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@joelvalentijn joelvalentijn released this 18 Aug 17:15
· 1 commit to main since this release
v0.1.0
4a43d6e

First public build. Beta: it works, but it has been used by one person on one Mac.

Windows' ClickLock for macOS. Hold the mouse button down briefly and let go — the button stays
down as far as the system is concerned, so you can select or drag without holding it. Click once
to release. A ring around the pointer fills up while you hold and closes when it locks.

(Formerly named ClickLocker; renamed to avoid confusion with unrelated macOS malware called
"ClickLock Stealer". Same app, new name.)

Requires macOS 14 or later.

Installing

Two routes: download the build below, or compile it from source.

Download

  1. Download ClickLatch.zip, unzip it, and drag ClickLatch.app into your Applications folder.

  2. macOS will refuse to open it the first time. The app is signed, but with a self-signed
    certificate rather than an Apple-issued one and without Apple's notarisation, so Gatekeeper
    treats a browser download as suspect. This is expected. Clear the quarantine flag once:

    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/ClickLatch.app
open /Applications/ClickLatch.app

    Prefer not to use Terminal? Double-click the app, let macOS block it, then open System Settings
    → Privacy & Security, scroll to the note about ClickLatch and click Open Anyway.

  3. Grant the Accessibility permission when asked — without it no program may alter mouse clicks.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/joelvalentijn/clicklatch.git
cd clicklatch
./Scripts/create-signing-certificate.sh
./Scripts/bundle.sh --install --run

Either way, the built-in updater takes it from here for future versions: it downloads without the
quarantine flag and verifies the signature before swapping anything. It only accepts a build signed
with the same certificate as the copy already running — so a copy you compiled yourself will refuse
this download, by design, and vice versa.

Known limits

  • Apps that read the button state directly instead of following drag events do not notice the lock.
  • No event tap sees anything inside secure input contexts, such as password fields.
  • Mission Control, switching Spaces and menu bar interactions can drop an active lock.

Released as a normal release rather than a pre-release on purpose: GitHub leaves pre-releases out
of releases/latest, which is exactly where the in-app updater looks.

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