cpp b/src/plugins/osx/macpoller.cpp
diff --git a/src/plugins/osx/macpoller.h b/src/plugins/osx/macpoller.h
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+/* This file is part of the KDE libraries
+   Copyright (C) 2009 Dario Freddi <drf at kde.org>
+   Copyright (C) 2015 René J.V. Bertin <rjvbertin at gmail.com>
+
+   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+   modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
+   License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
+
+   This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+   Library General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License
+   along with this library; see the file COPYING.LIB.  If not, write to
+   the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+   Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+*/
+
+#ifndef MACPOLLER_H
+#define MACPOLLER_H
+
+#include "abstractsystempoller.h"
+
+#include <QAbstractNativeEventFilter>
+
+#include <QTimer>
+
+// Use IOKIT instead of the deprecated Carbon interface
+#include <IOKit/IOKitLib.h>
+
+class QWidget;
+
+/**
+ * This is a modernised Macintosh backend (plugin) implementation for KIdleTime.
+ * It uses a Cocoa event filter to detect global and application user input events
+ * (which indicate absence/end of idling) and the HIDIdleTime property from IOKit
+ * to obtain the time since the last event.
+ * 
+ * Custom timeouts ("the system has not had input events for X milliseconds") are
+ * detected via a polling algorithm that uses an adaptive polling interval in the
+ * default configuration that limits its overhead as much as possible while maintaining
+ * good detection accuracy. The class does provide a mechanism to switch it to a
+ * fixed-frequency polling strategy of configurable resolution, but that mechanism
+ * isn't yet accessible via the KIdleTime class.
+ * 
+ * @note polling comes at a cost. This cost is minimised with the default, adaptive interval
+ * configuration, but applications should not let the KIdleTime instance active when it 
+ * is not needed. This OS X backend allows to deactivate KIdleTime by removing all timeouts;
+ * @see KIdleTime::removeAllIdleTimeouts.
+ */
+class OSXIdlePoller: public AbstractSystemPoller
+{
+    Q_OBJECT
+    Q_PLUGIN_METADATA(IID "org.kde.kidletime.AbstractSystemPoller" FILE "osx.json")
+    Q_INTERFACES(AbstractSystemPoller)
+
+public:
+    OSXIdlePoller(QObject *parent = 0);
+    virtual ~OSXIdlePoller();
+    static OSXIdlePoller *instance();
+
+    bool isAvailable();
+    bool setUpPoller();
+    void unloadPoller();
+
+    /**
+     * switch the idle time polling engine to the specified interval in milliseconds
+     * or back to the default adaptive engine.
+     * @param msecs : the desired polling interval in milliseconds, or -1 for the default
+     * algoritm. @see QTimer for the meaning of msec=0 .
+     * @returns true if the change to a fixed interval was successful.
+     */
+    bool setPollerResolution(int msecs);
+    /**
+     * query the current polling interval, which will be -1 for the default adaptive interval
+     * @returns true (this class supports changing the interval)
+     */
+    bool getPollerResolution(int &msecs);
+
+public Q_SLOTS:
+    void addTimeout(int nextTimeout);
+    void removeTimeout(int nextTimeout);
+    QList<int> timeouts() const;
+    int forcePollRequest();
+    void catchIdleEvent();
+    void stopCatchingIdleEvents();
+    void simulateUserActivity();
+
+private Q_SLOTS:
+    void checkForIdle();
+    void detectedActivity();
+
+private:
+    /**
+     * Query IOKit for the current HIDIdleTime value, and return it. Also compares the current idle
+     * time to the registered list of timeouts, and emits a \c timeoutReached signal when
+     * a hit is found.
+     * @param allowEmits : should timeoutReached() signals be emitted?
+     * @param idle : returns the current true idle time (time without input events)
+     * @returns : the simulated idle time (time without input events and since the last
+     * call to simulateUserActivity).
+     */
+    int64_t poll(bool allowEmits, int64_t &idle);
+    /**
+     * Query IOKit for the current HIDIdleTime value, and return it. Also compares the current idle
+     * time to the registered list of timeouts, and emits a \c timeoutReached signal when
+     * a hit is found.
+     * @param allowEmits : should timeoutReached() signals be emitted?
+     * @returns : the simulated idle time (time without input events and since the last
+     * call to simulateUserActivity).
+     */
+    int64_t poll(bool allowEmits);
+    void resumedFromIdle();
+    /**
+     * when the adaptive interval is used, this function reconfigures the idle polling
+     * timer as a function of the current idle time. The timer is stopped when no timeouts
+     * are to be monitored.
+     */
+    int kickTimer(int64_t idle);
+    /**
+     * sets up the Cocoa global events filter.
+     * @returns true in case of success
+     */
+    bool additionalSetUp();
+    /**
+     * takes down the Cocoa global events filter.
+     */
+    void additionalUnload();
+    void checkForIdleFunction();
+    QList<int> m_timeouts;
+    mach_port_t ioPort;
+    io_iterator_t ioIterator;
+    io_object_t ioObject;
+    QTimer *m_idleTimer;
+    int m_pollResolution;
+    int m_minTimeout,
+        m_maxTimeout,
+        m_NTimeouts;
+    int m_lastTimeout,
+        m_nextTimeout;
+    int64_t m_realIdle,
+        m_idleOffset;
+    bool m_catch;
+    bool m_available;
+    /**
+     * instance of a class that "contains" the Cocoa global event filter.
+     */
+    QAbstractNativeEventFilter *m_nativeGrabber;
+    friend class CocoaEventFilter;
+};
+
+#endif /* MACPOLLER_H */
diff --git a/src/plugins/osx/macpoller_helper.mm b/src/plugins/osx/macpoller_helper.mm
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/* This file is part of the KDE libraries
+   Copyright (C) 2009 Dario Freddi <drf at kde.org>
+   Copyright (C) 2003 Tarkvara Design Inc.  (from KVIrc source code)
+   Copyright (c) 2008 Roman Jarosz          <kedgedev at centrum.cz>
+   Copyright (c) 2008 the Kopete developers <kopete-devel at kde.org>
+   Copyright (C) 2015 René J.V. Bertin <rjvbertin at gmail.com>
+
+   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+   modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
+   License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
+
+   This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+   Library General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License
+   along with this library; see the file COPYING.LIB.  If not, write to
+   the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+   Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+*/
+
+#include "logging.h"
+#include "macpoller.h"
+#include <CoreServices/CoreServices.h>
+
+#include <QApplication>
+
+// See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19229777/how-to-detect-global-mouse-button-events for 
+// background relative to using this approach inspired by WidgetBasedPoller.
+
+#import <AppKit/AppKit.h>
+
+class CocoaEventFilter : public QAbstractNativeEventFilter
+{
+public:
+    const static int mask = NSLeftMouseDownMask | NSLeftMouseUpMask | NSRightMouseDownMask
+                    | NSRightMouseUpMask | NSOtherMouseDownMask | NSOtherMouseUpMask
+                    | NSLeftMouseDraggedMask | NSRightMouseDraggedMask | NSOtherMouseDraggedMask
+                    | NSMouseMovedMask | NSScrollWheelMask | NSTabletPointMask | NSKeyDownMask;
+
+    bool nativeEventFilter(const QByteArray &eventType, void *message, long *result)
+    {
+        Q_UNUSED(eventType)
+        Q_UNUSED(result)
+        Q_UNUSED(message)
+        if (poller->m_catch) {
+            // don't call out of this function if unnecessary
+            poller->detectedActivity();
+        }
+        if (poller->m_NTimeouts) {
+            poller->poll(true);
+        }
+        return false;
+    };
+
+    OSXIdlePoller *poller;
+    id m_monitorId;
+};
+
+bool OSXIdlePoller::additionalSetUp()
+{
+    CocoaEventFilter *nativeGrabber = new CocoaEventFilter;
+    bool ret = false;
+    if (nativeGrabber) {
+        // quick and dirty, no real point in going through a setter
+        nativeGrabber->poller = this;
+        nativeGrabber->m_monitorId = 0;
+        m_nativeGrabber = nativeGrabber;
+        QCoreApplication::processEvents();
+        @autoreleasepool {
+            nativeGrabber->m_monitorId = [NSEvent addGlobalMonitorForEventsMatchingMask:CocoaEventFilter::mask
+                handler:^(NSEvent* event) { m_nativeGrabber->nativeEventFilter("NSEventFromGlobalMonitor", event, 0); }];
+        }
+        if (nativeGrabber->m_monitorId) {
+            qApp->installNativeEventFilter(m_nativeGrabber);
+            QCoreApplication::processEvents();
+            ret = true;
+        } else {
+            qCWarning(KIDLETIME) << "Failure installing the global native event filter";
+            delete nativeGrabber;
+            m_nativeGrabber = 0;
+        }
+    }
+    return ret;
+}
+
+void OSXIdlePoller::additionalUnload()
+{
+    if (m_nativeGrabber) {
+        CocoaEventFilter *nativeGrabber = static_cast<CocoaEventFilter*>(m_nativeGrabber);
+        qApp->removeNativeEventFilter(m_nativeGrabber);
+        if (nativeGrabber->m_monitorId) {
+            @autoreleasepool {
+                 [NSEvent removeMonitor:nativeGrabber->m_monitorId];
+            }
+        }
+        delete nativeGrabber;
+        m_nativeGrabber = 0;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/plugins/osx/osx.json b/src/plugins/osx/osx.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+    "platforms": ["cocoa"]
+}